PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy

 Mention the word ‘philosophy’ and people tend to think of Plato, Socrates and maybe Aristotle. My old professor, who had earned doctorates in theology and philosophy said, ‘There are two general fields of knowledge – theology, the study of God, and philosophy, the study of creation… Christian philosophy is man’s scientific study of God’s universe in nature and in culture as viewed through the spectacles of Scripture (Calvin).’ Francis Nigel Lee.

To ask whether or not one ought to use the Bible to interpret nature and culture is to ask a philosophical question. Related to this question is the ‘chicken and egg’ dichotomy of faith and reason. Which came first? Is it Thomas Aquinas’s ‘I know so that I can believe’ or is it Augustine’s ‘I believe so that I can know’? We believe that Augustine wins here. Faith comes before Reason. For, from Santa to Satan, who has never doubted what they first believed? First we believe (i.e., we have faith). Second we test those beliefs (i.e., we apply reason).

For the child a bite out of a cookie and wrapped presents on Christmas morning may be proof enough that Santa exists. However, as the Apostle puts it, ‘When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.’ 1 Corinthians 13:11. The adult knows that the red-suited fat man is simply a cultural myth. But what happens when the adult looks at nature and culture and sees evil? Should he or she wax philosophical about theft, rape and murder and insist that these things are not evil because these kinds of things happen in the animal kingdom and human beings, after all, are just highly evolved animals? Or should he or she view these things through the spectacles of Scripture and see clearly that they are indeed evil? Well, it all depends on whether you believe the Bible to be God’s revelation to us or not. And whether or not you believe in the veracity of Scripture is based upon your presuppositions. A presupposition is a thing assumed beforehand.

Whereas Christian Philosophy scientifically studies God’s universe in nature and in culture through the Scriptures, non-Christian Philosophy does not. Why? It is presuppositional. The former has faith that the Bible is God’s revelation to mankind. The latter has faith it is not. However, note that for both it is a matter of faith first and only secondly comes reasoning. But on what grounds does one accept or reject the Bible as God’s Word? Philosophical! And what is your philosophy based on? It starts with faith and then reasons from it.

Christian Philosophy begins with God, the Triune God, i.e., the Father, the Word/Son and the Spirit. Christian Philosophy sees the Godhead containing three Persons as the original One and the Many, Unity in Diversity, the General and the Particular, and sees His universe in nature and culture. These reflect the Creator. The character of God is the measure of all moral good, while evil is that which is defined by God in His Word. Thus, whether considering Santa or Satan, Christian Philosophy does so from the vantage point of God speaking in His Word by His Spirit. Therefore, ‘See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ’ Colossians 2:8.   

Families

Bumper-stickers seem to have given way to 'Family-stickers', whereby decals representing mum, dad and children (including cats and even Daleks!) are pasted to vehicle rear windows. But what constitutes a family? In the philosophy of our own Post-Modernist age family, like everything else, is whatever you want it to be! However, the consistent Christian would begin their definition of family with God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, how does the following sound? As three Persons form the 'family' of God so (at least) three persons constitute a human family. Married couples talk about ‘starting a family.’ When pregnant a woman is spoken of as being ‘in the family way.’ These sayings give credence to the definition of a family as consisting of at least three persons, i.e., a husband, a wife and ensuing child/children.

Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus were a family in blood as well as legally. Though God (not Joseph) is Jesus’ real Father, Jesus was formed of the substance of Mary, i.e., He was of her bloodline. Joseph was the legal father of Jesus. Thus, the Biblical definition of 'family' has both blood and legal connotations. The uniqueness of Jesus is that He belongs to the family of God and to the family of humanity. He is the Son of God and He is the Son of Man at the same time forever. As the Son of God He is in covenant with God forever and as the Son of Man He is in covenant with humanity, i.e., His Bride which is His Church.

Marriage is a covenant. O. Palmer Robertson says ‘A covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly administered.’ Ordinarily the marriage covenant is sealed by the husband and the wife on their wedding night. You will see the idea of the ‘bond in blood’ in the following curious verse which speaks of parents who have given their daughter’s hand in marriage to a man who is questioning their daughter’s virginity, ‘Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, “‘I found your daughter was not a virgin,’ and yet these are the evidences of my daughter’s virginity.” And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.’ Deuteronomy 22:17.

Adam and Eve produced a family. ‘Adam … had sons and daughters.’ Genesis 5:4b. All humans belong to Adam’s family through blood but also legally. ‘Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.’ Romans 5:18-19. God as Judge declared humanity guilty and facing condemnation because Adam (as mankind’s representative) broke the covenant. We are born into a covenant-breaking family (humanity). God legally condemns us. However, because Christ has shed His (covenant) blood for His bride (the Church) God is able legally to declare us as righteous (i.e., justified). Justification is a legal transaction in God’s court. God causes those justified to be born again, i.e., born into the family of God, which means you have been legally adopted by God and belong to Him. Like Adam’s family, so God’s family has both blood and legal aspects. Christ’s blood is the blood on the cloth, which is the blood of His bride’s virginity. Of which family are you? God’s or Adam’s?     

ABRAHAM: THE WANDERER RETURNS

THE WANDERER RETURNS

“Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. ² Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³ And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴ to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.” Genesis 13:1-4

Introduction

Abram already has undergone a real test of faith. God had led Abram to a land which He had promised to give it to Abram’s descendants. But it turned out that there was a severe famine in the Promised Land. What was Abram supposed to do? Instead of trusting in the LORD to provide, Abram planned a holiday in Egypt to get away from it all! We looked at some “snap-shots” of Abram and Sarai’s vacation in Egypt! We looked at Abram’s holiday plan. We looked at the place where he stayed. And like all the well laid plans of mice and men there was a plague on Abram’s holiday. Or rather the plagues were on those with whom Abram and Sarai were staying!

In the following we pick up the story where we left off. Pharaoh, the owner of the “Holiday Resort” was only too happy to see the backs of Abram and Sarai. He was so anxious to see them leave that he “waved their tab” – as they say in Canada. Abram and Sarai had made a killing in Egypt, and Pharaoh had sent them home, letting them keep all their “Casino” winnings.

