by Matthew Pinson | Sep 18, 2015
I grew up in church singing “Praise Him, Praise Him,” a hymn by the prolific hymn writer Fanny Crosby. It was hymn 58 in the old 1964 Free Will Baptist Hymn Book. There was a phrase in that hymn that always intrigued me:
Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!
I sung about Christ as prophet, priest, and king in church hundreds of times. In addition to that, I recall hearing the phrase in some of my grandfather L. V. Pinson’s sermons.
Another recollection I have of what is known as the “three offices of Christ” or the “threefold office of Christ” was when Leroy Forlines, about 25 years ago, introduced me to Jacobus Arminius’s writings on the offices of Christ. Mr. Forlines told me that his theology of the atonement and justification had been particularly influenced by reading Arminius’s Oration on the Priesthood of Christ. He had encountered that work while taking a course in “Arminian Theology” in the early 1950s, taught by Dr. L. C. Johnson, founding president of Welch College.
Other than that, I’ve heard very little about the phrase or the concept. I think it’s safe to say that, generally, we hear less and less about Christ’s offices of prophet, priest, and king in modern Christianity. Still, I’ve become fascinated by the three offices of Christ, and I’m thinking of writing a little book of spirituality on them.
There was a time, not long ago, when Christ as prophet, priest, and king was common vernacular in the church. In the history of Christianity, you read a great deal about the subject. I have found this especially true in our spiritual ancestors in the seventeenth century, the English General Baptists [1].
I’m currently producing a critical edition of a book on spirituality by the English General Baptist Francis Smith entitled Symptoms of Growth and Decay in Godliness. It hasn’t been published since the early 1700s. In the “Dedicatory Epistle,” Smith, in speaking of conversion, refers to the “gracious change, God through his rich grace then made, that . . . his Son should become your King, to rule you, your Priest to make atonement for you, and also your Prophet to teach you; in a word your All in All. Thus at the sight and sense of what sin and Satan had been, and what now Christ Jesus would be by way of change, your hearts were wonderfully taken up with admiring this choice, that was not only of God’s preparing to redeem you from the highest wrath, but to redeem you to the highest glory.”
A wonderful summary of the historic Protestant teaching on the three offices of Christ is found in a seventeenth-century General Baptist confession of faith entitled the Orthodox Creed. The passage below comes from the article entitled “Of Christ and His Mediatorial Office.” “Mediatorial office” is another way of saying the threefold office of Christ. The language of “mediatorial office” comes from 1 Timothy 2:5, which reads, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (NKJV). The Free Will Baptist Treatise of Faith and Practices uses similar language in its chapter six, “The Atonement and Mediation of Christ.” Below is the passage from the Orthodox Creed. I encourage you to read it carefully and meditate on the three offices of Christ, praising Him as prophet, priest, and king.
“It pleased God, in his eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, according to the Covenant made between them both, to be the only mediator between God and man. . . . The same Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience to the whole Law and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit offered up to God the Father, has fully satisfied the Justice of God, reconciled him to us, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven for all those that the Father has given to him. Now by a continued act of intercession in heaven, Christ Jesus applies the benefits he has purchased to the elect. In this office of mediator, he has the dignity of three offices, (viz.) Priest, Prophet, and King. All these offices are necessary for the benefit of his Church, and without them we can never be saved. For in respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of his prophetical office. In respect of our alienation from God, our imperfect services, and God’s wrath and justice, we stand in need of his priestly office, to reconcile God to us and us to God. In respect of our bondage to sin and Satan and averseness to return to God, we need his kingly office, to subdue our enemies and deliver us captives out of the kingdom and power of sin and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom. Thus (in our nature) he, living the life of the law and suffering the penalty due to us, continually presents us at the throne of grace, and is a most wonderful and complete mediator for his elect” [2].
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[1] America’s first Free Will Baptists were English General Baptists who moved across the Atlantic to the colonies of Carolina and Virginia.
[2] William J. McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1911), 135-37. I have modernized some of the language, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
by Matthew Pinson | Aug 5, 2015
One of my favorite quotations is from Abraham Kuyper, the Christian statesman who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands in the early twentieth century. He said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
Recently I discussed on this blog what my colleague Dr. Darrell Holley has referred to as the “Kuyper Option” for how Christians should relate to culture. I believe the Kuyper Option is just what we need today in our increasingly secularized culture.
Kuyper—standing on the shoulders of Christians like John Calvin and John Wesley—stood firmly on the belief that Christians should be in the world and not of the world. He believed that we should be radically distinct from the world in our attitudes, values, and priorities, which are shaped by a kingdom which is alien to this world—the kingdom of Christ. Yet he believed just as strongly that we must be transforming the culture, influencing it with the attitudes, values, and priorities of the kingdom, as much as is within our power.
Now more than ever, we need to employ this approach. Now is not the time to put our heads in the sand, as the conservative Protestant movement did in the wake of the Scopes Trial in the early twentieth century, when Protestant Liberalism had come into dominance in American religious life. While we may be critical of some efforts at social change by the religious right, we must not therefore give up on the need to engage in cultural transformation.
