Paradox
Good theology must at times
be reticent. Take, for example,
Christology: Christians down through the ages have confessed that Jesus Christ
is God incarnate, truly God and truly human, in one person, the Second person
in the Trinity. In other words, Jesus
is one hundred percent God; Jesus is one hundred percent human, but Jesus does
not add up to two hundred percent (in my mathematical analogy, the Nestorian
heresy of two persons), but only one hundred percent.
The work of the Theologian
is not to explain away logical tensions, but to discover and present biblical
truth to the people of God. He is to
set forth what the Bible teaches; he is not always charged to explain
"how" certain truths can be true.
I do not know "how" Jesus can be God incarnate; I only know
"that" he is God incarnate.
The answer to the "how" is found in the infinite greatness of
God.
All theological enterprise
is, in a sense, prolegomena, because "we know in part and we prophesy in
part" and "we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror" and
therefore we "know in (only) part" not "fully." (Cf. 1
Corinthians 13)
Good theology is not
fundamentally a logical discourse; it is kerygmatic assertion: it proclaims the mystery that the absolutely
sovereign God is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself; it assaults the
hubris of so-called rational man, demanding that he bow himself in the totality
of his being, including his sense of rationality, to the majesty of him who is
both utterly transcendent and utterly immanent.
I do not know
"how" God can be absolutely sovereign and have ordained (in some
sense) the fall. (It is why I shy away
from being either a supra- or an infra- lapsarian.)
The language of the Westminster
Confession of Faith is very cautious, and therefore very biblical:
"The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so
far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extendeth itself even to the
first fall, and all other sins of angels and men; and that not by a bare
permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding,
and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to
his own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the
creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor
can be the author or approver of sin." (§ V, iv.)
Westminster states the
"thatness" of the theological truths, not the
"howness." In other words,
the Confession states the mystery; it doesn't explain it away: "God, from
all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely,
and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is
God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures;
nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather
established." (§ III, i.)
Back
in 1993, I did a Bible Conference for pastors in the mountains north of Mexico
City. This was the outline of the
series that I gave to my translator and to the pastors. Some of the formatting is a tad off, and
consequently a few Greek words did not come out correctly. I am new to the world of HTML; please
overlook this. Thanks.
P A R A D O X:
P A R A D O J A:
"A
statement which, though true, seems false and self-contradictory."
"Una
declaración que, aunque verdadera, parece falsa y contradictoria."
Introduction:
Presentación:
A. The
Bible is full of statements which seem to cancel out other statements: La Biblia está llena de declaraciones que
parecen cancelar otras declaraciones:
1. Some of these statements involve an understanding of historical
incidents in one book of the Bible which seem to contradict statements in
another book: Algunas de estas
declaraciones envuelven el entendimiento de incidentes históricos en uno libro
de la Biblia que parecen contradecir declaraciones en otro libro:
a. An excellent book for dealing with most of
these kinds of things is the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, by
Gleason L. Archer (Zondervan Publishing House, 1982). Un libro excelente para tratar estas cosas es la Enciclopedia
de Dificultades Biblicas, por Gleason L. Archer (Casa Publicadora Zondervan,
1982) In it Dr. Archer states: "In dealing with Bible problems of any
kind, whether in factual or in doctrinal matters, it is well to follow
appropriate guidelines in determining the solution. En el Dr. Archer declara:
"Al tratar con problemas Biblicos de cualquier clase, ya sean en
hechos o en materias doctrinares, es bueno seguir guías apropiadas al
determinar la solución. This is
most easily done by those who have carefully and prayerfully studied the Bible
over a number of years and have consistently and faithfully memorized
Scripture. Esto es fácilmente hecho
por aquellos que han estudiado la Biblia cuidadosamente y en oración por varios
años y se han memorizado las escrituras fielmente y consistentemente. Some guidelines are as follows:
"Be fully persuaded in y