Miscellaneous

The Use of the Scriptures and the Reformed Faith

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Religious studies

Lesson: 1-18

Genre: Lecture

Track: 18

Dictation Name: RR268A1

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

[Audience Leader] Good morning, and welcome to the Covenant Reformed Church of Sacramento, 1983 Reformation Bible Conference. I am Wayne Johnson, I am an elder of the church here, our pastor Jefferson Ducat whom you will be hearing from later this morning delivered our first introductions, we thank you Pastor Stover for the invocation. Our first speaker is no stranger to those of us who remember us here at Covenant Reformed Church, and I am sure to many of our visitors and guests this morning. Reverend R.J. Rushdoony, many of us know him from his many books, 29 books I believe at this point, and has worked at the Chalcedon Foundation, advancing the kingdom of God through rediscovering in the church the Institutes of our Biblical Law. Doctor Rushdoony began his ministry as a missionary to the Paiute and Shoshone Indians, now of course he is president of the Chalcedon Foundation, he is very well known for his work in recent years on the behalf of Christian schools, he travels extensively throughout the country testifying at court trials, defending religious liberty, defending our Christian schools from the ravages of the state which seeks to exercise sovereignty over them.

Without any further introduction, and I apologize because I could speak for many, many minutes on Reverend Rushdoony and what he has meant to our church and to our ministry here, to many of us in our individual lives, I introduce to you Reverend R.J. Rushdoony.

[Rushdoony] This pulpit was obviously built for bigger men than myself, but I will try to do the best that I can, I almost feel that should stand on tiptoes to make sure that all goes well.

My subject is the Use of Scriptures in the Reformed Faith. Timothy tells us, or Paul tells us in 2 Timothy, the 3rd chapter beginning with the 13th verse: 2 Timothy 3:13

“13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Some years back a fellow pastor called me one day to tell me that he had just been rebuked by a woman who telephoned him for his lack of knowledge of the scriptures. The woman called to say that she was going to witness to a neighbor, and she wanted to use a verse in particular because of a problem with that woman’s life. And she could not locate that verse, which was an Old Testament proverb. Well, the pastor asked: “What is the verse?” “The verse is: Honesty is the best policy.” And the pastor said: “But that isn’t in the Bible.” And the woman said: “You should know your Bible better!” And hung up.

The Bible is consistently the best seller, unfortunately it is not as well read as it should be. On top of that it is not read as it should be read, from the proper perspective.

Now as we deal with the Reformed Faith and its use of Scriptures we have to recognize that the Reformed faith has many aspects in common with other perspectives. Other theologies also affirm infallibity and inerrancy. Other affirm salvation through Jesus Christ and His atoning work. And we could go on and cite the various aspects that are common to a variety of theologies. But at one point there is a very signal difference. The Reformed faith gives to the Bible a propriety lacking in other systems. In the Westminster standards we have the full development of the Reformed faith, and it should not surprise us therefore that the first chapter is devoted to the Bible. This is the starting point. We know our faith, our God, our savior. We know our roots in Abraham, and in the Covenant, because of the Bible. Because our view of God and our faith depends on the Bible, the Bible has a necessary priority. The truth of the faith is governed by its foundations, and so we need to ask what are the foundations? Is a man’s faith grounded on his religious experience? Religious experience is well and good, and necessary. But a theology that is grounded basically, a faith that is grounded basically in a religious experience, is unsound. The best of saints is not perfect. In our unregenerate state we are fallen and our minds darkened, but even when redeemed we are not fully sanctified in this life, and as a result our experiences are colored, as is everything we know and do, by the fact that while we are saved, we are saved sinners, and our sin colors our perspective.

