Un-Dragoning and Reformation: Because of Grace Alone
My goal for what is written below is two-fold:
1. You fully understand Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone
2. You get a sense of the Practical Implications of Calvinism
My premise is the power of story and I hope that power manifests. What follows will consist of layered imagery from a historical narrative from the Old Testament and a fictional narrative, both interwoven with imagery and New Testament Teachings
To begin, Moses was the last holder of the 3-fold office of Israel, that is, Prophet, Priest, and King (Governor/Ruler) until Jesus came on the scene.
I will briefly establish the unique priesthood of Moses:
1. Scripture tells us that Moses was a priest
Psalm 99:6, ESV
6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
2. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant
3. Moses built the Tabernacle
4. Performed Priestly services such as consecrating the people of Israel, consecrating the line of Aaron into the priesthood, performed priestly sacrifices, and sprinkled blood on the altars and the priests. He also went up on Mt. Sinai, the sanctuary made by God, into God’s immediate presence.
5. Descendant of the tribe of Levi since him and Aaron are brothers.
6. Mediator between God and the People, where he interceded on their behalf numerous times.
7. Israel was baptized into Moses according to Paul in 1 Cor. 10:2 and baptism/washings is directly related to OT priests and ceremonial purification rites.
So, as priest, Let’s go to Exodus Chapter 29, and see how Moses consecrates Aaron and his sons for the priesthood:
The first verse reads:
Exodus 29:1, ESV
1 “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. Take one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish,
The “You” is Moses as priest in the context of administering the Old Covenant and establishing the Aaronic priesthood.
Exodus 29:4–9 ESV
4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 5 Then you shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastpiece, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. 6 And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. 8 Then you shall bring his sons and put coats on them, 9 and you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them. And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.
- The Hebrew word for “Wash” means to “Bathe.” It is the same word used in the story of Naaman in the Jordan River and of Bathsheba bathing.
wash with water. - It would not be appropriate for the new priests to clothe themselves in their new sacral garments without first taking a ritual bath. They were to be fully immersed as a part of the consecration ceremony. After this only their hands and feet had to be washed before performing their duties (30:17–21). (Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Ex 29:4.)
So, the Levitical Priests must be completely bathed in order to be made ceremonially clean before they can put on the Priestly garments. As a note, it is interesting to see they only had to be fully immersed once.
After washing, we see that Moses must put the clothes on Aaron and his sons. “You shall…” throughout the entire section. Aaron is completely passive in this, only must allow Moses to wash him and clothe him.
In so doing, Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons as priests. Only after being washed clean and clothed in the priestly garments by a Priest can Aaron and his sons go further up and further in to the Holy Places to fulfill their priestly duties, which included making sacrifices on behalf of the people, especially on the day of atonement. It is also significant to know that under the Old Covenant, it was only priests who could ordain and consecrate priests into priestly services.
Got it? That’s the historical narrative from the OT. Now keep all that in the back of your mind as we move to the fictional narrative.
I will take you to C.S. Lewis’ land of Narnia in the 5th book of the chronological series called “ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”
The character of focus this morning is named Eustace.
C.S. Lewis used this character to teach the failings of the modern progressive and scientific worldviews. He was an annoyance with no self-awareness, to say the least.
On the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the crew ends up on an island and Eustace wanders off. He finds himself on the top of a mountain with a cave filled with a massive amount of gold, jewelry and other treasures, which if you know your Beowulf, The Hobbit, and Medieval tales like you should, you ought to know that there is a dragon nearby. But, since Eustace was of the modern progressive, scientific worldview, he did not read any of the “The Right Books.” So, he knew nothing about dragons.
Long story short, Eustace himself turned into a dragon, and eventually, Eustace became aware of something about himself, that is, his dragon-ness. and became ashamed of it. As Lewis narrated, “It ate into his mind.” He is in psychological turmoil when he realizes that he is, in fact, a dragon. He can’t bear being alone with it, nor can he bear being around others with it. He starts trying to do good deeds and help out, but he nevertheless, remains a dragon.
Some time goes by and then Lewis presents us with Eustace explaining his story of being en-dragoned and his un-dragoning to another character in the story.
Eustace begins, “Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming
slowly toward me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So, it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn’t that kind of fear. I wasn’t afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it—if you can understand. (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (p. 681). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
Aslan, the lion, is Jesus in Narnia. This is an allusion to Christ as the Light of the World and Giving off his own light in his own glory.
