Generation to Generation
by Niel Nielson
Recently, an acquaintance of mine gathered these statistics on the
choices available today: 200 cable channels; 255 ways to order a Big
Mac; 19,000 possible combinations for coffee at Starbucks and 78,998
for ice cream and toppings at Cold Stone Creamery; and more than
500,000 mathematical possibilities for pizza in America.
Now add the amazing variety of cultures around the world, each with its
own wide range of choices and traditions and practices, and it is clear
that we live in a pluralistic world gone crazy -- a world awash in
choices, options, alternatives, and which calls to us, "Come, follow
me." One of our long-time philosophy professors at Covenant College
speaks of the "recommendations" that come at us from all directions,
recommendations about what to like, what to think, what to buy, what to
believe, and how to live. Some of these recommendations are relatively
innocuous, like "buy Adidas"; some are more important, like "vote for
me rather than my opponent"; and some are deadly serious and carry huge
consequences, like "follow my religion" or "believe this about sex."
At the heart of true education is learning to hear these voices
clearly, to recognize their sources, and to respond in godly ways,
whether in school, at work, at church, in a recreational context, in a
relationship, or in those moments of utter personal privacy when no one
is watching.
While our choices today may far outnumber those in previous
generations, this challenge of discerning and responding biblically has
been around since creation. Our first human parents faced it: a choice
between two recommendations, as it were -- one from the God who had
created them and expected them to obey Him, and the other from the
enemy of God who wooed them into doubting God's words and choosing
their own way in place of His.
This is the focus of Jude's short letter, which he tells us isn't the
letter he first intended to write: "Beloved, although I was very eager
to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to
write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all
delivered to the saints" (v. 3). Jude is compelled to address the very
problem we are discussing here: recommendations coming to his readers
from "certain people" who "have crept in unnoticed" and "who pervert
the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ" (v. 4).
Notice that Jude isn't writing to them about voices calling from
outside the visible fellowship of faith. These people have "crept in
unnoticed," that is, they are inside the congregation of God's people.
In other words, the problem of pluralism is not just "out there" in the
world; it's also "in here" even among those who call themselves
Christians. In fact, the deadliest recommendations may come from those
who claim to be fellow believers, because they masquerade as people of
the light, they use "Christian" vocabulary, and they assert that their
views are faithful to our most holy faith.
Jude directs some of the harshest language in all the Bible at such
people: they are blasphemers, children of Cain, waterless clouds and
fruitless trees, ungodly and loud-mouthed boasters. God has already
designated their condemnation. And yet Jude's burden for his readers is
to urge them to contend -- to fight earnestly -- for the faith once for
all delivered to the saints -- to reject recommendations that would lead
them away into unbelief and unholiness.
What is this faith once for all delivered? For Jude's readers and for
us, it is clearly a reference to our faith laid out in the Word of God
written in ages past and now faithfully delivered to us. It is "once
for all" revelation from God, gloriously complete in providing all we
need to know about God and His plan, purpose, and expectations for His
creation.
Jude gives his readers two clues for recognizing these false teachers
and their recommendations: they pervert the grace of our God into
sensuality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (v.
4). While this short list is not exhaustive, it provides very helpful
tests.
First, does a particular viewpoint rationalize sexual sin, in this case
by co-opting the very grace of God? Beware, Jude is saying, of any
teaching or perspective that would use the grace and love of God as the
means for justifying sexual sin, whether heterosexual or homosexual.
Second, does a particular viewpoint diminish the exclusive glory and
truth of Jesus Christ as the only King and Savior? Beware, Jude is
saying, of any teaching or perspective that undermines His deity,
diminishes His uniqueness, doubts His kingly claims over the creation,
or adds or subtracts from His Gospel.
For the Tabletalk readers of my three sons' generation --
your choices are many, and recommendations are coming continually at
you for what to think, to love, to look at, to believe, and to hope
for. With joy and tears I urge you to contend for the faith once for
all delivered to the saints, written for us in the Holy Scriptures and
able to sustain and strengthen you until the day of our Lord's return.
*****
Dr. Niel Nielson is president of Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
Read select Tabletalk columns from the June edition here.
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