Now we pick up the “holiday party” as they journey home. They are heading back to the place where they were before they went, which was between Bethel and Ai. They were struggling home with bags full of silver and gold. With the holiday behind them they were keen to get back home and get back into the routine. In the following we’ll have a look at three areas, viz., the Trip, the Trinkets and the Trust. The general gist of what we’ll be looking at is as follows: “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

The Trip

“Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South” Genesis 13:1. Abram had gone down to Egypt now he’s ascending the hill to the Promised Land. So the “trip” we’re talking about is the trip home and not so much the trip to Egypt. Like the Israelites ascending the steps of the Temple, Abram was returning to the place of worship. Whether he was singing like Moses and Miriam after being delivered out of the hand of Pharaoh we can only guess. But as they made their trip back home they had much to praise God about.

Like any of us on the trip back home from an exciting holiday Abram would have been running everything that happened through his mind. He would be thinking, “I did a lot of stupid things! In fact, the whole idea was stupid! I should have stayed where I was, famine or no famine! Why did I have to run off to Egypt? Why did I put my wife’s honor in jeopardy? Why didn’t I just trust in the LORD to provide and be done with it?”

And isn’t that the way of it for us today? Whenever a Christian backslides he may spend the rest of his life casting it up to himself. He’s never short of help in casting it up his backsliding to himself. The devil and his demons are only too glad to help you do penance for the rest of your life! The “Accuser of the Brethren” is only too happy to hand you a cudgel with which to beat yourself black and blue for your failings. But not the LORD, not our LORD. When we are faithless He remains faithful. Who do you think it is who is leading Abram back to the place he was before? The Good Shepherd, the LORD rescued Abram from his folly. The LORD delivered him.

Do you read here that the LORD starting calling Abram names, casting things up to him?  Did the LORD say to Abram, “You stupid idiot! Why didn’t you listen to Me?” No, that’s not the LORD who’s accusing you of your past backsliding. It was Pharaoh and his house who were plagued by God, not Abram and his house.

Oh yeah, it’s wrong to backslide. What Abram did was wrong, but the LORD went down into Egypt to rescue Abram from his backsliding, not to destroy him. Abram had turned his back on his sin and he was back on the wagon. After this brief interlude he was wanting to get back to the LORD. So you do likewise. Turn your back on your backsliding and seek the LORD. He’s not going to clobber you. He’s going to bless you. However, this is not to say that there will be no consequences for your past indiscretions. The repentant drunkard might have done irreparable damage to his liver. The repentant promiscuous homosexual might yet develop AIDS after rejecting that lifestyle.

One of the slaves Abram picked up in Egypt was a woman by the name of Hagar. Hagar and her descendants were to become the bane of Israel’s life. The cattle Abram picked up from Egypt were about to cause friction between he and his nephew Lot. If you belong to the LORD and you wander away from Him He will bring you back. But chances are that you won’t be rescued unscathed. However, put it behind you and get on with serving the LORD. For if you are truly repentant then the LORD has fully forgiven you.

To those who truly belong to the LORD, as does Abram, “There is therefore now no condemnation” Romans 8:1. The LORD has His everlasting arms around even the most “Kamikaze” of Christians. The LORD won’t allow you to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. He has you by the scruff of your neck with a love that will not let you go. The Psalmist says, “My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net” Psalm 25:15. Whether the LORD’s got you by the scruff of the neck or by the ankles the point is that He’s got you. Always remember that it’s the “fatted calf” our Father wants to kill when the wanderer returns and not the wanderer.

Abram may have deserted the LORD by going down to Egypt, but the LORD hadn’t deserted Abram. So then Abram and his family were making the trip home to where they had been before.

The Trinkets

The LORD didn’t meet Abram like a Customs Officer at the border of the Promised Land and ask “Anything to declare?” We’re told in Genesis 13:2 that “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” Abram got to take all his winnings, all his holiday trinkets with him into the Promised Land.

Now, then, what does this picture say to those who say, “You can’t take your riches with you when you die”? Here’s God letting Abram into the Promised Land with all his earthly belongings. Abram was a very rich man! The LORD says elsewhere, “How HARD it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” Luke 18:24-25. Yet the Customs Officers didn’t confiscate everything Abram had. He got to keep everything he had won at Pharaoh’s Casino. Jesus says it is HARD for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God but not impossible! He says, “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God” Luke 18:27.

Why is it that our picture of a missionary is some white bloke sitting in a mud hut overseas? If I was to ask to be sent to Beverley Hills why would no one take me seriously? Poor people may be more open to a Saviour but don’t the rich need a Saviour too? Is it more “righteous” to be poor and less “righteous” to be rich? Both the rich man Abram and the poor man Lazarus died and went to heaven! Whether you’re rich or poor is neither here nor there. The kingdom of God is not about food or drink. It’s got nothing to do with how rich or how poor you are. And yet we have this mind-set that sees poverty almost as a sign of righteousness or piety. Jesus stopped the rich young ruler at the border of the kingdom of heaven. He wouldn’t let him into His kingdom, the Promised Land with all his riches, Why not? It wasn’t because the LORD had anything against riches. It was because the rich young ruler had put his trust in all his riches, in trinkets! However, for some reason nowadays Christians in general seem to be ashamed of riches! But think of the work that could be done if the church was full of rich Christians. Think of the work the church could do if we had one millionaire in the congregation who tithed! It’s the love of money that is the root of all evil not money itself!

I was a member of a congregation that donated a small sum to a financially struggling congregation out west in a small town somewhere. Well, it turned out that one of the members of that congregation upon realizing the church’s financial struggle followed our example and anonymously donated $10,000! The church I was attending had in this set a good example for others to follow. And, praise be to God that there are still some around today who follow a GOOD example.

The Church is supposed to be the light on the hill with words and with deeds. The Roman Church is the richest in the world yet her people are some of the poorest! There’s nothing wrong in having a nice church building to worship in, even a beautiful one! One has only to look at the temple Solomon built. Its designer was God! But to bleed your people dry to build and maintain beautiful cathedrals while your people go hungry spiritually and physically is criminal. But it’s just as criminal to hold back whatever wealth you have from the work of the LORD. For everything we own belongs to the LORD. It is given us by the LORD. It is His! The LORD can just as easily take all our trinkets, all our riches back again.