He continues, “And it led me a long way into the mountains. And there was always this moonlight over and round the lion wherever we went. So at last we came to the top of a mountain I’d never seen before and on the top of this mountain there was a garden—trees and fruit and everything. In the middle of it there was a well. “I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells—like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything... (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection.(p. 682). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
- Ascent: Invoking Edenic and temple imagery
- Garden: Trees and fruit and everything
- Big well: Bronze laver, sea of glass in heavenly temple
- Ex. 30:17; Gen. 1-2; Rev. 4:6(Crystal clear); Ez. 47; Rev 21-22 (Trees and Water)
Eustace wanted to get in the water, but he couldn’t and at that point the Lion spoke up...
“But the lion told me I must Undress First” (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (pg. 682))
o What does that sound like from the New Testament?
You must put off the “Old man” before you can put on the new. Paul told the Ephesians, “You must put off the old man” (Eph. 4:22)
Let’s think about this: You must undress yourself… That sounds easy enough right. We can take off our own clothes and put on clean ones easily enough and surely a dragon can just scratch off his shell and shed it like snakes do. Well, that’s what Eustace thought in the so-called rational mind of modernity.
“I was just going to say that I couldn’t undress because I hadn’t any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that’s what the lion means. So, I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe. “But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that’s all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I’ll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe. “Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good. (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (pg. 682 Kindle))
So, the first time Eustace scratches the skin off, it came off beautifully, and the skin looked rather nasty.
But, it didn’t do anything. It was just a superficial removal of his “nastiness.”
So, Eustace does it again, because he thought, it can’t be that bad to scratch another layer off. Eustace peeled off another layer of skin and it came off again after some work.
But, again, his attempt was superficial.
Then Eustace thought to himself, “oh dear, how-ever many skins have I got to take off?”
So, Eustace, in desperation, goes at another layer of scales to undress himself. He successfully shreds the third layer and drops it next to the others. But it was of no use. He was still a dragon.
So, upon hearing the command to “undress” himself, Eustace does what man naturally does. He looks to himself and says what must “I” do? There must be something I have to do…
Think about it, it feels so good making changes in our lives and done well, the results are beautiful at times, and you may put away some nastiness in your life… but it’s only temporary. It’s a superficial removing. If you remove one thing of the flesh, you will replace it with something else of the flesh. Nature, indeed, abhors a vacuum.
Even though we often acknowledge the vanity of our initial ambitions; we are like Eustace. We think we need to dig in and work harder. We start trying to scratch and peel off more layers of our own dragon-ness until despair sets in. We try, under our own willpower, to rid our depraved nature by means of our depraved nature, and that is man’s greatest weakness. Like Eustace, you feel good on one hand, but at the same time you are miserable on the inside. You can hardly bear being alone with your own dragon-ness or around other people with it. You’re in turmoil because there is no escape from the abyss no matter how hard you try to justify or minimize it. You may indeed, make some great changes and be a better person than you were before, but guess what… you’re still a dragon.
As Doug Wilson noted, “Eustace trying to scrape off his own dragon skin symbolizes his efforts to repent and become a better person by his own power. He is trying to “Un-dragon” himself.” He’s beginning to realize that he can’t do it and echo’s Paul in
Romans 7:24, ESV
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Let’s go back and see what Eustace recounts:
“Then the lion said—but I don’t know if it spoke—‘You will have to let me undress you.’ (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (p. 683). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
Eustace goes on...
“I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (Pg. 683)(Function). Kindle Edition.)
So, imagery, here is a big bad dragon laying flat on his back like a dog waiting for belly scratches. Then Aslan comes in:
“The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I’ve ever felt. (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (p. 683). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
Re-Read that last quote slowly…
Like Eustace, when Christ digs deep into your heart, cuts it open, and replaces it with a new heart, it hurts worse than anything you could ever do to yourself. We will never make ourselves suffer the way it is required. The pain is intolerable, and I think that is why God calls it the circumcising of the heart in Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 6.
Eustace, when he scraped off some of the layers of dragon skin, he admitted that they looked nasty. He recognized them as ‘nasty,’ in the same way we recognize some of our owns sins as ‘nasty.’ However, what does Eustace come to find out after Aslan is through “un-dragoning” him?