Any study of the history of religious experience from the early church to the present will very clearly manifest how many aberrations have been upheld in the history of the church in terms of experience. What else shall we ground it on? Some ground their faith, their theology, in reason. But reason, like our experience is again colored by the fact that we are creatures, we have the limitation of creatures, and even when we are saved we are saved sinners. As a result, reason is an untrustworthy guide. Paul tells us of course in Romans 1:18 and following, that the truth of God, all things that God has manifested, are open to all men. They are written in the fiber of every man’s being, so every atom in my being is a revelation of God. The heavens declare the glory of God. The whole earth manifests it. It is like thunder around us. But what is thunder to a man who is deaf or hard of hearing? And because we are in this life imperfectly sanctified, we do no know that revelation of God without the word. Paul tells us the sinful man holds it down, he holds the truth in unrighteousness, literally suppresses it, holds it back, puts it in the background, because he does not like to face up to the implications of it. And because we even as the redeemed of God are not fully sanctified, we often suppress that truth.

In one large congregation of about 2000 in one of the border states, a friend of mine, the pastor, lost his pulpit because he got up and read Leviticus 19 which deals with sexual sins. It hit some of the people very hard, and every one of them figured that the pastor knew something about him that they didn’t want known. They immediately called a congregational meeting and got rid of that (?) man.

Thus, experience is not a safe standard, reason is not a safe standard, and tradition is not a safe standard for the same reason; it reflects mans will too often. But the Bible is the Word of God. God given. God protected and transmitted, and speaking the word of God, Westminster Confession tells us therefore the authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not on the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God, who is truth itself, the author thereof, and therefore it ought to be received because it is the word of God.

There is an important Biblical premise here. Truth and authority are both identified with God. We cannot search for truth apart from God. There is no neutral realm of authority or of truth by which God and man are alike to be judged. For anyone to assert that there is any area of neutrality, or any kind of reason, or anything in which God and men are alike to be judged, is to deny the faith. To deny the Scriptures. Today we have a segment within the church that calls itself Reformed, which says that all things must be judged by the law of contradiction, by logic. Parnell said, who taught at Fuller: “Bring on your revelations. If they do not pass the test of the law of contradiction they are to be rejected.” Gordon Clark makes similar statements, and has said that everything must be judged by the law of contradiction.

Now, if there is no God, then the universe is nothing but brute factuality, chance. There is no logic in the Universe, no meaning. How can a law of contradiction exist in a void? How in a world without God can there be logic? Logic is possible, a law of contradiction is possible only because the God of scripture lives, He is. And therefore to take something that God has created and use it to judge God is tantamount to taking an idol, that our hands have created, and saying: “This idol will judge us, and it will judge God.” Logic is a creation of God, and to use logic against God is an absurdity.

But there are some who do so, and it is nonsense. Doctor Cornelius Van Til has very ably dealt with this absurdity of attempting to use the law of contradiction as the yard stick to judge God and Scripture. It is untenable, it cannot be done. To argue in favor of a law of contradiction or reason, or experience, or tradition, and say: “These things can be used to judge scripture” is as logical as to say: “I believe in the atonement, but I don’t believe in God.” How can you have an atonement without God? How can you have logic and reason, or anything, without God?

The sad fact is all to many men approach the scriptures as though nothing stands until they give it their good house keeping seal of approval. When they pass the word, that the Bible is okay, then the rest of us poor simple folk can believe it. But not until they tell us that it has their seal of approval. This is an arrogance without equal. Sometimes I think the worst arrogance, the most anti God manifestation of reason appears on seminary faculties. The Bible has authority because it comes from the supreme and absolute authority, the triune God. The Bible is truth, because God is truth. And whatever God says is truth.

The Westminster confession also declares that God not only gave the word, but he also gives the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the word by His Holy Spirit. The Spirit does not contradict the word, and the confession tells us the supreme judge by whom all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions, ancient writers, doctrines of men and private spirits are to be examined, and in whose sentence then we are to rest can be no other than but the Holy Spirit speaking in the scriptures.