Listen to what the LORD says in the first chapter of Haggai, i.e., Haggai 1:7ff, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,’ says the LORD. You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the LORD of hosts. ‘Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

So the moral of the tale is this: Use whatever wealth you have for the building of the LORD’s Church throughout the earth. We’re not necessarily talking about buildings. We all know that Christians can worship anywhere. But let me just pause here and pose a question: When you drive through center of any western city, when you look at the sky-line, are you able to pick out church buildings from the others? Are you able to tell the difference between a church building and a bank building, for instance? The church is the one with the steeple, the arched windows, isn’t it? Well, I put it to you that as the church become more and more like the world, so do our buildings! And how many church buildings have you driven by only to find that it’s been converted into a theatre or something? The world wants to change our church buildings into theatres. A theatre is a place of entertainment! At the theatre you’re entertained by people acting as if they are something when they’re not! You could be excused nowadays for thinking you were walking into a church when you were actually walking into an entertainment theatre!

So the world wants to change our churches into entertainment centers! And I’m sure you are aware that many churches are quite happy about this. If they’re not happy then why is there so much puppets, mime and drama in the churches nowadays? And by the same token, why is it that some congregations go to great lengths nowadays to build buildings that look more like pan-cake houses than churches? We were in an old Methodist Church building in Brisbane City which is now a pan-cake house! Inside they now hand you a menu instead of a hymn book and a Bible! There were photos on the walls from its glory days when it was packed with people feeding on something more substantial than flap-jacks!

The Christian Church today has adopted a strange philosophy, the belief that the church must become like the world in order to attract the world. But you as a Christian should stick out like a sore thumb. Therefore the building you worship in should stick out like a sore thumb. What’s wrong with a majestic steeple pointing heavenward? However, nowadays you’re never sure whether you’re going to get served pancake or the Word of God! But more often than not you’ll be served something other than God’s Word. Don’t be deceived: some of the churches in this town are really pan-cake houses! The world and the things of the world have infiltrated the churches. And the churches reflect the world and the things of the world. And now instead of building church buildings we build multipurpose buildings. Apparently it increases the resale value of the building for the future.

The Church today needs to learn anew what the LORD was teaching Abraham And here it is: All the riches of the world, all their buildings and all their cities belong to God. And if it pleases God to give us silver and gold then He gives us them. If it pleases God to give us a whole cities then He gives us whole cities. If it pleases God to give us the whole earth then he gives us the whole earth. But you and I won’t see a brass razoo of it unless we trust in the LORD. Unless we trust in the LORD with all our heart, soul, strength, might, and mind the little you have will be taken from you and given to those who do trust the LORD. That’s what the LORD is teaching Abram, i.e., to trust in Him and Him alone, and not to trust in the world or the things of the world, the things of Egypt.

Like Abram, we need to take our eyes of the things of the world and trust in the things of God.

The Trust

If this were a game of monopoly Abram is no longer in jail. However, he’s back at the beginning collecting more than 200. He landed on Chance and bankrupted himself. He had to pay the owner of the Promised Land everything he had in a famine. He went down to Egypt to try to bale himself out of his debt. But actually Egypt turned out to be the jail, i.e., the place where people go when they cannot pay their debts. But Abraham had a Community Chest card up his sleeve. He had a “Get Out Of Jail Free Card”, didn’t he? So here we are seeing him use that card. “Abram called on the name of the LORD.”

Abraham went back to that little sanctuary he had built. He returned from his spin around the Monopoly Board and landed on Church Street. Did all the buildings look the same on Church Street? Let’s see, there are the Amorites with their Baals and Ashteroths. There they are over here cutting themselves and calling on Baal. There’s another lot over there throwing their children into the fiery belly of their god Moloch. All these establishments of the Canaanites dotted the skyline of the Promised Land. BUT THAT WHICH ABRAM HAD BUILT WAS DIFFERENT! Abram had built an altar there, an altar to the LORD who had appeared to him. Right there smack-dab right in the center of pagansville he had built a church building, building different to all the rest. He had built an altar, not to an unknown God, but the LORD who had appeared to him, the LORD who had promised to bless him, the LORD who had promised to make him a great nation, the LORD who had promised to bless those who blessed Abram and curse him who cursed him. So, when it says that Abram called on the name of the LORD, it means that Abram began to worship God once more.

The prodigal has returned, this prodigal has much more than smelly clothes on his back. This is the wild rover has come home with gold in great store! The wanderer returns! Think about it, Abram had already lost whatever he had in a famine the LORD sent. But now he’s returning with gold in great store and a heart that is ready and willing to use his riches to the glory of God! He knew that everything he had belonged to the LORD. Like Paul he had learned that “in whatever state, to be content; [to] know how to be abased, and... how to live in prosperity... [Like Paul Abram] learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” Philippians 4:11-12.

Abram could say along with Job, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” Job 1:21. The LORD took Abram’s riches away in a famine. But now he has blessed him with even greater riches. Like Job whom God blessed him with more at the end than he ever had at the beginning Job 42:12. In fact Abram is the richest man there is apart from Christ! For Paul to the Romans in 4:13 tells us that Abram is the heir of the whole world!

So, who says you don’t get to take your riches with you? Abraham and all the meek along with him shall inherit the earth Matthew 5:5. Therefore, all the silver and gold and livestock that Abram had when he left Egypt is just a small token of what’s in store for him. In fact, Abram coming out of Egypt, the world with all his riches as he entered the Promised Land is a great biblical motif. It is a picture of the wonderful provision of God for His people. He brings us up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage and He bestows great blessings upon us.

When we set our hearts to worship Him in spirit and in truth He sets His heart to bless us. It is the LORD who brought Abram up out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage. It is the LORD who brings us out of that land of bondage too. It was the LORD who brought Israel out of captivity in Egypt, the LORD who says to Israel in Deut. 6:10ff., “And it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant – when you have eaten and are full – then beware, lest you         forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” Deuteronomy 6:10-12.

The LORD had given His Church all the great cities of the Western Civilization. They were ours and all the steeples on every skyline were testimony to this fact. However, the Western skyline is rapidly changing. It’s beginning to look more and more like Egypt! Instead of steeples we see Moslem onions, domes dot the horizon! The Church has forgotten the LORD who brought them out of Egypt. It’s time we made the trip back to that place we were before. It’s time we gathered our trinkets together in our swag and headed back to the Promised Land. It’s time we began to trust in God, to really call on the name of the LORD. It’s time for the wanderer, all the wanderers to return and call on the name of the LORD!

