Writings/Articles

Content to Know Enough

Nicholas Batzig — Mon, 11 Jul 2022 08:00:00 -0500

When addressing the subject of the inerrancy of Scripture in light of difficulties with which we are confronted in Scripture, E.J. Young would teach his students the following truth: "The believer," he said "will labor to reconcile seemingly contradictory details we encounter in various portions of Scripture. The unbeliever automatically insists that they are errors." Young suggested that we must labor to come to a settled position on attempts to reconcile apparent contradictions in Scripture; however, if while doing so, we find that we cannot come to an absolutely certain conclusion about how to reconcile those seeming contradictions, we should rest content in the fact that we know there is a solution though we have not been able to reach it. In short, we need to labor to know God's word as accurately as possible; but, in the end, we need to rest content that we will never know it exhaustively. Young developed this classroom advice in his important work on inerrancy, Thy Word is Truth, where he wrote:

There are good Christian people who would like to believe in the absolute trustworthiness of the Bible, yet who hesitate because they are convinced that there are mistakes in the Scripture. With such people we have great sympathy. In serious Bible study one often encounters difficulties, and the solution of these difficulties is not always readily apparent. Foolish indeed is the man who thinks that he has the answer to every problem in the Bible...If, however, it is rash to profess to solve all of the problems which the study of the Bible brings upon us, it is yet more rash to make the dogmatic assertion that there are actual errors in the Bible."1

After considering a few of the more significant "alleged errors" in the Bible, Young concluded:

"The Bible is inerrant. The Word which the Holy God gave to man is a word that is to be trusted...He who dogmatically proclaims the presence of error in the Bible, has, as a matter of fact, arrogated to himself an amount of knowledge that he does not actually possess...as a result of further study and as a result of archeology much of what formerly was regarded as error has been demonstrated to be no error at all. There is no other document from antiquity which for accuracy can even begin to compare with the Bible. When therefore we meet difficulties in the Bible let us reserve judgment. If any explanation is not at hand, let us freely acknowledge that we do not know all things, that we do not know the solution. Rather than hastily to proclaim the presence of an error, is it not the part of wisdom to acknowledge our ignorance?" 2

It would do us a world of good to adopt this mindset when giving ourselves to a careful study of God's word. We will never err in undermining the faith of others if we are ready to say that we have sought out solutions to reconcile various passages while acknowledging that we may not have come to a completely settled conclusion. That is true humility that honors the trustworthiness of God's word, without proudly exalting ourselves to deny the divine superintendence of it or to act as though we have mastered everything in it.

1. E.J. Young Thy Word is Truth (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1997) p. 163

Ibid., p. 182

*This first appeared at Reformation21.

Confessions and Worship

Nicholas Batzig — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 07:00:00 -0500

Some of my earliest childhood memories center on being with my family in worship on the Lord’s Day. In the Reformed and Presbyterian churches that we attended, expository preaching, hymn-singing, and prayer were fixed elements of worship, as were the historic creeds and confessions of the Christian church. We regularly confessed the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed—or some particular doctrinal statement out of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Shorter Catechism, or Heidelberg Catechism. Our pastors cited doctrinal statements from the Westminster Shorter Catechism in their sermons. Though I was unaware of it at the time, these historic doctrinal formulations were shaping my young mind in regard to biblical doctrine, worship, and the Christian life. Over a decade ago, I had the privilege of planting a Reformed and Presbyterian church. I enthusiastically incorporated many of the historic creeds and confessions into our worship service for the express purpose of instruction—as well as for the preservation of the core truths of the Christian faith and the worship of God.

In his 1973 article “Towards a Confession for Tomorrow’s Church,” J.I. Packer insisted that historic creeds and confessions assist the church in carrying out four principal responsibilities—its doxological, declarative, didactic, and disciplinary tasks. Accordingly, churches should make use of these historical doctrinal statements in their worship (doxological), witness (declarative), teaching (didactic), and conservation (disciplinary). Packer proceeded to define how they function in each task:

Their doxological function is to glorify God by setting forth his works of love and putting into words a responsive commitment. Their declarative function is to announce what the communities that espouse them stand for, and so to identify those communities as belonging to Christ’s church, the worldwide fellowship of faith. Their didactic function is to serve as a basis for instruction. Their disciplinary function is to establish the limits of belief within which each confessing body wishes to stay, and so to lay a foundation for whatever forms of doctrinal restriction or direction it may see fit to impose on its clerical and lay members.