In the Larger Catechism we are told that though God is revealed by the light of nature and by the works of God and by our reason, the fallen nature of man suppresses this. And only the word and spirit do sufficiently and effectually reveal God unto men for their salvation. Note that phrase, “For their salvation.” Any man can read the Bible and within limits understand it. But it will not be effectual for his salvation apart from the Holy Spirit. The Confession makes clear that a saving understanding is impossible without the Spirit.

Now, because of the priority of the Bible, the Reformed Faith is Catholic in its use of the Bible. The Reformed Faith recognizes the Universal jurisdiction and application of the Word of God. Gods law governs the totality of our being. The totality of our life. There is nothing outside of God, nothing exists apart from him, and His word therefore speaks to all things, to church and state and school, to the arts and sciences, to every aspect of life and the totality of the Universe.

Therefore, the Bible is not merely a Salvationist manual as the Armenians would have it, but it is a book for all of life. It is not merely a church book, it is a book for the state. And Sacramento and Washington had better wake up, or God will judge them. It is a book to guide them, or it will judge them. It is a book for the school, for every area of life, because the total God gives the total word. If we limit the scope and jurisdiction of God’s word, we limit God and His dominion, and what we have then is a box theology. A box theology.

Let us assume this whole room is the universe. What some people do with their box theology is to put a little corner here, and say: “Now that is the church and the Christian realm. That is the realm that the Bible speaks to. Therefore let politics, let sciences, let the arts, all of them go their own way and do as they see fit, because the Bible is for salvation, and therefore it belongs here in this corner.” Now that is Polytheism, it is idolatry, it is saying: “There is one God for this place, and let men make their own Gods for all the rest of the universe.” And that constitutes a sin.

Box theology limits the Bible, it limits the church, it limits the faith to a corner of creation. And then what happens? Instead of fighting the wars of the Lord against the whole of the world, to bring all things into captivity to Jesus Christ, the box theology church has one kind of war it fights, it fights in this box with the other churches. It won’t do battle with the sins out there, it is fighting with the other churches all the time.

Do you know, I do believe on judgement day, when everyone is in line waiting for their judgment, all the church people will get in one line of course, the Presbyterians will turn around and look and say: “What are those Baptists doing here?” And the Baptists will look at any Catholic and say: “You don’t belong in this line.” And the Catholics will look at the Protestants and say: “Don’t you know you people are heretics?” And the Lutherans will look at all the rest of them and say: “Don’t you know that heaven is an exclusive place?”

Now that is what happens in box theology. All battles are waged in that corner, one with another. And as a result, they are ineffectual. They never confront the real problems that God wants us to confront. They wind up with a smaller Bible than the modernists. That is true you know, a great many people wind up with a smaller bible because well: ‘That belongs to the old dispensation, and that was civil, and that was ceremonial, so it doesn’t apply.” Well, what does apply? Well, some of them will actually give you a few pages of verses, and that is all that applies in the Bible. Well, I know modernists with a bigger Bible than that.

The Bible is not merely a church book. And I believe God is going to say to a great many church men, that “Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” God’s book is for all of life, it is a command word, it is marching orders for the church. And the church has a duty to be an armory, where men come to be armed by the word of God, to go forth and to conquer in Christ’s name. And the Bible, said Calvin, has as its purpose to instruct us, to keep us from limiting and perverting the revelation of God. He said in the Institutes and I quote: “For if we consider the immutability of the human mind, how easy its lapse into forgetfulness of God, how great its propensity to errors of every kind, how violent its rage for the perpetual fabrication of new and false religions, it will be easy to perceive the necessity of the heavenly doctrine being thus committed to writing, that it might not be lost in oblivion or evaporate in error, or be corrupted by the presumption of man.

