Apologetics

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Three isms that Spell Destruction-Part 3


The prevailing conditions in the world prior to the Lord’s return are deception and lawlessness or, put another way, lying and anarchy. And these conditions are exacerbated by moral relativism, religious pluralism and soteriological universalism along with humanities collective sinful nature now unrestrained. Jesus said it would happen in the days just prior to His return (Matt. 23:27, here ἄνομος , or lawlessness, is translated ‘iniquity’) and Paul refers to this phenomenon in 2 Tim 3:13 in conjunction with a “great falling away” (apostasy).

Believers are told to do at least four things when apostasy, lawlessness and deception strike close to home. First, they are “to stand fast”; second, they are to “hold the traditions” they were taught, “either by word or our epistle” (2 Thess. 2:15); third, they are to “continue” in all they have learned from the scriptures because the scriptures were “given by inspiration of God” and reveal the false doctrines and practices of evil that impact Christians(2 Tim. 3:1-16) and, finally, they are told by Jesus Himself (Matt 24:42) to “watch” because His coming is both imminent and unpredictable.

The grammar of the phrase “stand fast” indicates a continual action suggesting that the forces of lawlessness continually resist the truth of the Gospel and in increasing magnitude. We are not, then, to give in to or yield any ground to those forces that would compromise, or eliminate, the truth of the Gospel. In the second part of this series I alluded to standing fast as remaining immovable when hurricane force winds are blowing all around. I would add that standing fast is the resolve to not yield any ground to the enemy. This is a warfare reference, something I till take up at another time. Here, I simply wish to point out that first, Christianity has always waged war against those forces that would destroy God’s kingdom and, second, this warfare has now reached its climatic moment prior to our Lord’s return. The battle is joined in earnest and we must remain unyielding to any and all things that would add to, or take away from, the Gospel.

Paul’s reference to ‘traditions’ stands juxtaposed to the ‘lawlessness’ and ‘apostasy’ in earlier verses (2 Thess. 2:15). That is, traditions provide the framework for proper belief and provide the rules for proper conduct. These traditions are not man-made like those of the Pharisees that Jesus condemned but are from God, passed among believers providing a uniformity of experience and expectation in the early Church.

It is so interesting that Paul is addressing this to a church that had been privy to Paul’s influence first hand and yet here they are being warned against deception (in this particular case it was eschatological error). And I find it also remarkable that even at this early stage of Christianity, there were well defined traditions in place upon which churches were established. For example, the various confessions (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:3–5), hymns (Phil 2:6–11; cf. Col 1:15–20), exhortations for Christian households (e.g., Eph 5:22–6:9; cf. Col 3:18–4:1), and ethical instructions in general (e.g., 1 Thess. 4:1–8), including vice and virtue lists (e.g., Gal 5:19–23), suggest some of ‘traditions’ with which the church at Thessalonica was familiar. And it is precisely these traditions in which we are to “stand fast” unmoved and unswayed “by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive…” (Eph. 4:14).

Associated with the idea of “standing fast” is Paul’s counsel to Timothy “to continue in” the things he has learned, been assured of and known intimately. This ‘continuation’ stands in contrast to the progressively worsening activities of ‘evil men and seducers’. While they continuously grow worse and worse, Timothy is to continually remain in the teachings of Paul and tradition that gives him confidence not only because those teachings and traditions are true but because of the character of those Christians who influenced his life. These teachings and traditions make up the ‘scripture’, along with the Old Testament, that provide the foundation from which Timothy and all Christians derive the truth and the correctness of the faith. In short, during the time of perplexity and increasing evil, we are advised to continue in and hold fast to what we have received from God in the form of His Word. It has been generally the case throughout the history of the Christian church that departures from the faith begin with a rejection of the authority of Scripture. What is left is human authority and since the heart of man is evil beyond degree, that authority soon becomes the enemy of the faith. Therefore, in times of perplexity, like we are in now, only His Word is a sufficient anchor to hold us steady and secure until His return.

Finally, in what has been termed the “Olivet Discourse”, Jesus reveals what the world will be like prior to His coming (Matt. 24-25). In about the middle of His discourse Jesus tells His disciples “to watch” because even though the description of the last days is clear enough, the exact time of His return remains hidden. The point seems to be that the more we witness these events coming to pass, the more watchful we are to become. But what is truly amazing is many of the events that Paul and Jesus said would come are happening now yet most of us go about our business as if nothing unusual is going on.

The word γρηγορέω means, among other things, to ‘stay awake’ and I think it is an appropriate term in the context of these three essays. In fact, the three isms of which I’ve spoken and the influences of the world in general have a way of lulling Christians to sleep. By ‘sleep’ I mean a sort of apathetic, lethargic numbness that comes when, for example, our lives are undisturbed by the demands and expectations of Biblical Christianity because we stray away from the truths of the Gospel and seek out an easier, more convenient way of doing things. In short, we embrace substitutes that may “have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof” 2 Tim. 3:5). Here, the word ‘form’ (μόρφωσις) means ‘appearance’ and refers to that which is merely external. In other words, it is an imitation that looks real but in fact isn’t. The ‘isms’ I have outlined invite this kind of substitution and therefore must be first acknowledged (confessed) and then resisted. We can only do this by being ‘awake’ and watching and it is our responsibility to do both.

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