The doxological task is the most extensive, since worship involves elements of the declarative, didactic, and disciplinary tasks. Historic creeds and confessions aid the gathered assembly of believers in declaring the core truths of Scripture. They serve the didactic assignment by offering ministers refined doctrinal formulations that assist them in rightly teaching and preaching the whole counsel of God from Scripture. They function as a disciplinary guide, giving leaders and members a doctrinal standard with which to hold one another accountable. Their clear doctrinal definitions act as guardrails to safeguard what is taught and proclaimed in the context of worship. As Packer explained:

Without authorized doctrinal formulae (standards, as Presbyterians have historically called them) the church is clearly at a disadvantage for maintaining its character as “the pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Granted, no human formula of faith is complete or final; yet formularies can be true as far as they go, and very useful for excluding false trails and helping each generation to fulfil the task of making as clear as possible what Christianity really is.

When Christians publicly confess the truths that the church has always confessed, God is distinguishing between the church and the world—as well as between true and false churches. Historic doctrinal standards help draw a sharp line between orthodox teaching and false teaching in the articulation of “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

*This article was first published in the June 2021 edition of Tabletalk Magazine.

Confessional Discipleship (Part 2)

Nicholas Batzig — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 06:00:00 -0500

Pastors need a robust and secure theological foundation. But they also need the skill to best to teach those truths to the people of God in a Christian discipleship context. In the first post in this series, we considered how significant the Westminster Standards are in helping pastors carry out Christian discipleship. In this second post we will consider some practical approaches to carrying out confessional discipleship and offer some recommended resources that will help pastors along the way.

A Long-Term Approach

As I noted in the previous post, I had the privilege of leading a men’s discipleship group for six or seven years while laboring as a PCA church planter. Without desiring to draw attention to the length of time we met for any self-aggrandizing purpose, I merely wish to encourage pastors to think about playing the long game. As the well-known and oft-repeated maxim goes, “People tend to overestimate what can be done in one year, and underestimate what can be done in five or ten years.” We live in a culture of “bigger, faster, stronger.” On the contrary, much of what has a lasting impact is that which took the longest to accomplish. I have a mentor who often reminds me, “It’s hard to derail a slowly moving train.” Those ministers who move patiently and intentionally often have the greatest lasting influence. We should enter in on the work of Chrstian discipleship with a view to laying a solid foundation for a building that will last.

If we adopt the long–term approach to discipleship, we will be less compelled to rush through the content of what we are teaching. At the outset of a discipleship group, a pastor may simply take the first section of the opening chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith, or he may work through the first three or four questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I discovered that when I was teaching through the Westminster Confession or Catechisms at a slow pace, the men in the group raised many thoughtful questions. Over a period of about a year, this pattern developed week by week. A slow approach allows a pastor to answer questions regarding personal devotions, family dynamics, parenting, apologetics, evangelism, worship, and much more. The men in the group will begin to see that the truths of God’s Word have a bearing on every aspect of their lives. A slow and steady approach to discipleship gives a pastor more time to bring biblical and theological truth to bear on the everyday aspects of lives of those in the group. A rushed approach will demand a more surface application.

At the end of each meeting, the men in the group spent time in prayer together. These were special times of opening our hearts to one another. We learned to bear one another’s burdens, we knew better how to pray according to the truths we had just considered, and we were encouraged to pray for one another throughout the week. If the end of Christian discipleship is knowing God and serving one another, then spending time praying with and for one another is a vital yet practical act toward that end.

The Service Effect

Christian service will also flow out of Christian discipleship. If we merely program service in the local church, we will end up creating a church full of Martha’s (Luke 10:38–42)—men and women who are torn in every direction and overwhelmed by the desire to serve others. As Burk Parsons has helpfully explained, “Many churches have programmed the life out of people that they barely have time left for their own families, let alone widows and orphans.” One of the practical benefits of a confessional discipleship group is that the pastor can encourage service among the members of the group at the right time and in the right way. In almost every meeting we had, the needs of the church plant arose. One or more of the men in the group would either volunteer to serve in a needed capacity or would offer suggestions about who might be a good fit for meeting a particular service need in the church. The biblical and confessional truths we considered in our meetings helped us identify and prioritize actual needs and areas of service in the church. This, in turn, will provide a platform for pastors to encourage service—in a non-programmatic or guilt-driven way—in the local church.

Resources

A pastor may find himself overwhelmed when thinking about starting a confessional discipleship group for a number of reasons. First, the Westminster Standards cover massive amounts of theological ground. Then there is the issue of language. Some of the language in the Standards (particularly in the Larger Catechism) is archaic. Finally, there is the challenge of the historical context. The historical context of the debates around particular doctrinal formulations taught in the Standards is not always evident. These three things pose a challenge for any pastor. I recently had a fellow PCA pastor reach out and ask if I could recommend a book on the historical background of the Standards because he was discouraged over how many young men were coming into his Presbytery who showed little-to-no knowledge about the basic historical background of the Assembly. While many books cover the historical background and exposition of the Westminster Standards, the following are some of the helpful works available:

Thomas Vincent, An Explanation of the Assemblies Shorter Catechism
Robert Shaw, An Exposition of the Confession of Faith
G.I. Williamson, Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes
Chad Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith
Emily Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith Study Guide
R.C. Sproul, Truths We Confess: A Systematic Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith
J.G. Vos, Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary
John Bower, The Larger Catechism: A Critical Text and Introduction
Joseph Pipa, The Westminster Confession of Faith Study Book

A pastor doesn’t have to spend an inordinate amount of time preparing to lead a group through the Westminster Standards. Choosing one or two of the resources above should suffice in being prepared to lead a discussion on a small section or a few catechism questions.