My friend Dr. Eddie Moody and I have been discussing these things frequently of late—things he discusses in his new book Surviving Culture: When Character and Your World Collide, which has two editions—one for students and another for parents, youth leaders, etc. We recently have read and discussed what I think is an important little book that can help pastors and youth leaders discuss Christianity and culture with church members: Bruce Riley Ashford’s Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians.
What is wonderful about this book is that it lays out a Christian foundation for understanding how to relate to culture that general readers can understand. The book is not just about engagement in political activity (although it includes that). It’s about taking up the cultural mandate or creation mandate from Genesis and bowing to the Lordship in the whole of life—private and public. This includes the political and legal sphere as well as the arts and sciences, education, healthcare, the marketplace—indeed every sphere of culture.
Dr. Moody recently met with Dr. Ashford, Provost at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and interviewed him. I encourage my readers to visit Dr. Moody’s blog and listen to his interview with Bruce Riley Ashford. Then, go out and buy several copies of Every Square Inch and share them with the leaders and influencers around you.
by Matthew Pinson | Jul 15, 2015
Yesterday was a great day at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new campus of Welch College at Gallatin, Tennessee. Between 350 and 400 Welch College faculty, staff, students, alumni, denominational supporters, representatives of the Gallatin and Sumner County governmental, educational, non-profit, and business communities, friends, and neighbors attended the event.
Owing to wet weather in the days before the event, we were unable to have the groundbreaking on the main part of the new campus site as we had previously planned. Thus we moved the ceremony to Station Camp High School, whose leaders were so kind to offer us the use of their campus for our celebration. That morning, when we arrived, it was not raining. So we made the decision to go across the street after our initial remarks indoors and break ground on the extreme northernmost section of the property.
In the photo above, you will notice that I am breaking ground along with Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown and Keith Burden, Executive Secretary of the National Association of Free Will Baptists, both of whom gave remarks; Board Chairman Terry Pierce and CEO of the Free Will Baptist Foundation David Brown, both of whom offered prayers; as well as Paul Eitel our contractor from Focus Design Builders and our architect Jim Sherrer of Design Development Architects. We are surrounded by members of the Welch College Board of Trustees, President’s Leadership Team, and Relocation Task Force.
The groundbreaking was a great event for Welch College, and the spirit of those gathered there yesterday is emblematic of the excitement surrounding the construction of our new campus. I ask all our friends and supporters to pray and think about what you can do to help financially in this once-in-a-lifetime transition.
I encourage you to view photographs and a video of scenes from the groundbreaking ceremony here. If you would like to read theTennessean article about the event, you can find it here. For more on the Building on the Legacy capital campaign for the new campus of Welch College, keep checking here; we will be updating the site as we move forward with the campaign. I look forward to unveiling more at the National Convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan, next week. I want to thank everyone for your prayers and support for this historic endeavor!
by Matthew Pinson | Jun 27, 2015
First, we must not panic and withdraw from public life and culture.
There are many people discussing the “Benedict Option”—inspired by the ancient monk Benedict of Nursia and his withdrawal from society into a monastic life. Others are discussing the “Buckley Option,” based on modern-day conservative thinker William F. Buckley and the way he engaged culture with conservative ideas and ideals.
I agree with my colleague Darrell Holley, who recently suggested the term the “Kuyper Option,” based on the thought of the Christian prime minister of the Netherlands in the early twentieth century, Abraham Kuyper. While Kuyper believed in the separation of church and state, believing that the church and the government are distinct spheres with different ends and purposes, he did not believe in the separation of Christianity and culture.
Kuyper believed that, wherever it finds itself flourishing, Christianity is making changes to the world around it, transforming the culture. Thus Christians should fulfill vocational callings such as being a Christian scholar or sculptor or scientist or plumber or governmental leader or homemaker or horticulturalist, being salt and light in the world and transforming the culture around them. And this sort of cultural impact makes society more conducive to the work of pastors, evangelists, missionaries, and Christian laypeople engaged in evangelism.
I think Dr. Holley is right. We need the “Kuyper Option.” The last thing we need to do is to panic and worry. We need to rest secure in Jesus’s promise: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” This is not—especially not—just a promise for the good times, when we have a Christian cultural consensus.
The early Christians, a small minority in the midst of a radically pagan culture, were emboldened by this promise, even as they were being persecuted and martyred for their faith in Christ. We must resolve to be like those early Christians—to be strong in our faith, especially given the fact that we are in the midst of an increasingly post-Christian culture. Let us be winsome and loving, caring for the poor and downcast, showing what it means to live lives of faith, hope, love, and joy in a decadent culture that punishes us for holding to what makes our lives worth living.
Let us be ourselves—authentic Christian families and churches who are confident in the kingdom values our Lord has given us—attitudes and priorities and ways of life that are alien to the kingdoms of this world, but that are breaking in on this world even now and transforming it.