If you’re still stuck down in Egypt, if you have been faithless, then follow father Abraham up the hill back to the Promised Land. You might have been faithless up till now but God hasn’t. The Lord is faithful and he will forgive the wanderer. Even if you’ve been the WILDEST wild-rover return to the LORD. If you belong to Him He will not deny you because He cannot and will not deny Himself.

Come, come back to Abraham’s family altar and once more call on the name of the LORD. Make the trip. Bring your trinkets. BUT trust in the LORD!

ABRAHAM: PROMISES! PROMISES! PROMISES!

PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family and from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:1-3.

Introduction

We have already looked a little at family trees. We looked at Abraham’s Family Tree in particular. We also looked about his Family Trek. And we concluded that, though it is nice to know where you’ve come from, it’s even better to know where you are going.

In the following we pick up the story of the life of Abraham in a place called Haran. Abraham and some of his family stopped there on the way to the Land of Promise. We’re told in Genesis 11:32 that Abraham’s dad, Terah, died there at Haran. Listen to what Stephen said before they stoned him (as recorded in Acts 7:2ff.), “Men and brethren and fathers listen; the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ Then he called out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He [i.e., the Lord] moved him to this land in which you now dwell.”

So, with these words in mind, we should take note of two things: a) Abraham was called by God while in Ur of the Chaldees and not in the place called Haran. And b) The God of glory appeared to Abraham and not to his father Terah. So, what are we to make of the words in Genesis 11:31, “And Terah took his son Abram let all they went with them from Ur of the Chaldeans”? Well, we are to take it that Moses, the writer of this passage, is giving Terah respect of place. Terah was Abraham’s father and Scripture says, “Honor your father and mother.” So, even though it was Abraham who was called by God, his father gets a mention out of respect because he went too.

So, we ask the question, Whence come they? And whither dost they goest? Or to put that into modern idiom, Where have they come from and where are they going? Well, they’ve come from a place called Ur which is in south-eastern Mesopotamia and now they are in Haran which is in North-west Mesopotamia. And they are on their way to the land the God of glory has promised to show Abraham. They have travelled up between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. They have gone through what would now be Iraq. And if you still don’t know where I mean then think about Damascus. You’ll have heard about Paul on the road to Damascus? Well, Damascus is nowhere near Haran! However, if Paul had kept going when he was walking north to Damascus he would have come to Haran eventually.

So, Abraham and his cortege, or caravan, were traversing what is known as the “Fertile Crescent.” They could have gone straight from Ur to Canaan but this would have meant going across the desert. And if you’ve ever watched any movies about the French Foreign Legion you’ll know that the desert is a tough thing to cross. So it’s better to take the long way round rather than dying of thirst in the sands of the desert! That is, supposing it was a desert in those days as it is now.

The thing that makes the story of the life of Abraham most remarkable is that Abraham did all if is on a promise. When Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans all he had to go on was a bunch of promises. Oh sure, it was the God of glory who appeared to him and had given him these promises. But how did Abraham know that the Word of the LORD was true and could be trusted? Faith! That’s why Abraham is the father of the faithful – faith!

The general gist of what we’ll be looking at in the following is this, Take God at His Word because He is more than able to deliver what He has promised! We’ll focus in a general way on three things which up ahead will be elaborated on. Those three things are: the Promise, the Progeny and the Property.

The Promise

“Now the LORD had said to Abram” Genesis 12:1. What follows is the promise, which consisted of land, offspring, blessing, a great name, God’s protection, and a blessing for all the families of the earth. However, before we get into all of that, notice the tense, “The LORD had said to Abram.” So here he is in Haran. His father has just died. Perhaps that’s why they stopped at Haran. Maybe Terah was ill, (though it looks like Abram lived in Haran some fifteen years). Anyway, Terah died there and now Abraham and his living rellies were leaving. They were heading toward this land that the LORD said He would show Abram.

Even though he’s just lost his father, Abraham doesn’t decide to turn back. It might have been tempting to return with his father’s body to Ur for burial. But more than that, what was Abraham’s father doing in Haran anyway? Didn’t the Lord say to Abraham before he left Ur, “Get out of your country, from your kindred and your father’s house, to a land I will show you”? So what’s Abraham playing at, taking the “old man” with him? He was supposed to leave his kindred behind, wasn’t he? But what would happen if you told your family that you had met the God of glory? What would happen if you told them about the promises of God?

I know a man whose daughter showed him the promises the God of glory has made in His Word. Some Christians had been teaching the Bible to this girl who was young at the time. She asked dad if he could help her understand the Word of God. He didn’t know that much about the Bible. So she showed him a few things! It wasn’t long before he was on the road to the “Land of Promise” with his daughter. In fact he became a Presbyterian minister and tells everyone who’ll listen about the promises of God.

However, Abraham didn’t hear the Gospel from the pages of the Bible. There was no Bible back then as we know it. No! The God of glory Himself preached the Gospel to Abraham! The message of salvation is found even in the words of the text before us. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says about this, “And the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed’” Galatians 3:8.

Abraham then, heard the good news message from the God of glory who appeared to him while in Ur of the Chaldeans. Therefore, it’s not hard to see that Abraham is repenting and believing in the gospel. He’s turning his back on his country, which country according to Jeremiah 50, was full of idols! In fact the chief city of Mesopotamia, Babylon, is a symbol of idolatry throughout the Bible. In the Book of Revelation John names it “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth” Revelation 17:5.

God by His grace called Abraham out of that place. Abraham obeyed. And don’t think Abraham was some kind of goody-two-shoes. He was just as bad as the rest of them (until his conversion by the grace of God). For Joshua 24:2-3 says, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River [Euphrates] in old times; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan.’”

So we see that there was nothing about Abraham that would make God want to choose him over anyone else in Mesopotamia. It was God Himself who TOOK Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans. And it was God Himself who LED him to Canaan just as He promised. However, we don’t see Abraham being dragged kicking and screaming! But rather we see that he turned his back on his wicked ways when he heard the Gospel. He believed what God had promised. Therefore Abraham, like us, was justified by faith in the promise i.e., the Word of God. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans puts it like this, “[Abraham was] fully convinced that what [i.e., God] had promised He was also able to perform” Romans 4:21. He took God at His Word because he believed that He was more than able to deliver what He had promised.