As we plan for confessional discipleship in the life of the local church, may the Lord grant us wisdom and grace to do so patiently, prayerfully, and purposefully for the long-term and lasting fruitfulness of all those involved.

Confessional Discipleship (Part 1)

Nicholas Batzig — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 06:00:00 -0600

In Pleading for a Reformation Vision, David Calhoun recounts a story about the late Dr. William Childs Robinson’s high esteem for the Westminster Standards. “Occasionally,” writes Calhoun, “a student was bold enough to ask Dr Robinson if he thought the Westminster Standards were perfect. He would reply, ‘No, but their exposition of the faith is better than yours, and you can improve yours by studying theirs.’” One can just as rightly note that the Westminster Standards—while not a perfect guide of Christian discipleship—are a better guide for Christian discipleship than any a minister could devise on his own; and we can improve ours by studying theirs.

While engaged in the work of church planting in the PCA, I led a men’s theology group every other week for nearly seven years. We worked through the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC), and the Westminster Larger Catechism (WLC)—followed by the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. While we delved deeply into the Christian theology taught in the Standards, we also worked through the implications of that theology for aspects of everyday life. During those meetings, I came to realize how valuable the Westminster Standards were for discipleship and not simply as a guide for denominational worship and discipline. I came to understand that they provide a better framework for discipleship than any I could have ever come up with on my own. Over the years, many have expressed how formative those times were for their spiritual growth as believers, church members, husbands, and fathers—as well as in their particular callings.

It is my desire to now encourage other pastors to make use of our confessional documents for Christian discipleship in the context of the local church. To that end, in the first post in this two-part series I will seek to highlight the usefulness of the Westminster Standards as a tool for discipleship. In the second, I will offer a few practical suggestions and recommended books that assist pastors in using the Standards as a tool of discipleship.

1. A Biblical Foundation

Significantly, the WCF does not start with a statement about the importance of creeds and confessions; rather, it begins with statements about the nature and importance of Scripture. As WCF 1.6 states,

The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any times is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.

This is paramount to our understanding of the role that the Westminster Standards can play in Christian discipleship. The members of the Assembly were first and foremost men of the Word of God. From the outset, they advanced the Reformation principles of sola Scriptura and tota Scriptura. In so doing, they were defending the sufficiency of Scripture as the solid foundation of Christian worship, witness, and discipleship. Edmund Clowney explained the significance of the opening chapter of the Confession, when he wrote,

The whole Westminster Confession depends upon its teaching about the Bible itself. . .That teaching has vast practical as well as theological consequences. Indeed, the recovery of the teaching of the Bible about itself was the key to the liberation brought about by the Protestant Reformation. Does the final authority rest in the church or in the Bible? The first chapter of the Westminster Confession presents its clear witness to the authority of Scripture out of a sense to answer that question biblically. The chapter is the Magna Carta of Christian liberty, sweeping away every claim of men to rule over the consciences of other men. At the same time, it is an act of devotion, rendering full submission to the immediate authority of God.[1]

The divines proceeded to explain how Scripture is the final authority in all controversies of religion. The last paragraph in chapter 1 states,

The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined; and in whose sentence we are to rest; can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.

This is vital for discipleship in a day of heated theological and societal controversy and debate. An aspect of making Christian disciples involves training other believers how to test all things by the God-breathed Scriptures. God calls Christian disciples to scrutinize every statement of councils, theologians, movements, or individuals by the authoritative voice of the Spirit of God in all the Scriptures.

Additionally, the Confession gives interpretive principles for training disciples how to read the Scriptures. It is not enough for ministers to teach congregants that they need to read their Bibles—they also need to teach them how to read their Bible. We find one such principle in chapter 1, where we read,

The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and when, therefore, there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.

This is the principle of the analogia fidei (the analogy of faith). Since the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of His own word, Scripture is the interpreter of Scripture. This plays an important role in discipleship insomuch as pastors are called to teach congregants the means by which they can understand and resolve difficult passages they stumble across in Scripture.

While the Westminster Standards teach so much more about the nature and meaning of Scripture, these principles are a few of the more foundational principles for Christian discipleship.