There is truth to a need the “Benedict Option” advocates stress—the need to get serious about our own internal biblical and churchly resources for rediscovering who we really are as the church of Jesus Christ. And this will mean rediscovering what it means to go against the grain of the prevailing cultural winds rather than coveting the cultural approval of secular society. Yet this desire to get serious about who we are as the church, which is called out from the world for the sake of the world, does not need to take us out of the world—to make us withdraw from culture and public life.
Second, we must re-emphasize Scriptural teaching on maleness, femaleness, Christian marriage, and the divine design for human sexuality if we are to have a coherent message.
This means we must get serious about divorce and not turn a blind eye to it in our congregations. Our tradition, like the entire Christian tradition, was historically very serious about divorce. We need to think carefully about ways we can return to the traditional Protestant position on divorce, which was simply a straightforward reading of Holy Scripture. We can never hope to be seen as consistent when arguing for the sanctity of marriage against homosexual marriage when Christian church members are divorcing in such high numbers and we seem to be looking the other way.
This seems so inconsistent and hypocritical to the watching world. Indeed it is inconsistent and hypocritical. It’s time Christians do their part in rebuilding the marriage culture by having strong marriages and exhibiting a stunning difference from the world in our divorce rate.
We also need to think more seriously about how our churches, and even associations of churches, can provide marriage and family counseling and support to our people who are struggling in their marriages.
Another thing we must emphasize is teaching and modeling, before our children, maleness and femaleness and the biblical meaning and beauty of sexual love in marriage.
This starts by not allowing popular culture, secular education, and the secular media to win the hearts and minds of our children. This will mean we have to break with our increasing desire to remake the church in the guise of current pop culture.
We must continue, strongly as ever, to emphasize sexual abstinence outside heterosexual marriage. But we must not simply be saying what not to do. Instead, we need to emphasize that violations of God’s vision for sexuality within the bond of marriage are not good for human flourishing, for living the good life that God has for us.
We need to reinvest sexuality with the beauty and mystery that is so essential to it. We need to make sexuality special again. Thus, we must explain to our children not just the what of sexual abstinence, but the why of human sexuality according to God’s good design. This is more necessary now than it was in generations past. Someone is going to give our children a worldview, and it needs to be the church and its scriptures and its tradition, not this present evil age, which is passing away with its lusts.
But this also means that we must teach and show and model for our children what it means to be male and female—that maleness and femaleness are not just about body parts. That they are about God’s unique and purposeful design, the delicate balance he designed for the home and family.
We don’t need to be afraid of masculinity and femininity. We need to re-learn biblical models of masculinity and femininity in opposition to our world’s macho models of false masculinity and sexualized models of false femininity. It’s vitally important that we not take these things for granted. We’ve got to be intentional and find ways to cultivate biblical femininity and masculinity in our daughters and sons. We mustn’t forget that without feminism and the flattening of the distinction between the sexes, homosexuality could never have gained such a foothold in our society.
It’s vitally important that we teach and model, not only before our children, but before a watching world, what Christian manhood and womanhood look like in the context of the loving, self-sacrificing servant-leadership of Christian men and the loving, nurturing, supportiveness of godly women who are following their husband’s leadership.
This will also mean recapturing what the Christian tradition believed about being a gentleman and a lady. This will be difficult, because it’s thought to be so quaint and outdated in our current cultural milieu. But we must be confident in our biblical, Christian heritage.
Last, we must show the world that Christians are the people who will be the most honest about sin and its consequences but the most loving and compassionate to sinners.
When you read what the writers of Scripture and what authors in the Christian tradition said about sexual sin, including the sin of homosexuality, you see that they were very serious. They never laughed and made light of sexual sin, including homosexual sin. They always approached it with deep sadness and tears. These tears kept them from being hateful toward the sinner.
Brothers and sisters, we desperately need to recapture this. We need to look back to our past, to our forebears’ efforts at what they called reaching drunkards and harlots and making them reformed drunkards and reformed harlots. This manifested itself in the desire to have homes to help people recover from an addiction to alcohol, for troubled youth who were deep in sin, for prostitutes who were ready to turn their backs on their former ways of living. If these same people were alive today, they would have the same love and compassion for homosexuals as they had for alcoholics and prostitutes. They would love them, care for them, and share the gospel of Christ with them.
We need lovingly to tell sinners the good news that Paul gave his readers in 1 Corinthians 6. And that good news, shared with some whom Paul said had been fornicators, adulterers, idolaters, homosexuals, drunkards, greedy people, thieves, revilers, or extortioners before their conversion, is that they were washed from their sin; they were set apart for God’s special, pure, and holy use; and they were justified by Christ.
As John J. Butler said in his 1871 commentary on 1 Corinthians, these people were “raised from the depths of heathenism,” “cleansed from sin,” “set apart to God,” with all their “powers consecrated to his service.” They were “accepted as holy, through the merits of Christ. . . .”
This is the good news we have to share! We must share it, in love and compassion, with those involved in same-sex relationships. And this love and compassion is the only way people will know we believe what we say we believe.