The Bible is an offense to the unregenerate. Because it tells them that they are sinners and under the judgement of almighty God. But let us remember this: to the degree that we are not perfectly sanctified, and none of us are, it is an offense to us also. Now we don’t admit that it is an offense, but how do we show that the word of God is offensive to us? We don’t read it. We have time for everything, but we are too busy to read the word of God. We don’t like to be reminded of our sins and short comings and the necessity to grow. Or as we read it, we say: “This doesn’t apply to me, it fits John Jones next door, or my wife, or my husband. But it doesn’t apply to me.” We will not hear the word because of its offense. We have enough time for football games by the hour, or for the daily paper, but not for the Word of God. It is because we find it an offense, and we don’t admit it.

But being unregenerate, and then being regenerate but not perfectly sanctified, the Bible, first a total offense, and then an offense to the degree that we are not sanctified, presents problems for us.

Reading the Bible, and submitting to Gods word is a moral act. That is why it is not easy for a lot of people to read the Bible regularly, it is a moral act. When you read it, and when you submit to it, you are separating yourself from something else. It requires something from you; it is like reaching into your pocket and putting something in the offering plate every day of the week. And you know, that is asking too much, isn’t it? Only it is asking more than our money, it is asking of our lives. That is why we don’t read the Bible more often. It is a moral act. And too often people go to the Bible for fire and life assurance, and once having signed up for the agent Jesus Christ, they want to put the contract in the drawer or on the shelf and forget about it. But the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he commands the totality of our lives.

Thus, an immoral resistance to holiness keeps us from the word of God. As Calvin said and I quote: “The mind of man being full of pride and temerity, dares to conceive of God according to its own standard… [Tape flips over, blank for a while]

….As Calvin said and I quote: “The mind of man being full of pride and temerity, dares to conceive of God according to its own standards, and being sunk in stupidity and immersed in profound ignorance imagines a vain and ridiculous phantom instead of God.”

Many people use the Bible to build an idol. They go to the Bible for certain things; let me cite an example. A very popular one, using a Bible verse: “God is love.” And so they give you an idol which spells only love. The scripture tells us, God tells us, that He is also a jealous God. That He is a God of judgement, of wrath, of law, of covenant, and much more. If we single one thing out, love, or grace only, or law only, or judgment only, and say: “This is God.” We’ve created an idol, and used the Bible as a pretext. This is false. Now, the Reformed use of the Bible as the Reformation set it forth, and it was held so by the puritans, although unhappily most churches which today call themselves Reformed are traditionalist, not systematic and Reformed, is that God is God in all His being.

Now, you and I have differing aptitudes. Some of us are good with our hands, and some of us are klutzes. Some of us are good musically, and others of us can only croak. Some of us are good with ideas, and others of us are good with things mechanical. We do not have an even balance nature. But God is perfect in all His being, so that there is an absolute equality in the Nature of God of all His attributes and His aspects. So that, you cannot single out one aspect of God and exalt it above the others. We believe in the sovereignty of God, but I have seen some monstrosities constructed by people who do nothing but create an idol using the doctrine of sovereignty, and forgetting all the other aspects of God. Or taking love, or anything else that is an attribute of God, and stressing it as though: “This is the essential thing about God.” Everything in the word gives us the essentials about God. God is perfect in all His being. Perfect in His grace, in His law, in His wrath, in His love; and all are equal. You see, when you take such a view, which marked the Reformed faith the first two centuries, and some areas longer, then you have a wholeness in your faith. Then you go to the whole word of God, and the whole word of God speaks to the whole of life and the whole of the world.

Then you do not do what some people do, too many people do, and there are books with such titles: Nuggets from Joshua. As though, Joshua is like a mine field, it is full of dirt, and here and there a few gold nuggets in it. Or Gleanings from Judges. Most of it is not fit to touch, but you can glean a few things out of it. Or Mining Leviticus. “Yes, dig into it, and you can find in all that garbage you know, something that is worthwhile, and you take it and you give it.” That is so commonplace, it is hard to go into a Bible bookstore without finding books of that title, and they are blasphemous.