2. A Theological Foundation

In addition to laying a biblical foundation, the Standards lay the theological foundation for Christian discipleship. Although the Westminster Standards are not a systematic theology per se, they do contain the essential systematic-theological categories of essential Christian doctrines. Since discipleship is built on the foundation of Scripture, a working knowledge of the essential doctrines of Scripture is vital to our growth as disciples. To that end, the WCF and WLC supply a rich doctrinal exposition of the following essential theological doctrines:

The triune God (WCF ch. 2; WLC 7–11)
The decree of God (WCF ch. 3; WC 12–14)
Creation (WCF ch. 4; WLC 15–17)
Providence (WCF ch. 5; WLC 18–20)
The Fall, sin, and punishment (WCF ch. 6; WLC 21–29)
God’s covenant (WCF ch. 7; WLC 30–36)
Christ the Mediator (WCF ch. 8; WLC 36–57)
The will of man (WCF ch. 9; WLC 21)
The benefits of redemption (WCF chs. 10–13; WLC 66–75, 77–79)
Faith and repentance (WCF chs. 14–15; WLC 72–76)
Good works (WCF ch. 16; WLC 73, 78)
Perseverance (WCF ch. 17; WLC 79–80)
Worship (WCF ch. 21; WLC 104, 105, 108, 109, 117, 151, 179)
The sacraments (WCF chs. 27–29; WLC 35, 161–177)
Church discipline (WCF ch. 30)
The last things (WCF ch. 32; WLC 84–90)

The chapter “Of Christ the Mediator”—together with Larger Catechism questions 36–57—offers one of the richest Christological formulations in church history. While embracing Chalcedonian Christology, the divines set down a Reformed exposition of the offices, states, person, natures, work, and reward of Christ. It summarizes the biblical teaching about redemption accomplished and applied. There is no more important subject with which the mind of a Christian disciple can be occupied.

3. A Practical Foundation

Among the many topics of practical consideration addressed in detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger Catechism are the following:

Christian liberty (WCF 20)
Worship (WCF 21; LC 105, 108–110, 117)
Assurance of salvation (WCF 14.3; 16.2; 18; WLC 87, 167, 191, 194, 196)
Prayer (WLC 178–196)
Giving (WLC 141)
Work (WLC 115, 117, 138, 142)
Rest (WLC 117, 120)
Sexuality (WLC 138–139)
Marriage and divorce (WCF 24; WLC 139)
Parenting (WLC 125)
Material and financial ethics (WLC 141–142)

As ministers work through these and other important subjects with congregants, dozens of interrelated questions will necessarily arise. Though we may not have all the answers for every question of situational ethics, of this much we can be sure: The Westminster Standards address many of the significant theological and practical matters for Christian discipleship better than we could on our own. If we are to equip congregants to be sound in the faith, fruitful in every good word and work, and to be prepared for potentially difficult days ahead, we should consider using the Westminster Standards as a guide in Christian discipleship.

[1] John H. Skilton ed. Scripture and Confession (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1973), 162.

*This was first published as the first in a two part series at the Gospel Reformation Network.

The Practice of Rest

Nicholas Batzig — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 08:00:00 -0600

In my early twenties, I cooked at several restaurants on St. Simons Island, GA. I would sometimes work double shifts in order to make ends meet. On one occasion, I worked three weeks of double shifts without a day off. Resilient though I thought myself to be at that age, I almost put myself in the hospital.

Most will admit, there is something built into the fabric of our being to remind us of our need for rest. We are image-bearers of God, called to emulate the pattern He established for us at creation: to live within a rhythm of work and rest. He set aside the Sabbath day for our bodies to be refreshed and renewed. The rest our bodies require reminds us that we need spiritual rest as well. And so the Sabbath is a time to remember our limits.

The Sabbath teaches us that we need God and the rest He freely provides in Jesus. It almost seems as though Jesus reserved many of His healing miracles for the Sabbath. And by healing physical maladies on the holy day of rest, He was showing that He had the power to heal the deeper malady of a sinful soul.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). He is the one who rested in the grave on the old covenant Sabbath—after He labored for our redemption, providing ultimate rest through His atoning death and resurrection. He ushered in a new creation, saying, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest… for your souls” (Matthew 11:28–29). And to those who attempted to pervert the meaning of the Sabbath day with legalistic rules and regulations, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Coming expectantly into the first day of the week, I often wake my sons up and ask them, “What day is it today?” One of them inevitably shouts from under his covers, “The best day of the week!” Our family worships at church and sets the whole day aside to rest. Together, we read Scripture, devotionals, or other spiritually edifying books, and allow time and space in our home for Christian fellowship. We may even take a much-needed nap.

These are a few of the ways our family has learned to keep the Sabbath, setting aside a day to focus on worship, the Word, prayers, and fellowship. Whatever practices you can build into the rhythms of work and rest in your life, for the physical and spiritual refreshment of your body and soul, make them staples of your devotion to God on a weekly basis. He knows the benefit and blessing of rest, and that is why He asks us to keep the Sabbath.

