Posted on 01/30/2012 12:23:48 PM PST by darrellmaurina
Q1: “What is your only comfort in life and in death? A1: That I am not my own…”
It would be tempting to say that all of Calvinism is proved by this clause. After all, we believe many doctrines — total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints — which are not and cannot be true if it is not first of all true that we are “not our own.” If we have absolute free will to choose our own destiny, and are not first and foremost God’s property, it follows inevitably that none of Calvinism can be true.
The reverse, however, is not true. Not only Calvinism but also many non-Christian religions teach that we are not our own. Islam, for example, teaches in its fundamental creed the importance of surrendering to Allah: “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.” The Catechism in its next clauses will clarify not only that we must surrender our wills but also that we must surrender our wills to the right God. Likewise, many sincere Christians who are not Reformed truly believe in a sovereign God and truly believe they are God’s property; later questions in the Catechism beyond the first clarify where we believe the Bible leads us to differ from our well-meaning Bible-believing brothers.
This first clause does, however, mark how different true Christianity is from much of what passes for religion in modern America. We live in a nation where most claim to be Christian, but where liberty has been turned to license, where conservatives have become libertarians in both church and state, and where “be all that you can be” has replaced Christ’s “come, take up your cross, and follow me” as the de facto recruiting slogan for too many churches. That may be a good slogan for secular soldiers, but not for soldiers in the army of the Lord who need to be taught they must belong to an “Army of One” with one and only one Commander-in-Chief. The Wesley brothers, Finney, and perhaps Jacob Arminius himself would be horrified by the man-centered focus found in far too many churches today — and sadly, that man-centered focus is not limited to liberal churches. Just as Reformed Christians have much in common with our brothers in other churches who we sometimes say become “Calvinists when they’re on their knees” in prayer, we have nothing whatsoever in common with people in churches, regardless of the name on the church sign, which exalt man and attempt to be “seeker-sensitive” or otherwise water down the gospel of God’s grace to wholly undeserving sinners.
The Bible passage cited as a proof text for the first clause of the Catechism is I Corinthians 6:19-20. It warns both Corinthian and modern Christians in no uncertain terms: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
This passage rings out across the space of two thousand years as strongly as if it had been written yesterday. How many problems in the modern church are caused by sexual immorality? While it is true we do not have temple prostitutes today with men claiming to worship Aphrodite or Venus by paying money for personal pleasure, the false “goddess of love” continues to have great power in modern America, along with its inevitable fruit of death through aborting the consequences of “love” which is not love but rather lust.
The second and third clauses of the Catechism are, of course, linked directly to the first. A Christian must be able to say, “I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” But those clauses have their own Scripture proofs; for today, we’re focused on only one passage, that which the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
As Christians, we need to know not only that we are not our own, but that we were “bought with a price.” All of Christianity stands or falls on that clause. Our modern American spirit of independence is contrary to the Christian gospel, but it is also contrary even to most non-Christian forms of religious faith. In many ways, the American spirit of individualism which focuses on freedom to do what we want has placed us in an even worse spiritual condition than the Islamic enemies who have declared holy war on us. They worship the wrong god, but we worship ourselves and our freedom. What miserable gods we are when we worship ourselves!
Let us repent and return to the foundation of Christian knowledge that each of us, as individuals, must be able to personally say “that I am not my own.” Without that truth, we have no true liberty under the laws of the Lord, but only licentiousness.
Full text of Catechism Q/A 1: What is your only comfort in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.”
(This running commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism comes from my catechesis in my own family. While I am a member of an Associate Reformed Presbyterian congregation, I hold no church office. I merely offer this commentary, based on the conversations I have daily with my niece on Christian subjects while driving her back home from her school, in the hope that what I’ve said and written may be helpful to others.)
While we may believe we have absolute free will, unfortunately there’s really no way to prove it.
Very good. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks!
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