And what was the substance of this great promise of God to Abraham? Well, like all good Trinitarians we can express this one great promise in a threefold manner! In fact I’ll let someone else express it for us. The Dutch theologian Geerhardus Vos says it like this,

The objective action of God was for the patriarchs interlinked with three great promises. These were first the chosen family would be made into a great nation; secondly, that the land of Canaan would be their possession; thirdly, that they were to become a blessing for all people.[1]

So, it’s not hard to see these three great promises in the verses before us regarding Abraham. The great nation is mentioned. The land is mentioned. And so is the fact that Abraham will be a blessing for all people. Up ahead we’ll see each of these great promises develop as we follow the life of Abraham. But let me just mention in passing, always remember what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:20. “All the promises of God in Him [i.e., Jesus Christ] are Yes, and in Him Amen.” Like the old saying, “All roads lead to Rome” so all gospel promises lead to Christ.

Progeny

When the God of Glory appeared to Abraham with the gospel, He promised him that He would make him a great nation. When Abraham heard this he had no children. He was seventy five years old when he left Haran. His wife Sarai was sixty five years old and was unable to bear children. Have you ever noticed the Bible never beats about the bush? “Sarai was barren” Genesis 11:30. But even though Abraham was perfectly aware of his wife’s condition, it didn’t stop him from believing the gospel of God.

Abraham believed God when He said he would become a blessing for all people. God had said to Abraham that He would bless him. Now if that’s not good news then I don’t know what is! The God of glory appeared to Abraham and said, “I’m going to bless you! Not only am I going to bless you but I’m going to make you a blessing for all people! I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.” Who is going to curse Abraham? Well, it’s certainly not going to be God. Otherwise God would have to break His promise to Abraham!

Abraham most definitely knew, one way or another, the promise made in the garden after the Fall. Remember Genesis 3:15, the embryonic gospel, in the words of the LORD, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Let me quote from a theologian I trust and respect. RL Dabney says,

To appreciate correctly the amount of gospel light possessed in the patriarchal, and even the Mosaic ages, we must bear in mind a thing often overlooked, that the human race had just enjoyed, in Adam, personal communication with God in fullest theophanies [a theophany is literally a God-appearance], which Adam, by the faculties of his perfect manhood, and other patriarchs, through their longevity, were admirably qualified to transmit well. Adam was contemporary with Methuselah 243 years, Methuselah with Noah 600 years (dying in the year of the flood) and Noah with Abram 58 years. Thus Abraham received the revelations of paradise through only two transmissions![2]

So, according to Dabney, Abraham had a prior and probably an accurate knowledge of the Gospel. However, if he did, he didn’t believe it until the God of glory applied it to him personally, which is not a lot different to the Christian today. In fact it’s the same!

I remember meeting a woman in North Queensland who claimed she never heard the Gospel in church when she lived in Brisbane. She moved up north, went to church, heard the Gospel and believed it! But I know for a fact she heard the Gospel many times in the church in Brisbane, because I know that her minister was a faithful preacher of the gospel if there ever was one. But unless the God of glory appears to you with the gospel, we can preach the gospel till we’re blue in the face but you won’t hear or believe it. It’s only when God causes the “penny to drop” that you begin to really understand. But Abraham began to believe when the God of glory appeared with the Gospel to him.

Just as Adam and Eve were promised a Seed that would bruise the serpent’s head, so Abraham was promised that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. And, as mentioned before, all the Gospel promises lead to Christ! That well-known passage, Galatians 3:16, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as to one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ” But we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here. Let me just say that before the Flood there were two great families on the earth: The Family of Cain and the Family of Seth. Whereas the Family of Cain was the seed of the serpent, Seth, from whom Abraham is descended, is of the Seed of the Woman.

The God of Glory is about to form a great nation — now after the flood. He has chosen Abraham to be this nation’s father. There have only ever been two types of peoples on the earth then, what John in I John 3:10 calls, “The children of God and the children of the devil.” God, in Abraham is about to begin the process of making a new nation, a nation that will be set apart from the other nations. And He is doing this in order to fulfil His gospel promises, i.e., His redemptive plan.

By the time the promised Seed came there were two distinct peoples in terms of the Bible, viz., Jew and Gentile (more accurately the Ethnoi, i.e., the ethnics). And, there was a wall of partition that God had placed between them, which we can read all about all through the Bible. But for now, as we move on to our third and final point, with regard to progeny, Abraham is “Father of all those who believe” Romans 4:11. And, as Paul says to the Galatians, “Only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham” Galatians 3:7.

So we see then that even today there are only two types of people, just as there always has been since the Fall, i.e., the church and the world, or, in other words, there are Christians and there are non-Christians. And, as it was with Old Testament so it is in the New Testament, “They are not all Israel who are of Israel.” Romans 9:6b, which is to say that not everyone who claims to be Christian really is!

Property

Where is this great nation of Old Testament people going to live? A great nation would need somewhere to live, wouldn’t it? So the LORD has promised Abraham property. But where is this great nation going to live? “[In] a land that I will show you [Abraham].” Genesis 12:1.

Now, in light of the fact that God has promised that the family of Abraham was going become a blessing for all the families of the earth. And in light of the fact that God has promised that Abraham and his family would become a great nation. And in light of the fact that the LORD is going to show Abraham some land, three questions necessarily arise,

a)      How much of a blessing will Abraham be to all the families of the earth?

b)      How great a great nation will Abraham and family be? And,

c)      How large and how great is this land that the LORD is going to show Abraham?

Well, one of the benefits of living some four thousand years after Abraham is that we can look in the rear-view mirror and see where we’ve come from.

Abraham, well he was looking at everything away in the faraway distant future, wasn’t he? As he set out on the long march from Ur, he was just looking at some mountains shrouded in mist in the far off and hazy distance. The writer to the Hebrews says it like this, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going” Hebrews 11:8. All he had were promises! promises! promises! But he took God at His Word. He believed that God was more than able to deliver what He has promised!