Eustace recounts, “Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off—just as I thought I’d done it myself the other three times, only they hadn’t hurt—and there it was, lying on the grass, only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (p. 683). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
Re-read the last quote slowly…
One of the first principles to remember is that confession is not meritorious—to confess sins as a way of placing God in one’s debt is not dealing with sin; it is committing another sin. The context of all confession must be a thorough grasp of the free grace of justification. Put another way, confession is one of the duties of our sanctification; it is not something we contribute to our justification. Positively stated, confession is agreement. The word for confess in 1 John 1:9 is homologeo, which means that we are to agree with God about our sin. It means “to speak the same.” (Wilson, Douglas. The Case for Classical Christian Education (p. 191). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
- Eustace comes to realize that he was more nasty, sinful, and wretched than even he imagined he was. He knew he was a dragon, but he didn’t realize how much of a dragon he was. In the same way, you don’t know how sinful and broken you are until Christ un-dragons you and gives you the spiritual eyes to see your dragon skin and man’s inherent dragon-ness for what it really is. Apart from Christ, we would never “un-dragon” ourselves the way it is required. We would never go into the dark pits of our hearts and minds on our own free will. Until the “Old man” is put off, or to stick with the imagery, “undressed,” you will never be able to understand how bad the “Old man” really was. If you don’t know how bad the “Old man” is/was, how could you possibly be in agreement with God about it and consequently, be able to repent of it in the first place.
BAPTISM
“Then he caught hold of me—I didn’t like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I’d no skin on—and threw me into the water.” (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (p. 683). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
- Eustace was soft and tender – Soft and tender… What does that sound like? – A Newborn baby! (Recall John Chapter 3 when Jesus tells Nicodemus that you must be born again!)
- Aslan threw Eustace into the well to Baptize him. So, Eustace did nothing but lay there and let Aslan un-dragon him and now it is Aslan who throws Eustace in the water.
Moses washed Aaron and his sons – Aslan washes Eustace - Jesus spiritually washes us as promised.
Ezekiel 36:25–28 (ESV)
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.
Titus 3:5–6 (ESV)
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior
PUT ON CHRIST
“After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me—” “Dressed you? With his paws?” “Well, I don’t exactly remember that bit. But he did somehow or other, in new clothes— (Lewis, C.S. The Chronicles of Narnia: Complete 7-Book Collection. (p. 684). (Function). Kindle Edition.)
For one, Eustace couldn’t even get out of the water by himself. Aslan took him out. Then we hear Eustace saying that Aslan dressed him in NEW CLOTHES. What does that sound like?
Christ imputes his righteousness to us and we are clothed with Him. We are clothed with the New Man.
Moses clothed Aaron and his sons in the priestly garments - Aslan clothes Eustace-Jesus clothes us in new garments
Ephesians 4:22–24ESV
22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
“Created after the likeness of God… What does that sound like? Yes, Genesis Chapters 1 and 2. It is God who created in the beginning, and it is God who re-creates now.
Galatians 3:27ESV
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
“To put on”: to be imparted ⇔ be clothed v. — to be or become bestowed or endowed with a quality or condition; understood as being wrapped in a covering. – Bible Sense Lexicon in Logos Software
Spiritual clothing metaphors are entrenched in the OT going all the way back to the garden of Eden when the animal was killed so God could clothe Adam and Eve. Now, we have been spiritually clothed by the sacrifice Himself.
I do pray you enjoyed the Narnia imagery; now going back to Exodus chapter 29:
So, washed, clothed in new clothes, and now we enter a subsequent phase of priestly ordination.
Exodus 29:20–21ESV
20 and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. 21 Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
Because of the blood being sprinkled on their garments, they are made holy.
To speak of one more Aspect of Jesus as priest, more specifically the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, only could the High Priest offer the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies:
Leviticus 16:15–16, ESV
15 “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
Hebrews 9:6–7, ESV
6 These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, 7 but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.
Hebrews 9:11–12, ESV
11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
The washing of water and the sprinkling of blood on Aaron and his sons consecrated them and made their garments Holy and the sprinkling of blood in the Holy of Holies made atonement for it, now we see that Jesus took his blood into the heavenly places to make atonement.
