Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Historical Theology

The Past Is a Foreign Country

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“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” –L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between

Carl Trueman’s Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010) devotes chapter 3 to the problem of anachronism (pp. 109–40) and concludes the book with this useful insight:

One notable thing about immigrating to a foreign country is that the very difference of the culture to which one moves allows one to see both the idiosyncrasies of one’s new culture and of that from which one has departed. When one only ever lives in one culture, the assumption is that everything one sees and experiences is nature, the norm, and that everybody else, to the extent that they do not conform, is deviant, subnormal, etc. Cross-cultural experience is excellent for disabusing one of such instincts.

History can be like that . . . .

I have already mentioned my childhood antipathy to the Welsh rugby team, but many other things in my life, from taste in music to personal political convictions, are all more comprehensible in the light of wider historical factors. (pp. 172–74)

A Former Slave-Trader’s Sanctified Self-Assessment

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John Newton (cf. Google books):

I am not what I ought to be. …

Not what I might be …

Not what I wish to be. …

I am not what I hope to be. …

[But] I am not what I once was, a child of sin, and slave of the devil. …

I think I can truly say with the apostle, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’

D. A. Carson: “That encapsulates Christian sanctification in pithy statements better than anything I know.”

Update (8/17/2015): Tony Reinke explains Newton’s statement in his book Newton on the Christian Life: To Live Is Christ, Theologians on the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 267–69:

newtonTo explain the riddle of the Christian life in all its shortcomings and its hopes, John Newton penned what has possibly become the most famous sermon outline in church history. He had been asked to preach a little homily in the home of a friend, which he happily obliged. He chose for his text 1 Corinthians 15:10: “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” All that remains of Newton’s living-room message is an outline, written down by a nameless note taker in attendance. Over time, the sermon outline morphed and merged into this remarkably concise summary of the Christian life on earth:

I am not what I ought to be. Ah! how imperfect and deficient. Not what I might be, considering my privileges and opportunities. Not what I wish to be. God, who knows my heart, knows I wish to be like him. I am not what I hope to be; ere long to drop this clay tabernacle, to be like him and see him as he is. Not what I once was, a child of sin, and slave of the devil. Though not all these, not what I ought to be, not what I might be, not what I wish or hope to be, and not what I once was, I think I can truly say with the apostle, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10).

[Note 5: My paragraph blends the two published versions of what Newton reportedly said. …]

The parallels and contrasts within Newton’s statement become clearer when decorated with visual cues to highlight corresponding clauses:

I am not what I ought to be.
Ah! how imperfect and deficient.

Not what I might be,
considering my privileges and opportunities.

Not what I wish to be.
God, who knows my heart, knows I wish to be like him.

I am not what I hope to be;
ere long to drop this clay tabernacle, to be like him and see him as he is.

Not what I once was,
a child of sin, and slave of the devil.

Though not all these,

not what I ought to be,
not what I might be,
not what I wish or hope to be, and
not what I once was,

I think I can truly say with the apostle,

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

Related:

  1. John Piper wrote the foreword to Reinke’s book.
  2. Tim Challies interviews Reinke about his book.

Marsden on Edwards

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This weekend I listened to the audiobook of George Marsden’s 160-page A Short Life of Jonathan Edwards (Amazon | WTS Books). It’s considerably shorter than Marsden’s 640-page Jonathan Edwards: A Life (Amazon | WTS Books).

Marsden is a good writer and superb historian. Edwards is a remarkable man and God-intoxicated theologian. Good combination. Time well spent.

Conservative Evangelicals Are Not New Evangelicals

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Kevin Bauder, a self-identified fundamentalist, hits a home run with “Let’s Get Clear on This.”

Some excerpts:

  • Conservative evangelicals are different from Fundamentalists, but they are not new evangelicals.
  • Conservative evangelicals have majored on the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God.
  • Nevertheless, some Fundamentalists have managed to convince themselves that conservative evangelicals are the enemy.
  • [Some fundamentalist leaders are] recognizing that the Fundamentalist label is no guarantee of doctrinal fidelity. They are aware that historic, mainstream Fundamentalism has more in common with conservative evangelicals than it does with many who wear the Fundamentalist label.
  • Conservative evangelicals are not our enemies. They are not our opponents. Conservative evangelicals have proven themselves to be allies and even leaders in the defense of the faith.
  • If we attack conservative evangelicals, then we attack the defense of the faith.

The version of this essay that appeared in my inbox this afternoon concludes with these two paragraphs:

If we believe that we must respond to conservative evangelicalism, then let us begin by addressing the areas in which they have exposed our weakness. Let us refocus our attention upon the exaltation of God. Let us exalt, apply, and defend the gospel in all its fullness. If we were more like what we ought to be, perhaps we would feel less threatened by those whose exploits attract the attention of our followers.

Whatever our differences, I thank God for John Piper. I thank God for Mark Dever. I thank God for John MacArthur. I thank God for D. A. Carson. I thank God for a coalition of Christian leaders who have directed our focus to the centrality of the gospel and the exaltation of God. May their defense of the biblical faith prosper.

Read the whole thing: PDF | HTML.

Update:

  1. Dave Doran responds to Kevin Bauder.
  2. Chris Anderson responds to both Bauder and Doran.
  3. Dave Doran responds again.