History, even redemptive history as recorded in the Bible has proven the faithfulness of God. God fulfils His promises. He keeps His Word, including the Word He spoke to Abraham, the Word, the Gospel He speaks to all who believe as did father Abraham.

The LORD was going to show Abraham a land. How large and how great was this land, this property? Was it just the land of Canaan? Was that the extent of it? That’s what the Jews at the time of Christ seemed to believe, wasn’t it? That’s what today’s Jews believe. They believe that the land of Israel is theirs because they claim Abraham as their father. They claim Abraham as their father yet they refuse to come to Abraham’s greatest Son, Jesus Christ. They refuse the blessing of Abraham in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.

The Jews today have rebuilt the partition between Jew and Gentile. That partition was removed by the Seed of the LORD promised Abraham, even Jesus Christ, “For he Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” Ephesians 2:14.

As mentioned above, before the Flood there were two great families, a Godly line and a devilish line. After the Flood the LORD made anew Godly line which began with Abraham. This Godly line became a nation with Abraham’s grandson whose name the LORD changed from Jacob to Israel. For a time there was the Israel of God and there was the nations under the influence of the Devil. Now, there is the Church on earth made up of people from all nations and there is the world, comprising of people from all nations. Thus there are two great families on the earth. One is the family of God and the other is the family of the Devil.

The Jews today have aligned themselves with the family of the Devil. However, the grace of God is in the fact that if any should repent, like all other nations, then they can be grafted back into Abraham’s family tree. Think about it, when Christ came to earth the borders of Canaan, the Promised Land were opened from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. The command of the Promised Seed to Israel was, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all things I have commended you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.

And, just to show His Church, i.e., the new Israel of God, that He meant what He said, the LORD had His Temple at Jerusalem destroyed, just as He promised (Matthew 24:2). Then He scattered His people, i.e., His Church made up of Jew and Gentile to the four corners.

As we begin to tie it all together, all the families of the earth will be blessed in Abraham. How? Well, what does Romans 10:17 say? “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” So, all the families of the earth will be blessed in Abraham by eventually hearing and in turn becoming, by the grace of God, obedient to the Gospel, just as Abraham heard and obeyed the Gospel in his day. God blessed him and removed his sin and transgressions from him in Christ who became as one who is cursed for all believers.

The promise God gave to Abraham was one of progeny, even a great nation. The promise included the Seed of the Woman, i.e., Jesus Christ, who would redeem Abraham’s great nation, i.e., a nation of believers including you and me. To have your sin and transgressions removed is blessing enough, yet the blessings of God continue to grow like a mustard seed. A mustard seed starts off small and grows and grows into a huge tree by comparison. So all the blessings grow for all the families of the earth. So does the great nation that came from Abraham grow, even the Church, the true Israel of God.

And so also does the Promised Land grow. How large and how great is the Promised Land, the property? Well, Canaan was just a token, a deposit! David, in Psalm 37:22 says, “For those who are blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, but those who are cursed by Him shall be cut off.” Verse 11 of this Psalm says, “But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Jesus Christ says in Matthew 5:5, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The Holy Spirit through His Apostle says that Abraham is the “Heir of the world.” Romans 4:13. All who belong to the Family of Abraham, even the Church of believers, will inherit the earth, the city which has foundations. Whose builder and maker is God, even Heaven and Earth.

Conclusion

            Remember that God is more than able to deliver all that He promises, be they promise, progeny or property or whatever. Nations in which the Gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and obeyed are blessed along with Abraham.  Whenever a person repents and believes the Gospel he/she becomes a member of Abraham’s family. And with Abraham will inherit the world and will be blessed with every blessing in heavenly places in Christ.

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[1] Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, p. 80.

[2] Robert Lewis Dabney, Systematic Theology, p. 445.

Dear Dorothy

(For my beautiful wife on her birthday)

Dear Dorothy

This is not a love letter. This is merely a letter from a husband to his beautiful wife upon her temporary absence from his side. You told me that your name meant ‘gift of God.’ You are our God’s gift to me. What did I do to deserve such a wonderful present as you? I don’t even deserve the outer wrapping that contains you. My mother saw something special in you. Mind you, she always looked at the soul. She wanted you for me. So I looked again at you, this time deeper. Like diving into the deep blue sky through a mountain telescope I peered into your innermost being, through the windows of your soul. That’s when I wanted you to be mine too. I saw you as my other half, my ‘better half.’ I needed you for me to become complete. Two halves make a whole. We share a rib.

“And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’ … And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:18; 21-24)

I didn’t know I was alone until I met you. How lonely it is without you, like a tree without leaves is naked, like a river without water is dry. I await your arrival, like winter waits for spring. The months are as long as winter shadows. When will my mountain snows melt? When will your infectious laughter bubble forth from my side again? My tears taste salty when they run down my face, tears of missing you.

Your nose crinkles when you smile. Your smile is what captivated me when we first met. Your laughter took me prisoner. You brought lasting joy to my life, the joy of a kindred soul. Yet one word from your soft lips very easily brings me pain. It hurts me when I displease you. When I hurt you I hurt myself, like hitting my thumb with a hammer.

Your eyes are mystery to me. They can be so black, dark, mysterious, yet next time I look, so bright, so clear, so open. With a look you are able to remove my cloak of pride, like a blade of grass pops a child’s soapy bubble. I’m so tied to you. You deflate me. But you puff me up again. You are the very air I breathe, my lungs. My sweetness, I’m gasping for air! I miss hearing you breathe by my side. Through the night the silence scares me. I want to hold you. Caress you. I want to be complete again. I want to breathe…

Pray that the LORD God, our Lord, would be pleased to reunite us quickly. For I very much miss the gift He has given me, now sitting on a ‘silver’ platter. Twenty-five years has not dulled their gladdening sound. For my heartstrings still tug at the wedding bells in my mind every time I think of you. Love, Neil.

