Essential Truths of the Christian Faith

R. C. Sproul

• Publisher: Tyndale Elevate
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780842320016
• eBook ISBN: 9781414360348
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

For those who yearn for a deeper walk of faith, their journey can begin here.

Dr. R. C. Sproul, author of The Holiness of God, takes theology down from the dusty shelves of theological libraries and expounds in clear and simple terms more than one hundred major Christian doctrines. He offers readers an essential understanding of the Christian faith that will kindle a lifelong love for truth, which is foundational to maturity in Christ.

Here are theologically sound explanations of the fundamental biblical concepts every Christian should know, written in a way we all can understand. Sproul's homespun analogies and illustrations from everyday life make this book interesting, informative, and easy to read.

Deep and logical, this helpful book covers topics such as:

• How to approach interpreting the Bible
• How God's justice and mercy can coexist
• How to understand the reformed doctrine of predestination

Essential Truths of the Christian Faith answers the critical questions of both new believers and longtime followers of Jesus, providing a strong foundation for a resilient spiritual life.

PART I: Revelation

CHAPTER 1: Divine Revelation

Everything we know about Christianity has been revealed to us by God. To reveal means “to unveil.” It involves removing a cover from something that is concealed.

When my son was growing up, we developed an annual tradition for the celebration of his birthday. Instead of the normal pattern of distributing presents, we did it by way of our homemade version of the television game show “Let’s Make a Deal.” I hid his presents in secret places such as in a drawer, under the sofa, or behind a chair. Then I gave him options: “You can have what’s in the desk drawer or what’s in my pocket.” The climax of the game focused on the “big deal of the day.” I arranged three chairs that were covered with blankets. Each blanket concealed a gift. One chair had a small gift, a second chair had his big present, and a third chair had a crutch he had used after breaking his leg at age seven.

For three years in a row my son selected the chair containing the crutch! (I always ended up letting him exchange the crutch for his real gift.) The fourth year he was determined not to choose the chair with the crutch under the blanket. This time I concealed his big present alongside the crutch and allowed the top of the crutch to peek out beneath the blanket. Spying the crutch tip he studiously avoided choosing that chair. I got him again!

The fun part of the game was in trying to guess where the treasure was hidden. But it was sheer guesswork, pure speculation. Discovery of the real treasure could not be made until the blanket was removed and the gift lay unveiled.

So it is with our knowledge of God. Idle speculation about God is a fool’s errand. If we wish to know Him in truth, we must rely on what He tells us about Himself.

The Bible indicates that God reveals Himself in various ways. He displays His glory in and through nature. He revealed Himself in ancient times via dreams and visions. The mark of His providence is shown in the pages of history. He reveals Himself in the inspired Scripture. The zenith of His revelation is seen in Jesus Christ becoming a human being—what theologians call “the incarnation.”

The author of Hebrews writes:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. (Hebrews 1:1-2)

Although the Bible speaks of the “various ways” that God reveals Himself, we distinguish between two chief types of revelation—general and special.

General revelation is called “general” for two reasons: (1) it is general in content, and (2) it is revealed to a general audience.

General Content

General revelation provides us with the knowledge that God exists. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” says the psalmist. God’s glory is displayed in the works of His hands. This display is so clear and manifest that no creature can possibly miss it. It unveils God’s eternal power and deity (Romans 1:18-23). Revelation in nature does not give a full revelation of God. It does not give us the information about God the Redeemer that we find in the Bible. But the God who is revealed in nature is the same God who is revealed in Scripture.

General Audience

Not everyone in the world has read the Bible or heard the gospel proclaimed. But the light of nature shines upon everyone in every place, in every time. God’s general revelation takes place every day. He is never without a witness to Himself. The visible world is like a mirror that reflects the glory of its Maker.

The world is a stage for God. He is the chief actor who appears front and center. No curtain can fall and obscure His presence. We know from one glimpse of creation that nature is not its own mother. There is no such “mother” as Mother Nature. Nature itself is powerless to produce life of any kind. In itself, nature is barren. The power to produce life resides in the Author of nature—God. To substitute nature as the source of life is to confuse the creature with the Creator. All forms of nature worship are acts of idolatry that are detestable to God.

Because of the force of general revelation, every human being knows that God exists. Atheism involves the utter denial of something that is known to be true. This is why the Bible says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). When the Scripture so chastens the atheist by calling him a “fool,” it is making a moral judgment upon him. To be a fool in biblical terms is not to be dimwitted or lacking in intelligence; it is to be immoral. As the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, so the denial of God is the height of foolishness.

The agnostic, likewise, denies the force of general revelation. The agnostic is less strident than the atheist; he does not flatly deny the existence of God. Rather, the agnostic declares that there is insufficient evidence to decide one way or the other about God’s existence. He prefers to suspend his judgment, to leave the issue of God’s existence as an open question. However, in light of the clarity of general revelation, the stance of agnosticism is no less detestable to God than that of the militant atheist.

But for anyone whose mind and heart are open, the glory of God is wonderful to see—from the billions of universes in the heavens to the subatomic particles that make up the tiniest of molecules. What an incredible God we serve!