*This devotional was first published at He Reads Truth.

Why We Need a Priest

Nicholas Batzig — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 18:00:00 -0600

When I first began church planting, I seriously considered naming the church I planted “Christ Our Priest Presbyterian Church.” After all, there were already thousands of churches that had “Christ the King” (or some variation of it) in the name. I still find it utterly shocking that there are no churches named “Christ Our Priest.” After all, everyone needs a priest. No one can approach God without a mediator. It is for this reason that the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ is one of the most glorious truths in all of God’s revelation in Scripture. Christ’s role as the High Priest of believers has a far-reaching impact on our Christian lives and experiences.

Believers rightly love to talk about the “finished work of Jesus.” After all, Scripture puts the once-for-all atoning sacrifice of Christ in the driver’s seat of redemptive history and of the Christian life. However, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus is only one-half of His priestly work. The work of the priest under the old covenant was to sacrifice and to intercede. As the Great High Priest, Jesus now “always lives to make intercession” for those for whom He has sacrificed Himself to God (Heb. 7:25). The writer of the book of Hebrews focuses on both sides of Jesus’ priestly work—His “finished work” of offering Himself to God as the perfect sacrifice and His “unfinished work” of continual intercession. The Christian life can be lived only in light of these two sides of Christ’s role as the High Priest over the house of God.

When we consider what bearing the priesthood of Jesus—in its finished and unfinished aspects—has on the Christian’s life, we must seek to draw out all that we can from the book of Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews had a profound interest in the grandeur of this subject. Writing to a people beleaguered by suffering—a people who were tempted to turn back from Christ to a ritualistic form of Judaism in order to avoid persecution—the author went to great lengths to help believers understand the significance of the priestly work of Jesus for their continuance in the faith. He did so by setting out the following benefits of the priesthood of Christ.

A DEFINITIVE SENSE OF SINS FORGIVEN

The great promise of the new covenant is God’s forgiving sin (Heb. 8:12; 9:22; 10:18) and remembering no more the lawless deeds of believers (10:17). The once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus’ finished work at Calvary accomplishes this for the people of God. The blood shed at the cross is the blood by which God forgives and passes over the sin of His people. By virtue of this aspect of Christ’s priestly work, believers “no longer have any consciousness of sin” (10:2). The guilt of sin has been dealt with in the death of the Great High Priest.

A CLEANSED CONSCIENCE

In addition to the forgiveness of sin, believers have their hearts cleansed by virtue of the bloodshed of the new covenant Mediator. Through the blood of the Priest, Jesus Christ, we have our “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Heb. 10:22). The blood of Jesus is the blood of the sacrifice that can make the worshiper acceptable to God. “The blood of Christ . . . [purifies] our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). We are consecrated to God as His worshipers through the sacrifice of Christ.

A SECURED INHERITANCE

The priestly work of Jesus ensures that believers “receive the promised eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15). The writer picks up the language of a last will and testament and applies it to the priestly work of Christ in the new covenant. When Jesus died, He redeemed God’s people from the legal condemnation of the old covenant and secured by that death the everlasting inheritance. In His death, we have life and an everlasting inheritance.

A SYMPATHETIC HELPER

One of the chief differences between the office of a prophet and a priest is that a prophet stands more intimately related to God as revealing Himself to man and a priest stands more intimately related to man as coming before God. Geerhardus Vos captured this well when he wrote, “A prophet . . . represents not man but God; therefore the nearer he stands to God the better he is qualified. A priest, on the other hand, represents man and his qualification is measured by his nearness to man.” Jesus is the great and final Prophet and Priest of God; however, in His work as the Great High Priest over the house of God, He is measured by His nearness to man. This is why the writer of Hebrews can say that “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). When we are being tempted, we go to Jesus, our great Priest, knowing that He will sympathize with us and will give us grace and mercy in time of need.

A PROMISED PRESERVATION

While so much of the book of Hebrews calls professing believers to persevere in the faith, there is also a focus on the foundational truth that we will persevere because the living Christ is preserving us. Since Jesus is the risen, ascended, and reigning Priest over the house of God, we are confident that “he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). At the right hand of the Father, Jesus is praying on behalf of His people. Theologians have called John 17“the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus.” We take great comfort in knowing that Jesus, during His earthly ministry, prayed that the Father would keep us and bring us to glory. How much more comfort should be derived from the fact that He is doing that very thing now in the presence of His Father in glory? We have a perfect representative who has lived, died, and risen for us, and who ever pleads the merits of His finished work on behalf of His people. This is the same truth that the Apostle John latches onto when he writes, “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1–2, NKJV).