 

(Excerpted from my e-book "Disembark the Ark & Other Contemplations)

HORIZONS

Job says that God “drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters” Job 26:10a. From the viewer’s perspective horizons always remain distant. A ship on an ocean is simply a point at the centre of a circle. If you were to sail towards the horizon it would always remain at the same distance from you. Thus like beauty, horizons are in the eye of the beholder. Job also says that God “hangs the earth on nothing” Job 26:7b. Therefore, when earth is the centre of the circle outer space always remains on the horizon. Isaiah says that God “sits above the circle [or sphere] of the earth” Isaiah 40:22a. Therefore, God is beyond the horizon. However, James says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” James 4:8a. How are we as individuals and how is earth as a planet supposed to draw near to God if He remains beyond the horizon? Well, it is possible because of the nature of God.

Omnipresence is one of the Triune God’s incommunicable attributes. Therefore, it is hard to communicate or demonstrate what this means! Looking horizontally out to sea or up at the sky from a ship’s deck during a clear day might illustrate something of this. Horizons are all around you. They are everywhere (i.e., omni-present) as far as your eye can see. As the ship sails towards the horizon and as the earth ‘sails’ through space the horizon remains equidistant to you the viewer. However, the difference between the Omnipresent God and the horizon is that God is a Person and is therefore personal. Actually He is three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who are one God. This means that God can be present at the centre of the circle and be on the horizon at the same time! As Jesus was being baptised the Father was in Heaven and the Spirit, like a dove, was descending on Him as He stood on earth, yet God was still everywhere at once. (Luke 3:21-22). Omnipresence may be described as everywhere-at-onceness!

It was the Person of the Son who clothed Himself in human garb, i.e., ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ John 1:14. After His resurrection, with His humanity fully intact, He ascended back to where He was before as God. (John 3:13; Ephesians 4:9-10). From there He and the Father sent the Spirit to dwell among us and in us. (John 15:26; 16:7; Romans 8:11). Thus, if you are trying to draw near to the Triune God not only is He on your horizon but He is also with you at the centre of the circle! This is why Christopher Columbus could say in his diary after his sailing-trip discovery of the New World, ‘It was the Lord who put it into my mind … I could feel His hand upon me … There is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvellous illumination from the Scriptures … No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Saviour if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The Gospel must still be preached to so many lands in such a short time. This is what convinces me.’

You and I might not be Columbus discovering the New World, but, if, like him, you are looking unto Jesus then you are no longer adrift at sea with the horizon remaining ever distant. Christ is with you and never will He leave you or forsake you as you sail towards the New Heavens and New Earth. (Psalm 23:4; Hebrews 13:5; Revelation 21:1).

 

TAXES & TAXATION

TAXES & TAXATION

“The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness...” Psalm 24:1a.

Introduction

The following numbered headings and accompanying comments have been designed to initiate (and hopefully stimulate) discussion among Christians on the question of taxes and taxation. The footnotes are given simply to include the thoughts and opinions of some fairly well-known Christians and Christian documents on some of the matters raised.

“The earth is the LORD’S, and all its fullness...” (Psa. 24:1a). Since God owns everything it is He who ought to be honoured for any (material) increase we receive. Therefore God’s Word needs to be searched and consulted if Christians and Christianised societies (e.g., Western nations) are ever to be obedient to our God in such matters as tax and taxation. So, “To the law and to the testimony!”

1. Is government taxation lawful?

A question very much like this was asked of Jesus. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (We believe the tax referred to here was a Poll Tax upon the head of every male over the age of twenty years). Jesus replied, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” Matthew 22:21. Therefore according to Jesus government taxation is lawful. David Chilton says,

The Bible does, of course, allow for some government taxation, but not much. The specific form of taxation (head tax, income tax, or whatever) is relatively unimportant, and is not set forth in Scripture; what is important is the rate of taxation, which determines the size of the state. As an absolute, outside limit, any tax of ten percent or more is specifically regarded by Scripture as tyranny – an attempt by rulers to be like God, extracting a ‘tithe’ (1 Samuel 8:15, 17). [1]

2. Is government itself lawful?

Again, Jesus in His “Render therefore to Caesar” answer legitimatised Civil Government, including government of a non-Christian kind. His Apostle who also lived under a pagan Roman government says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no governing authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God” Romans 13:1. Government or Civil Magistracy is therefore lawful because it is God appointed.

The reason God has appointed the Magistrate is for the promotion of the doing of good works and the punishment of those who practice evil. The Apostle goes on to say, “For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due, taxes to whom taxes are due.” (Romans 13:6-7a).

The compilers of the 1647 Westminster Confession of Faith (which is subscribed to by today’s Presbyterian Elders, whether Teaching Elders or Ruling Elders) are given the exalted title of the Westminster Divines, and these men say in the Confession,

It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to honour their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority for conscience’ sake. Infidelity, or difference in religion, doth not make void the magistrate’s just and legal authority, nor free the people from their due obedience to him, from which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted.[2]

3. Separation of Church and State?

Does Jesus’ statement about giving to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s suggest that paying taxes to the State has nothing to do with obedience to God? In other words, does Jesus here view the State as secular (as in having nothing to do with God? Of course not!

The once upon a time Prime Minister of the Netherlands Abraham Kuyper Snr. says,

The sphere of the state itself stands under the majesty of the Lord. In that sphere there an independent responsibility to God is to be maintained. The sphere of the state is not profane. But both church and state must, each in its own sphere, obey God and serve His honour. [3]

The State is God’s minister in the civil affairs of men, but not in ecclesiastical affairs (though it should also obediently promote the church’s wellbeing by such things as tax-exemptions etc.) The word “separate” is too strong a word and has led to the idea of the separation of State and God! Therefore, though Church and State must remain distinct (rather than “separate”!) as functioning entities they both are components of one nation under God.

RJ Rushdoony says,

The nature of Israel’s civil order [i.e., as per the Bible is that] God as King of Israel ruled from His throne room in the tabernacle, and to Him were the taxes brought. Because of the common error of viewing the tabernacle as an exclusively or essentially “religious,” i.e., ecclesiastical center, there is a failure to recognize that it was indeed a religious, civil center. In terms of Biblical law, the state, home, school, and every other agency must be no less religious than the church. The sanctuary was thus the civil center of Israel and no less religious for that fact.[4]

4. Are Both Church and State Appointed By God?

Magistrates and Governors are appointed by God for the good of society.[5] The Apostle Paul says to Titus, “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work.” (Titus 3:1). Jesus says, “On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” Matthew 16:18b. Therefore, since both Church and State have been appointed or established by God, and are under His authority, one would expect these bodies therefore to “reflect” something of the Godhead. Hence we see Church and State members paying tributes (i.e., tithes and taxes). These bodies in turn look after the peace and welfare of the many. Nigel Lee says,

The Church-of-the-future will need to set out, also in the various inter-relationships of human society — the full implications of the Father's paternity, the Son's filiation, and the Spirit's procession. For the Church needs to distinguish the various personal attributes of the Deity ontically (within Himself) — from their application economically (within man's world).[6]

 Since both are God ordained, our con-tributing tithes and taxes to Church and State is simply part of our religious obedience to the triune God.