Do you think God took all the portion that he did of His scripture to talk about the building of the tabernacle as a once and for all instruction? After all, they finished building it within a very short time. And did God say: “It is obsolete now, but you just stick with this obsolete part, and you can skip over it.” Or was he saying “The precision of my instructions here teaches you how important approach to me is.” Or did God give all the sacrificial laws, and say: “Well of course, don’t pay any attention to this, after my son comes. Because they are going to be obsolete.” Or was he telling us therein something about the seriousness of sin which we are to remember for all of time? Or the fact that as Leviticus 4 and other passages make clear, the greater the responsibility the greater the sin. You see, when we give ourselves to the whole word of God, then we are Reformed. And we know that that whole word was given to us because God, to the end of time had something to say in every word of it for us. Man lacks balance. We have aptitudes and weaknesses, but not so God. In Him, potentiality and actuality are one. But the humanistic view of God stresses one aspect of God, and one aspect of His word, above others. We lack balance, and we think God does, we think His word does, and so well, now: “We’ll concentrate on this and forget about the rest.” And the result is an idol, an idolatry.

Faithfulness to the Reformed view of the Bible prevents this. We then live by the every word of God. We use it all. We recognize that all of it is God’s moral law. But you can’t distinguish between the law as being civil and ceremonial--- there is no ceremonial law in the Bible by the way. There is sacrificial law. Btu there is a difference between ceremony and sacrifice. But it is all moral. It has to do with Good and evil, and that is a relevant subject to the end of time.

Calvin began his Institutes with these Words, and I quote: “It is evident that the talents which we possess are not from ourselves, and our very existence is nothing but a subsistence in God alone.” If our very existence is nothing but a subsistence in God alone, then we should live by the every word of God. It is the only sufficient word for us. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then we will recognize the truth of what Doctor Van Til described when he wrote and I quote, in his book on the Doctrine of Scripture: “In saving us from sin, Christ saves us unto His service. Through the salvation that is ours in Christ by the Spirit, we take up anew the cultural mandate that was given to man at the outset of history. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we want now to do all to the glory of God. Moreover, we want our fellow men with us, to do all things to the glory of God. We are bound as we are eager, to inform them of that which we have been told; namely, that we shall continue to abide under the wrath of God, and eventually be cast out into utter darkness, unless by God’s grace we seek to do all things to the glory of God. Calling upon all men everywhere to join with us in fulfilling the original cultural mandate given to mankind, which we may now undertake because of the redeeming work of Christ. He is our joy each day.”

We were saved from sin, to serve God. To glorify Him. All in God is perfection. As we have seen it is not so with men, but at one point there is a difference. Of all men everywhere, whatever their weakness and whatever their strength, the same requirement holds. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. Every aspect of our life then must have a single focus, the service, the glory, and the enjoyment of God. And so it is when Paul writes to Timothy, he tells him that the only way the man of God can be thoroughly furnished unto all good works, is to serve, to enjoy, and to glorify God, is through the scriptures; which are given by inspiration of God for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, or to us e the modern word, justice. What keeps us from the word? A reluctance to be reproved by God. Our unwillingness to be corrected, and to be instructed that we might grow. The word of God is the only armor by which man can confront a sinful world and conquer.

Because with the word of God, when we go forth we have God’s program, God’s plan for victory. And when we go forth, with the word, we go forth in the Spirit. Because the spirit is never separate from the word. And this is why Paul’s word to Timothy, and Gods word to us is, that we are to go forth with the whole word of God, and we are more than conquerors then through him that loved, us redeemed us, commissioned us and sent us forth, and has given us His word and His program for our lives, for victory and for the kingdom of God. Let us pray.

“For Thy sufficient word our Father, we give Thee thanks. And we pray that Thou wouldst give us grace day by day, to be reproved, to be corrected, to be instructed by Thy word. To submit ourselves unto Thee, to Thy word, to Thy Spirit. To go forth in terms of Thy word, to bring every area of life and thought into captivity to Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless and empower us to this task we beseech Thee, in Jesus name, amen.

