Questions That Divide

By Robert Himes

The questions that divide atheist from theist, agnostic from deist, liberal from conservative, Arminian from Calvinist, dispensationalist from covenantalist, and reconstructionists from other reformed believers are basically seven questions. The questions that divide Baptist from Episcopal, Independent from Presbyterian, Catholic from Protestant, New Age from Pentecostal are essentially these same seven questions. These questions that divide can be simply represented by these seven words - God, Revelation, Jesus, Bible, Election, Continuity, and Law.

Does God exist? One can only answer "yes" or "no". If the answer is, "No!", then the matter ends here - there is no God. This is atheism, a denial of the existence of God.¹ "Does God exist?" is the first great division of ideas.  Is there a God, or is there not a God? Theist, or atheist?

 Let us now assume that one has answered, "Yes, there is a God."  The next great question that must be addressed -

"Has God revealed Himself to His creation?" or, "Can we know God?" Again, one must answer "Yes" or "No". If "No", then again the matter rests here. At this point, there are no more relevant questions to be asked in life. Just live and die - that is the end of things. But, if the answer is "Yes, God has revealed Himself", then we must ask, "How?"

God has revealed Himself through natural revelation and supernatural revelation; or, if you prefer, through general revelation and special revelation. Men look at nature and see "the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable."² This is general or natural revelation. But this is not sufficient, for God does not give, through natural revelation, the understanding of God to know His will and the way of salvation. There must be special, supernatural revelation. And so, God speaks, and He tells about Jesus.

God speaks in the Bible of a man named Jesus. He calls Jesus the "only begotten Son of God."³ And the divisive question is, "Is Jesus God?" The way one answers this question determines if he is a deist or a Christian. The confession of a Christian is, "Jesus is Lord."⁴ The "Christian" cults, such as Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses, have borrowed much from Christianity, but one thing they all have in common is they deny that the man Jesus Christ is truly God. Christian fellowship should be founded upon Peter's confession, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."⁵ This has been the foundational confession of the Christian church since its inception.  This confession is implied in the Apostles' Creed⁶ and is explicitly stated in the Nicene Creed.⁷ Jesus is God!

What about the Bible? Is the Bible without error? Or, as some contend, does it contain the Word of God? Is the Bible the Word of God, or does it contain the Word of God? Is it perfect as God is perfect, or, are there errors, mistakes, contradictions, and myths in the Bible? This is the question that divided the liberal from the fundamentalist in the 1920's and divides the orthodox from the neo-orthodox today. This very question has rocked the Southern Baptist Convention in recent years. Is the Bible without error? Yes, the Bible is without error.⁸

Has God chosen, from before the foundation of the world, His people, for reasons found only in Himself?⁹ Or, does He choose people for salvation based upon their personal merit? The way one answers this question determines the label of Calvinist or Arminian. All of true Christianity divides on this issue. Those who believe in TULIP,¹⁰ and those who do not.

There are Arminian Baptists¹¹ and Calvinistic Baptists¹². There are Arminian Presbyterians¹³ and Calvinistic Presbyterians¹⁴. There are Arminian Episcopalians¹⁵ and Calvinistic Episcopalians¹⁶. There are both Arminians and Calvinists in most Protestant denominations. Generally Arminians tend to flock together in the liberal, mainline denominations or the fundamentalist and holiness churches; whereas, the Calvinists tend to flock to the conservative Baptists and the Presbyterian and other Reformed denominations.

So, what about election? Election is certainly a question that divides. And yet the Christians who believe that Scripture teaches election must face two more divisive questions.

Is there continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament? This is the question which exposes the division of Covenantalists from Dispensationalists. This question is answered in one of these two ways:

1. Dispensationalist - Nothing in the Old Testament applies to us today unless it has been specifically restated in the New Testament.
2. Covenantalist - All of the Old Testament applies to us today unless it has been specifically abrogated in the New Testament.

Most of the doctrinal issues dividing Dispensationalist from Covenantalists are rooted in this question. And yet, even Covenantalists are subdivided by the next and final divisive question.

Should all of life be governed by the Law of God? Or, What about Biblical ethics? Make a choice - natural law or God's Law! As Christians, should we regulate our lives by the moral law of God which is expressed by the Ten Commandments and expounded in the case laws of Exodus?¹⁷ Or should we look for some common, "natural" law upon which to structure our lives ethically? Those who choose Biblical Law over natural law today are called Reconstructionists or Theonomists. In years past they were called "Orthodox" or "Puritan."

Whether one is a Reconstructionist or not, Covenantalists ought to pause and consider our common beliefs:

1. There is a God - He is transcendent and immanent,
2. God has revealed Himself to us in nature and in His Holy Word, the Bible,
3. Jesus is God,
4. All that the Bible has to say is true and without error or contradiction,
5. God has chosen us by His grace apart from any merit within us, and
6. The Old Testament is applicable to us today.

The Bible, the whole Bible, is our only guide in faith and practice. Only in the Bible can we find what we are to believe concerning God and what God wants us to do in life.

Sola Scnptura!
 

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1. And pantheism, the belief that god is everything and everything is god, is a denial of the existence of a personal, transcendent God. So, pantheism is a type of atheism and answers the question, "Does God exist?" with a resounding, "NO!"

2. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Sec. I.

3. John 3:16

4. Acts 2:36

5. Matthew 16:16

6. I believe in God the Father Almighty, .. . And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;..."

7. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, . . . And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all the worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made."

8. The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks clearly of the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures in Chapter 1, Sec. I-X.

9. Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 8:28-30; Hebrews 4:3; I Peter 1:20; John 17:24; Matthew 25:34; Revelation 17:8.

10. TULIP is an acronym for the following doctrines of grace: (1) Total Depravity, (2) Unconditional Election, (3) Limited Atonement or Particular Redemption, (4) Irresistible Grace, and (5) Perseverance of the Saints.

11. Arlington Baptist College is a good example of Arminian Baptists. When I went to Bible College there in 1980 and 1981 they would not allow any discussion of Calvinism on the campus upon threat of suspension. The Free-will Baptists are another association of independent churches who are Arminian in doctrine.

12. The General Association of Regular Baptists are a representation of Calvinistic Baptists today. Also, in the Southern Baptist Convention there are both Arminian and Calvinistic churches. An excellent book to clarify the historically Baptist position is Are Baptists Calvinists? by Kenneth H. Good; Regular Baptist Heritage Fellowship, Box 161, Oberlin, Ohio 44074; 1975; 301 pages.

13. An example of Arminian Presbyterians would be the Cumberland Presbyterians.

14. Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapters III, V, VII, VIII, Ix, x, XI, XII, XIII, XIV and XV Also the Larger Catechism Q.31, 32, 58, 59, and 60.

15. The Protestant Episcopal Church seems to be predominately Arminian.

16. The Reformed Episcopal Church is Calvinistic since it embraces the Thirty-Nine Articles as a doctrinal standard accurately reflecting the teaching of Holy Scripture.

17. Exodus 21-23 are case laws which specifically apply one or more of the Ten Commandments to real life situations. See Tools of Dominion by Dr. Gary North; Institution for Christian Economics, P0. Box 8000, Tyler, Texas 75711; 1287 pages.

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