Summary

1. Christianity is a revealed religion.
2. God’s revelation is a self-disclosure. He removes the veil that keeps us from knowing Him.
3. We do not come to know God through speculation.
4. God revealed Himself in various ways throughout history.
5. General revelation is given to all human beings.
6. Atheism and agnosticism are based on a denial of what people know to be true.
7. Foolishness is founded on the denial of God.
8. Wisdom is founded on the fear of God.

Biblical passages for reflection:

Psalm 19:1-14; Ephesians 3:1-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrews 1:1-4

CHAPTER 2: Paradox, Mystery, and Contradiction

The influence of various movements within our culture such as New Age, Eastern religion, and irrational philosophy have led to a crisis of understanding. A new form of mysticism has arisen that exalts the absurd as a hallmark of religious truth. We think of the Zen-Buddhist maxim that “God is one hand clapping” as an illustration of this pattern.

To say that God is one hand clapping sounds profound. It puzzles the conscious mind because it strikes against normal patterns of thought. It sounds “deep” and intriguing until we analyze it carefully and discover that at root it is simply a nonsense statement.

Irrationality is a type of mental chaos. It rests upon a confusion that is at odds with the Author of all truth who is not an author of confusion.

Biblical Christianity is vulnerable to such strands of exalted irrationality because of its candid admission that there is much paradox and mystery in the Bible. Because there are thin but crucial lines that divide paradox, mystery, and contradiction, it is important that we learn to distinguish among them.

We are quickly confounded when we seek to plumb the depths of God. No mortal can exhaustively comprehend God. The Bible reveals things about God that we know are true in spite of our inability to understand them fully. We have no human reference point, for example, to understand a being who is three in person and one in essence (Trinity), or a being who is one person with two distinct natures, human and divine (the person of Christ). These truths, as certain as they may be, are too “high” for us to penetrate.

We face similar problems in the natural world. We understand that gravity exists, but we do not understand it, nor do we seek to define it in irrational or contradictory terms. Most everyone agrees that motion is an integral part of reality, yet the essence of motion itself has perplexed philosophers and scientists for millennia. There is much that is mysterious about reality and much that we do not understand. But that does not warrant a leap into absurdity. Irrationality is fatal both to religion and science. Indeed, it is deadly to any truth.

The late Christian philosopher Gordon H. Clark once defined a paradox as a “charley horse between the ears.” His witty remark was designed to point out that what is sometimes called a paradox is often nothing more than sloppy thinking. Clark, however, clearly recognized the legitimate role and function of paradox. The word paradox comes from the Greek root that means “to seem or to appear.” Paradoxes are difficult for us because at first glance they “seem” to be contradictions, but under closer scrutiny resolutions can often be found. For example, Jesus said, “He who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). On the surface this sounds akin to a statement like “God is one hand clapping.” It sounds like a self-contradiction. What Jesus meant, however, is that if someone loses his life in one sense, he will find it in another sense. Because the losing and saving are in two different senses, there is no contradiction. I am a father and a son at the same time, but obviously not in the same relationship.

Because the term paradox has been misunderstood so often as a synonym for contradiction, it now appears in some English dictionaries as a secondary meaning of the term contradiction. A contradiction is a statement that violates the classical law of noncontradiction. The law of noncontradiction declares that A cannot be A and non-A at the same time and in the same respect. That is, something cannot be what it is and not be what it is at the same time and in the same respect. This is the most fundamental of all the laws of logic.

No one can understand a contradiction because a contradiction is inherently unintelligible. Not even God can understand contradictions. But He can certainly recognize them for what they are—falsehoods. The word contradiction comes from the Latin “to speak against.” It is sometimes called an antinomy, which means “against law.” For God to speak in contradictions would be for Him to be intellectually lawless, to speak with a forked tongue. It is a great insult and unconscionable blasphemy to even suggest that the Author of truth would ever speak in contradictions. Contradiction is the tool of the one who lies— the father of lies who despises the truth.

There is a relationship between mystery and contradiction that easily reduces us to confusing the two. We do not understand mysteries. We cannot understand contradictions. The point of contact between the two concepts is their unintelligible character. Mysteries may not be clear to us now simply because we lack the information or the perspective to understand them. The Bible promises further light in heaven on mysteries we are unable to understand now. Further light may resolve present mysteries. However, there is not enough light in heaven and earth to ever resolve a clear-cut contradiction.

Summary

1. Paradox is an apparent contradiction that under closer scrutiny yields resolution.
2. Mystery is something unknown to us now, but which may be resolved.
3. Contradiction is a violation of the law of noncontradiction. It is impossible to resolve, either by mortals or God, either in this world or the next.

Biblical passages for reflection:

Matthew 13:11; Matthew 16:25; Romans 16:25-27; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Corinthians 14:33

CHAPTER 3: Immediate and Mediate General Revelation

When I was a boy and my mother required that I do something without delay, she punctuated her orders to me by using the adverb immediately. She would say, “Son, go to your room immediately.”

She used the word immediately to refer to an event in time that occurs without any intervening block of time. In theology the term immediate mea...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part I: Revelation
• Part II: The Nature and Attributes of God
• Part III: The Works and Decrees of God
• Part IV: Jesus Christ
• Part V: The Holy Spirit
• Part VI: Human Beings and the Fall
• Part VII: Salvation
• Part VIII: The Church and Sacraments
• Part IX: Spirituality and Living in This Age
• Part X: End Times
• Suggested Reading
• About the Author