The entirety of the believer’s life can only be lived in light of the priesthood of Christ. As the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus preeminently functions as the Great High Priest over the house of God. In the words of James Henley Thornwell, “Priesthood is the perfection of mediation,” and we have such a perfect Mediator in Jesus—who has, “by one offering . . . perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb. 10:14).

This post was first published on February 26, 2018 at Tabletalk Magazine Online.

Rev. Nicholas T. Batzig (@Nick_Batzig) is an associate editor for Ligonier Ministries. He blogs at Feeding on Christ.

The First-fruits of the Resurrection

Nicholas Batzig — Sat, 17 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0500

The Apostle’s Creed has been confessed by Christians from as far back as the middle of the third century, making it one of the oldest confessional documents in the history of the Christian Church. Among those central biblical truths that believers have confessed for nearly two thousand years is this statement: “I believe in the resurrection of the dead.” In this confession, Christians profess their belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and those who are savingly united to the one who said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). The mystery of the resurrection is grounded in the Bible’s teaching about Christ, “the first fruits” of the dead (1Corinthians 15:20–23).

The resurrection of believers on the last day was prefigured in the Old Testament. First, there is the account of Elijah raising the son of the widow of Zarephath (1Kings 17:8–24). Then, there is the record of Elisha raising the son of the distraught Shunammite (2Kings 4:18–37). Finally, there is the strange account of the man who was buried alongside the prophet Elisha; when his deceased body touched the bones of Elisha, he was raised back to life again (2Kings 13:20–21). All of these were just a foreshadowing of the New Testament’s witness to the resurrection.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus raised three individuals from the dead: Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:36–42), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11–15), and His own friend Lazarus (John 11:1–44). Reflecting on these three miraculous resurrections, Abraham Kuyper wrote,

"There is, in the miracles of Christ, in raising the dead, a perceptible increase of power: first, the raising up of one just dead (the daughter of Jairus), then, of one about to be buried (the son of the widow of Nain), and lastly, of one already decomposing (Lazarus)."1

Jesus’s resurrection power is also seen in what happened when He died on the cross. At the moment of His death, one of the most unusual miracles occurred. Matthew tells us that “the earth quaked, and the rocks were split. The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many” (Matthew 27:50–53).

This foretaste of the final resurrection occurred as the one who came to save us from death died. Jesus’s resurrection power was at work, even in His own death, a prelude to the resurrection on the last day—the very thing for which the Son of God came into the world to accomplish (John 6:39–40,44).

Of course, the resurrection on the last day is built on the resurrection of Jesus Himself. Just as all mankind is originally in Adam, so believers have been brought into union with the last Adam, Jesus Christ (1Corinthians 15:21–22,45–49). When we confess, “I believe in the resurrection of the dead,” we are confessing our faith in Christ, the firstfruits of the dead in Him. He came into the world to secure the resurrection of His people by His own resurrection from the dead.

1. Abraham Kuyper The Work of the Holy Spirit (New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls, 1900) p. 134

Walking in God's Presence

Nicholas Batzig — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0500

*We sometimes mistakenly think that those who lived in Jesus’s day had an easier time leaving behind everything they had known to follow Him. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we see just how much the disciples left behind to follow the Savior. In Matthew 4:18–24, Jesus calls two sets of brothers, all of whom were professional fishermen. Back in that day, this also meant they were businessmen, and the Gospel records imply that James and John were heirs to a lucrative family fishing business.

What was it that enabled these men—and the multitude of other disciples to leave such things as family members, jobs, and social statuses—to “immediately” leave their nets, their former way of life, and follow Christ? (Matthew 4:20). Maybe it was because they recognized the divine presence in the one who was calling them. The same call God had issued to Abraham so long ago, He also issued to men and women in the days of His incarnation.

As a young Christian, Michael Card’s song “Things We Leave Behind” left a deep impact on me, particularly found these opening verses:

There sits Simon, so foolishly wise;
Proudly he’s tending his nets
Then Jesus calls and the boats drift away
All that he owns he forgets.

But more than the nets he abandoned that day,
He found that his pride was soon drifting away.
And it’s hard to imagine the freedom we find
From the things we leave behind.

There is an analogy to be drawn between Peter abandoning his fishing nets and his leaving behind other aspects of his life when he came to follow Christ. In leaving their nets, these men were leaving their former way of life and learning to walk in the presence of God.

Of course, the disciples’ lives were being shaped as they walked in Jesus’s presence. They were learning more of the glory, wisdom, grace, power, truth, justice, and compassion of God, as they followed Him throughout the promised land. They were listening intently to His teaching, His parables, His warnings, and His promises. They were seeing His miracles. They were willing to walk with Him to the point of His suffering on the cross for their sins. It was this last act of the Savior on earth that they particularly needed to embrace if they were going to be His disciples. He had come to suffer for their sins and for the sins of His people throughout the world.