[Audience Leader] Thank you Reverend Rushdoony. At this time we are going to take 5 minutes or so and Reverend Rushdoony is going to come back with us, and tell us a little bit about the progress of some of the important court cases that have been going on in Maine and several other places.

[Rushdoony] What we are currently facing all over the world is a militant persecution of Christianity by humanism and statism. I don’t have time for us to go into what is happening over seas, in fact I will soon be flying before summer to Australia because of the situation there, and I will be meeting this next week Friday and Saturday from some people from Australia because of persecutions there. But briefly, what is happening is that by means of regulations and controls, the state is trying to control, and step by step strange the church and the Christian school. What they are doing is to assert the sovereignty of the state and the church over the school. Now sovereignty is a legal term, which is the same as the Biblical word Lordship, so the issue is the same as the Christians faced in the Roman Empire, when Rome said they had to come before a government seat and get a certificate or they could not have a church, and they were required to say: “Caesar is Lord.” And they said: “No, we will not say so, Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Just since the beginning of this year I have been involved in cases in Nebraska which makes Hitler pale by comparison in the claims it is making. In Montana, where they are trying to pass legislation to control he Christian schools, and where we think at least we won a partial victory. And in Maine, where again they are trying to control all the schools. I will be involved in a number of other cases, we have a major problem brewing right here in California. Our new State Superintendent of Schools, Bill Honig, a conservative, but a humanist and a statist, is out to wipe out all the home schools. Now in many areas parents are keeping their children home and are educating them. We know from court cases that these children in the home schools are years ahead of Public School children, as a matter of fact the curriculum was first developed for missionary children overseas, so that whether they were in Africa or Asia or the Pacific Islands, the parents were getting this curriculum from this country, and using it to teach their children. When they came back to this country those children were usually several years ahead. They were so far ahead that college education was usually a snap for them. In court cases those children tested far ahead, but they are trying to wipe them out. There are 100,000 such home schools in California, and Bill Honig is threatening every one of those parents with court unless they will put their children with the public schools. When he is finished with them, according to the reports we get, he is already having some people framing regulations to go after all the Christian schools. So we have got Hitlerism right here in Sacramento. It is time you started writing some letters to Bill Honig and tell him you didn’t vote for him to persecute Christian home schools and Christian schools. We have got a fight brewing here.

That same thing, and its almost like someone is pushing a button in Washington and saying: “Go after this and that.” Is happening in almost every state, all of a sudden they started going after all the home schools. They are also preparing in every state a head on drive against all Christian schools. One thing more and I will finish. You are all familiar with the case of Mr. Sillivan, Pastor Sillivan, of the Louisville Baptist church in Nebraska. He has been in jail twice, he may be in jail again before long. Simply because he has refused to allow the state to control his Christian school, they came and padlocked the church. They carted out a 100 people who were there for an all night prayer meeting, most of them ministers who had flown in from California to Georgia to be there.

We have now appealed through the Rutherford Institute to the Attorney General of the United States saying: “Here is a case of the violation of civil rights.” Now be in prayer that they do something about it. So far we have had no response. Your civil rights are respected now, and the attorney General of the United States is ready to go to bat for you, and there is a civil rights division in Washington which is mindful of everybody’s civil rights, except those who are Christians.

There are several Russian type Marxists in that apartment, most of them are socialist to the core, virtually all of them with a few exceptions in the justice department hate Christianity. You had better believe there is a war to destroy the faith, we are either going to win these battles, or by the end of the century the church will be an underground operation. Now this is the battle our foundation Chalcedon is engaged in, and now we have a legal foundation, Rutherford Institute, if you want information about Rutherford Institute just give me your name and address and I’ll send it in to the Virginia office, and if you send a contribution that will be very much needed because we are involved in a number of trials. Thank you.

[Some ending tape comments]