5. Is there a “principle” of taxation to be derived from intra-Trinitarian dealings?

God is Triune. He is the One and the Many. Nigel Lee says,

The Three Persons within God Triune Himself, interpenetrate and overlap one another — which is quite what one would expect creatures of God Triune to do. Indeed, this is what Rev. Prof. Dr. Cornelius Van Til meant by “the one and the many.” 1 Cor. 12:12-20.[7]

Therefore, as such, each Member of the Trinity con-tributes (voluntarily) from His own distinct property, to the Godhead. Therefore, “the Many” – each from His own increase and abundance – “pay tribute” to “the One”. These “tributes” include Fatherliness, Sonship, and love, honour, respect, and gratitude, etc., for each of the Others. Thus the eternal peace, and the eternal welfare, of the many is perpetually maintained and sustained by the “One” through the (voluntary) con-tribution of the “Many.”

6. How Much Tax Should We Pay?

Neither Church nor State is God. God alone is God. Therefore, we ought voluntarily to contribute our tithes and taxes because we want to be obedient to God in both these spheres. RC Sproul Jnr. says,

Old Testament Israel had a system of not one tithe, but three. The first tithe went to the Levites… [who] were not just official priests, they were also teachers, musicians, judges, and physicians. Most of the tithe, in fact, went to those who were not priests. This illustrates a principle for today: all of our tithe need not go directly to the church; other institutions need our financial support too. It may go to a Christian educational organization, a Christian hospital, or Christian missions… The second tithe… was used for a yearly festival gathering…Deut. 14:26… The third tithe was not annual, but was offered in the third and sixth years of every seven-year-cycle…known as the poor tithe…Deut. 14:20-29).[8]

Therefore the foundational reason for all our giving must be the glory of God.

The Bible early records men giving of their increase to God. Cain and Abel (voluntarily) brought offerings of their increase to God (Genesis 4:3&4). How much? We do not know. Abraham gave a tithe of all his increase of goods to Melchizedek the king of Salem and priest of God Most High (Genesis 14:20). Melchizedek was a Priest of God and the ruler of (the State) of Salem. Therefore, (though this is rather embryonic) Abraham (voluntarily) gave a tenth of his increase to both religious spheres of Church and State.

Abraham’s grandson Jacob demonstrates also a willingness to pay at least ten percent of all his increase to God (Genesis 28:22). It should be noted that Jacob’s ten percent was commensurate with the increase of his goods as God prospered him. Taking, then, Abraham and Jacob as setting the Biblical precedent for (voluntary) giving, a maximum of ten percent of our income would be the fair contribution.

7. On What Should We be Required to Pay Tax?

We are to tithe and pay tax to God out of our increase, which is to say that we ought also to pay government income tax. If we pay the State income tax, then, our tithe to the Church must come from our net earnings, not our gross. Surely then, Church tithes should be tax-exempt! State taxes, like Church tithes, ought to be based only on income. Property tax is not a Biblical norm. RJ Rushdoony says,

In the biblical law, the state has no right of eminent domain, and no right to tax the land. “It was impossible to dispossess men of their inheritance under the law of the Lord as no taxes were levied against land.” The tithe was God’s tax, not a gift to God. The state was limited to a tax resembling the tithe, a tax on increase, not on the land itself.[9]

Neither is the Goods and Services Tax the Biblical norm! However, Poll Taxes or Head Taxes are always Biblical (but are certainly not always popular!)

8. Summary and Conclusion

• God’s Word must be the blueprint for all taxes and taxation.
• Jesus Christ says that we are to “render unto Caesar”. Therefore, we ought to pay taxes.
• Governments or Civil Authorities are “lawful” because they are appointed by God.
• Though Church and State are separate, both are to be honoured as legitimate spheres of Christian religion.
• The ‘principle’ of taxation may be derived from studying the Doctrine of the Trinity.
• The ‘principle’ of paying ten percent of our income is Biblical.
• Our tithes and taxes are to be paid only from our increase, i.e., income, but not on our property.

Much more could have been written above. However, it is hoped that the Christian’s “whistle has been sufficiently whetted” so that he/she will now have a greater desire to search the Scriptures to see what more has been revealed therein about taxes and taxation.

For further study see, for example:

Money, goods or labour paid to a government as:

• Derived from people’s possessions: 1 Sam. 8:10-18;
• Derived from the poor: Amos 5:11.
• Paid by forced labour: Deut. 20:11.
• Paid by foreigners: 1 Chron. 22:2.
• Paid by all people: 2 Sam. 8:6&14.
• Paid by forced labour: 1 Kings 5:13-17.
• Paid by all except Levites: Ezra 7:24.
• Paid by Christians: Rom. 13:6,7.

Taxes:

• Used for Sanctuary: Exo. 30:11-16.
• Used for the king’s household: 1 Kings 4:7-19.
  

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[1] David Chilton, Productive Christians, p. 42.

[2] Westminster Confession of Faith XXIII:IV

[3] Abraham Kuyper, Christianity As A Life-System, p. 37

[4] Rousas John Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Vol. I, p. 281.

[5] Abraham Kuper Snr. says, “God has instituted the magistrates by reason of sin.” ibid. p. 28

[6] Francis Nigel Lee, God Triune In the Beginning – And For the 21^st Century, p. 3.

[7] Francis Nigel Lee, ibid., p. 1. http://pilgrimchristian.blogspot.com.au/2007/03/god-triune-in-beginning-and-for-21st.html

[8] RC Sproul Jnr., Dollar Signs of the Times, p. 108.

[9] RJ Rushdoony, The Politics of Pity, p. 326.