Now, we have been spiritually clothed and covered by the blood of the sacrifice Himself
1 John 1:7ESV
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
We think Blood is dirty and disgusting, it stains everything and hard to clean. A lot of people are deathly afraid at the sight of it and will pass out if they see too much of it.
However, Blood is the purest bleach in the universe. We use bleach and chemical formulations to get blood stains out of clothes, but to God, blood is the bleach. Blood is what purifies.
As, the eternal High Priest and the sacrifice, he took his own body and blood into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies not made by hands.
Revelation 5:6, ESV
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
The bloodied lamb standing in the throne room of heaven with his blood in the immediate presence of the Father as the one who has conquered once and for all, for all his sheep.
Now, as the Eternal High Priest, he initiates his sheep into the priesthood because only Priests bestow the priesthood.
So, Moses consecrating Aaron and his sons is an historical pre-enactment of the Gospel, Aslan consecrating Eustace is a fictional enactment of the Gospel, and Jesus consecrating his sheep into the priesthood is the real and living Way as boldly stated by Peter:
1 Peter 2:9–10, ESV
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
These are the pictures of free justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, by the Grace of God alone.
There is nothing you can do. No matter “how bad you want to un-dragon yourself,” you won’t free yourself by looking to yourself or another mortal man. When you are in the abyss and despair sets in and you realize you can’t do it yourself, listen to Christ the way Eustace listened to Aslan. However, you may not know it now, but even your ability to listen and lay flat on your back like Eustace did, is itself, a gracious gift from God.
And this is why bad theology really does hurt people. Bad theology leads people to believe that they can do it, it doesn’t really matter what you believe about it, or it breeds moralists, that look around and say, “At least we aren’t like those people over there.” On the one hand, the dark abyss of legalism breeds either a people of pride, misery or a combination of both. On the other hand, those planted with the shallow roots of emotional Christianity, Arminianism, and antinomianism, are starved of the bread that gives life and purpose; and are scared to death by the slightest breeze of true doctrine. Speaking of wind and heeding the wit of G.K. Chesterton, on the third hand (let the reader understand), there are an unsettling amount of people who see trees moving and feel wind blowing and come to the conclusion that tress make the wind.
Consequently, Americanized Christianity has led us all to believe that our salvation is the end of the story, both in theology and practice. That Jesus died to save me. Period…
Negative, there is no period at the end of that sentence. That is the beginning of our story and our inclusion into the right side of the story that governs history. Jesus died to save me, us, Christians all over the world, for his purposes. So that we, collectively, can extend the kingdom of God and disciple the nations. Which we cannot do so unless we have a robust understanding of the doctrines of grace and the objective truth of salvation in Christ. That is the foundation!
Everyone knows and claims to teach the Gospel, but we’ve forgotten the next three words. What are they?
… Of. The. Kingdom.
Not only are we made Priests, but we are united to Christ in the other offices. We are his vice-regents over the earth and prophets through proclaiming his revealed Word and Truths.
The Scriptural equation is that we do good works because of salvation, not for it. In other words, every act is a product of a proper understanding of God’s Grace in salvation. Well, what does that look like? The rest of this sermon will hopefully answer that.
Practical Implications and implementations of Calvinism:
What follows is a brief overview and defense of the belief (fact) that our nation was founded on the doctrines of grace. After, hopefully, establishing the doctrine of Justification by faith alone clearly in your mind.
Here is a quick walk through of a practical implication of Calvin’s Calvinism in literal history. Actually, to make it a little more tangible, our modern comforts and liberties we enjoy this very day are direct product of Calvinism put into practice:
It is only because of Calvin’s thorough grasp of God’s grace, the free gift of justification, and man’s condition, could he develop a political theology that both honored the authority of God and sought to balance the depravity of man. I firmly believe you cannot approach it from any other worldview.
This is the beginning of Book IV of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, which is Calvin’s treatise on civil affairs:
For although this subject (Christians and government) seems from its nature to be unconnected with the spiritual doctrine of faith, which I have undertaken to treat, it will appear as we proceed, that I have properly connected them, nay, that I am under the necessity of doing so, especially while, on the one hand, frantic and barbarous men are furiously endeavouring to overturn the order established by God, and, on the other, the flatterers of princes, extolling their power without measure, hesitate not to oppose it to the government of God. Unless we meet both extremes, the purity of the faith will perish. We may add, that it in no small degree concerns us to know how kindly God has here consulted for the human race, that pious zeal may the more strongly urge us to testify our gratitude. (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997).)