If we are to walk in the presence of God, we, too, are called to follow Christ. This may mean leaving family members, jobs, societal comforts, and even our own expectations. In whatever form it may take, of this much we can be sure: as we leave behind things that keep us from the Savior, we will discover that we gain more than we ever leave behind. As we walk in the presence of God, we will find a joy that we belong to Him, that He has died for us, and that He is conforming us into His glorious image.

*This post originally appeared at hereadstruth.com.

One Greater Than the Temple

Nicholas Batzig — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0500

We have all had experiences that we will likely never forget. For me, one of those moments happened when I was 24 years old, standing at the top of the French Alps, overlooking the seemingly endless miles of mountains. I’d never seen such a glorious sight in my life.

This is as close as I’ve come to imagining the disciples’ experience of certain events that occurred during their time with Christ—events that likely left an indelible mark on their minds and hearts. The transfiguration was such an experience for Peter, James, and John. Reflecting back on his witness to the ministry of Jesus, the apostle John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). John was astonished by what he’d witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration.

In the Old Testament, the tabernacle was the dwelling place of God. Just as God’s people lived in tents, so God came to dwell with them in a tent. The tent dwelling of God in the tabernacle was a type of God’s ultimate dwelling with His people in the tabernacle of the flesh of Christ. Since God’s children partook of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of flesh and blood. In Jesus, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. This is the reason why Jesus could speak of His body as the temple that would be destroyed and raised back up in three days (John 2:19).

The temple was a more permanent dwelling place for God than the tabernacle had been, though it, too, was ultimately temporary. God had planned a greater and more intimate dwelling place. God planned on coming in the flesh. When Jesus disputed with the religious leaders in Israel, He bore witness to the fact that “something greater than the temple” had come (Matthew 12:6). He who filled the heavens and the earth—who could not be contained by a building—united a human nature to His divine nature, thereby becoming God and man in one person forever.

By entering into the world in the person of Jesus, God came to reestablish His presence with His people. Christ is greater than the tabernacle and temple. Because God dwelt fully in the Person of Christ, believers will dwell in His presence forever. By faith in Christ, we have direct access into the very presence of God.

*This post originally appeared at hereadstruth.com.

More Than a Shibboleth

Nicholas Batzig — Wed, 19 Aug 2020 13:00:00 -0500

It has become increasingly common for pastors in Reformed churches to speak of the importance of an “ordinary means of grace” ministry. Many ministers find it deeply reassuring when they meet other ministers who professes a commitment to the ordinary means of grace. After all, many (perhaps most?) local churches in North America are committed to what we might call, “the extraordinary means of human innovation” ministry. However, is it sufficient to profess adherence to an ordinary means of grace ministry? I would suggest that it is not. While professing a commitment to the God-ordained means of grace is right and good, it is altogether possible for pastors to neglect vital biblical nuances concerning the administration of the ordinary means. It is obligatory for us to be committed to a right administrationof the ordinary means of grace, and not simply that we are committed to them. By neglecting to emphasize the right administration of the means of grace, we may allow error to fly under the radar of what becomes a mere Shibboleth.

When addressing the subject of how the ordinary means should be carried out, we do not wish to focus on the forms by which the elements of worship are carried out (e.g., kneeling when praying or stretching out hands when receiving the benediction). Nor do we have the length or structure of a sermon in view. Rather, it refers to the content, context, and connection of the word, sacraments, and prayer.

It is equally possible for ministers to affirm an ordinary means of grace commitment to the sacraments while not carrying them out in accord with Scripture. One can speak of the importance of prayer while being redundant, flippant, or overly ritualistic in public prayer. How we minister the ordinary means of grace is every bit as important as confessing our commitment to them in the context of public worship.

The Word of God

In every church that acknowledges the importance of an ordinary means of grace ministry, there will be ministers who preach and teach the Scriptures. However, it is altogether possible for ministers to affirm the ordinary means of grace with regard to the ministry of the Word of God while misrepresenting the central message of Scripture. All Scripture points to the Person, work, and reward of Christ. The apostle Paul confessed that he determined not to know anything among the churches except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). Whatever subject the apostle Paul addressed, he related it to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We can inadvertently deny the “gracious” nature of the ordinary means if we fail to proclaim and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross in our preaching and teaching. It is possible to emphasize the ethical teaching of Jesus in our preaching and teaching, in such a way as to give our hearers the sense that they can do what they are called to do apart from the saving work of Christ. Geerhardus Vos raised this warning over a century ago, when he wrote,

“It is possible, Sabbath after Sabbath and year after year, to preach things of which none can say that they are untrue and none can deny that in their proper place and time they may be important, and yet to forego telling people plainly and to forego giving them the distinct impression that they need forgiveness and salvation from sin through the cross of Christ…. This does not mean that every sermon which we preach must necessarily be what is technically called an evangelistic sermon. There may be frequent occasions when to do that would be out of place and when a discourse on some ethical or apologetic or social topic is distinctly called for. But whatever topic you preach on and whatever text you choose, there ought not to be in your whole repertoire a single sermon in which from beginning to end you do not convey to your hearers the impression that what you want to impart to them, you do not think it possible to impart to them in any other way than as a correlate and consequence of the eternal salvation of their souls through the blood of Christ, because in your own conviction that alone is the remedy which you can honestly offer to a sinful world.”[1]

The right preaching and teaching of God’s Word will keep things in proper biblical perspective. We will employ the requisite exegetical, systematic theology and biblical-theological aspects into our exposition of whatever text we preach. A truly biblical ordinary means of grace ministry will emphasize the right preaching of the Word and not simply that supposed expositions of the Word are preached. The apostle Paul charged Timothy with the following admonition: “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching . . . . Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress” (1 Tim. 4:15). And, in his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

The Sacraments

Just as someone can profess an ordinary means of grace ministry while preaching a deficient message, a minister can misrepresent the sacraments in the worship service. This can occur by investing the sacraments with more or less significance than Scripture gives them.

It may be safe to conclude that most churches have improper views of the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace. On the one hand, many churches have too low a view of the Supper. This is demonstrable from the infrequency with which a church partakes, the casualness with which it is observed, and the lack of teaching about it as a means of grace for those who partake of it by faith. In such churches, the practice of fencing the table is frequently neglected. A right administration of the Supper involves a biblical explanation of its meaning, a call for believers to engage in self-examination, and a reminder of the promises and warnings attached to it (1 Cor. 11:17–34). On the other hand, there are churches that place too high a view on the sacrament. I have heard ministers speak of the Supper as the most important element in the worship service. Perhaps driven by overreaction to a downplaying of the importance of the Supper, certain ministers begin to treat the Supper as if it is more important than the ministry of the Word of God. In fact, as a means of grace, the Supper is dependent on the Word—and not vice versa. Vos explained this when he wrote,

“The Word is the beginning, middle, and end. If necessary, we can think of Word as a means of grace without sacrament, but it is impossible to think of sacrament as a means of grace without Word. The sacraments depend on Scripture, and the truth of Scripture speaks in and through them.”^[1]

A proper view of the Supper as a means of grace will manifest itself in the centrality of a biblical exposition about its meaning and the right way to approach it. It will highlight the fact that there is real spiritual benefit to partaking of it by faith; and, it will result in a seriousness with which the warnings annexed to it are taught.

Prayer

Prayer is also a means of grace, and, as such, should have a central place in our worship services. Many Christians are unaccustomed to a pastoral prayer in worship. Too many Evangelical churches relegated prayer to a discussion about the role it ought to play in a believer’s personal life. However, in worship services, the briefest, most casual, and hurried prayers are offered. Samuel Miller, the second professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, wrote a book titled, Thoughts on Public Prayer, in order to address the way in which ministers should approach prayer as a means of grace in the context of public worship. Among the numerous practical advice he offered, Miller stated, “Avoid too much rapidity and vehemence.” Miller explained that “words ‘few,’ ‘well considered’ and ‘well ordered,’ are the inspired characteristics of a good prayer.” He went on to note that when men pray too quickly or with too much excitment, it becomes a distraction to those he is trying to lead. Whatever else we may conclude about prayer as a means of grace in worship, of this much we can be sure—it ought to be evident that we are seeking to call the divine blessing down from our Father in heaven. To do anything less is to send a message that we can lay hold of the blessing of the means of grace in our own strength.

In all that we do in ministering the means of grace, we must remember that we are to be seeking the Christ of the means of grace and not the mere external administration of the means of grace. Richard Sibbes put this so well when he wrote,

“If a man trust God in the use of the means, his care will be to keep God his friend by repentance and daily exercises of religion, by making conscience of his duty. But if he trust the means and not God, he will be careless and weak in good duties, dull and slow.”[2]

The heart of Pharisaism was to trust in rituals—even God-ordained, biblical rituals—rather than in the God of the ritual. In one sense, the Pharisees were committed to the ordinary means of the Word of God; however, they perverted the teaching of the Word by denying the Christ of the Word. They were committed to fasting, praying, and giving; however, they did those things with self-righteous hearts and motives. They strictly observed the Passover while rejecting the One who was the true Passover Lamb. May we not fall into ritualistic, Christless, and imbalanced approaches to the means of grace in our churches. How we minister the means of grace in the context of public worship is more important than simply professing to be “an ordinary means of grace church.” May the ordinary means of grace be more than a Shibboleth to us.

[1] An excerpt from Vos’ sermon “The Gracious Provision,” in Grace and Glory.

[2] Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet And Co.; W. Robertson, 1862), 283.

*This post was first published at the Gospel Reformation Network on August 19, 2020.