So, We have the necessity to do so as to guard and keep the purity of faith, while having God’s goodness as the catalyst for the zeal in doing so. Furthermore, Only, would a man who understands the inherent dragon-ness of man in his bones and the real, living authority of Jesus on the throne and of His Word would approach his political writings with the following question:
For while the insolence of the wicked is so great, and their iniquity so stubborn, that it can scarcely be curbed by any severity of laws, what do we expect would be done by those whom force can scarcely repress from doing ill, were they to see perfect impunity for their wickedness? (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997).)
In other words, Calvin asks, “Since even the strictest of laws do not hinder lawlessness by those in power, what would happen if there were absolutely no restraint whatsoever on human sin?”
If the church completely separated from the state as the radical anabaptists sought then and hyper-tolerant evangelicals seek today, who would impose morality on the state? Who would preserve the state? On the other hand, if the laws governing a society can’t even stop the rulers from getting away with injustice and fraud, how is it possible for them to be held accountable by the very system they ignore? Meaning, if the church is not on the frontlines of morality, teaching ethics and civics from a Biblical worldview, and reformed Christians are not pursuing positions in civil government, who would be there to uphold a transcendent standard?
Without a transcendent standard, man’s writings and laws, especially in our era of post-modern hermeneutics, are rendered dead and unresponsive. The author is dead, and therefore, it is the reader or a community of readers who get to re-write what the author wrote. And this is where we are at today in the age of literary deconstructionism, which is a very real threat ever-so-present in the church right now.
Now, here is the progression of Calvin’s thoughts:
Calvin wrote his institutes around the mid-1500s and based his political thought upon the Scriptural principles that:
- Civil government is ordained by God
- Magistrates are subject to divine law
- Rulers are not absolute
- Magistrates have a responsibility to protect the people
- and obviously, the doctrines of Grace and man’s inherent sinfulness.
In 1550, Lutheran Pastors constructed the Magdeburg Confession when they were resisting Emperor Charles V. Which argued that lower magistrates must resist tyrants and obedience ends when rulers destroy true religion.
Then Calvin’s disciples, the Huguenots, in the back half of the 15th century developed the doctrine of constitutional resistance, which became central to Reformed political thought after St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. They further developed Calvin’s thoughts and the most notable work is called Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos. The main argument therein was that a king who violates the sacred covenant with God and the people forfeits his position.
John Knox, “the man who prayed for all of Scotland and got it,” furthered Calvin’s political theology into a national covenant in Scotland to establish a distinct model for church and state. He put in the national covenant that the people had a divine duty to resist unlawful authority.
Quick story about John Knox’s daughter:
His youngest daughter, Elizabeth, married John Welch, a man, like his father-in-law, who became famous for his preaching and praying… Eventually, for declaring that Christ, not James I (of England), was the head of His church, Welch was accused of high treason, arrested, and thrown into prison in London. The story is told of how Knox's daughter traveled from Scotland and somehow managed to gain an audience with the king on behalf of her husband. James I asked her who her father was. "Mr. Knox," she replied. "Knox and Welch!" he exclaimed. "The devil never made such a match as that." He asked how many children her mother and father had brought into the world and whether they were lads or lasses. "Three lasses," she answered... "God be thanked," he cried, raising his hands for joy. "For had they been three lads, I would have had no peace in my three kingdoms." The king told her that if she would persuade her husband to submit to his authority over the church, he would let (Her husband) Welch go free... She held her apron toward the king and said, "Please your Majesty, I'd rather have his head here." ("The Mighty Weakness of John Knox" by Douglas Bond, page. 46-47.)
Then in the 1600s, Presbyterian political theology became further emboldened by Samuel Rutherford, who wrote “Lex Rex,” which means the “Law is King.” Rutherford further refined Calvin and company’s thoughts and argued that civil authority is inherently conditional and contractual between God, the Rulers, and the people and his work was saturated with Biblical examples. It is Rutherford who linked the biblical concept of covenants to a constitutional structure, which I think, he may be the easiest to trace the verbiage of the Declaration of Independence back to.
Rutherford’s book was burned in England, but it spread everywhere. Then the Puritans brought all of these writings across the Atlantic in the 1600s. The Puritans then structured the colonies on written covenants, the consent of the governed, representative assemblies, and set Biblical limits on authority. According to Alexis De Tocqueville, and this is paraphrased, “the protestants in Colonial America did not go anywhere without their Bibles and Calvin’s institutes.”
Then, we get into the 1700s:
Then, it took a bunch of Reformed men who lived, breathed, and if you cut them open, would bleed the doctrines of Grace to take these writings, understand them, and preach on them. They translated Reformational political theology into a moral framework that sank into the bones of farmers, tradesmen, magistrates, and so forth.
These Reformed Pastors were referred to by the British officials mockingly as the “Black-Robed Regiment.” The colonial pastors wore black Geneva robes in the pulpit and they were referred to as a “Regiment” because they stirred the public through sermons, shaped political theology, and framed resistance as obedience to God. In short, they taught their congregations doctrine. All of it.
Which, “Black-Robed Regiment” sounds pretty awesome to me.
Calvin and the other Reformers supplied the framework with which the Framer’s of America framed:
Appeal to sovereignty of Creator over each individual, and covenantal language:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
The Law is above rulers coupled with the right to resist:
“Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.”
Separation of Powers:
The checks and balances engrained in our constitutional republic by means of the three branches of government take into account: The depravity of man, distrust of centralized power, and structural restraint.
The constitution itself:
Covenantal framework encompassing the various levels of government, from local, state, to federal, to facilitate maintaining a personal relation to government for each individual, freedoms, checks, balances, and lawful resistance.
Not only did their work, sacrifice, and obedience to God preserve our nation to this very day, but, to hopefully add some more significance to their work, our nation is still standing 250 years later with no help from the church for the past 150 years. If anything, the church at large has been helping secularism pour gas on the fire. The 200+ years of reformational work culminating in our founding documents withstood the insolence of man for over two centuries, but it will not protect us forever. Only men who truly believed in the Holiness of God, the natural condition of man, and the authority of Scripture could have accomplished such a feat. It is because they firmly understood the doctrines of Grace and most importantly, they truly believed them. The fact that reformed theology saturated what was preached and taught in education must not be ignored.
You will notice, as you may have just a minute ago, that our founding documents did not quote our reformational forefathers directly, but the content is (rhetorically-speaking) a series of footnotes back to them. Some of the language used (as we just saw) was not as theologically rich as they would have worded it, but the logic remained. Our reformational forefathers oxygenated the air that gave life to the founding documents. Again, the potency of what they taught and preached must not be underestimated.
Keep in mind that the reformers were getting persecuted, slaughtered, exiled, and were watching people get murdered in the streets for obeying God rather than the King and ecclesiastical authorities. They went up against Roman Catholic absolutists and State-church monarchs, so people speaking relatively the same language they were. But they would not bend the knee to their unchecked authority over conscience and doctrinal matters. Imagine if, from Calvin to 1800, one of the groups I brought up said, “you know what, doctrine really isn’t all that important. I mean, they say they worship Jesus and we worship Jesus, so, is there really that much of a difference? Should we really care about doctrines outside salvation? What if they succumbed to the lie that tolerance and cheap grace are the church’s greatest virtues? What if they said, “I mean, theology is too divisive, so let’s put Scripture aside and let’s all unite under this abstracted name of Jesus, so that no one version of Jesus gets slighted?” While, that may sound nice and peaceful, and contemporary, it is un-Biblical. What if, for one instance, they capitulated to the fear of man? If they had done that, there is no telling where we would be today. The Puritans never would have left England and all of western civilization would be in a very different situation.
It took 300 years of godly men and women who lived, breathed, and bled the doctrines of Grace for us to meet this morning in Calhoun, Louisiana. Calvin’s political theology, to use his own words, were “written by necessity” as a minister of God fulfilling his role because of his understanding of Grace and Faith as he himself said. And it will take those who bleed the doctrines of Grace to re-reform the line of Faithful thought that has preserved us to this point.
The foundation to each and every way forward is: A proper understanding of Grace Alone through Faith Alone in the entire Person and Work of Christ Alone and his present Kingship. Only then can you rightly approach Christian ethics as Calvin did. Let us not look at these men as mere biographies or wooden historical facts, but honor them, and more importantly, honor Christ on the throne, by doing the works they did.
Hebrews 10:19–25, ESV
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Isaiah 61:10–11, ESV
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.