Educating Christian Children

A Faith that Works

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels, and Sermons

Lesson: 6-7

Genre: Talk

Track: 6

Dictation Name: RR312C6

Location/Venue:

Year:

Our subject now is A Faith that Works. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27

Then, turning to James 2:14-17 “14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

These words by James, the brother of our Lord, echo His statement on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:15-20, where our Lord speaks about false prophets who are inwardly ravening wolves because they separate faith from works. They reject- these false prophets do- the relationship between a good tree and good fruit. If a man be anti-nomian, James asks, can faith save him?

The word translated as ‘faith’ is the Greek ‘pistus’. James at least asks a question about all such people: “Can faith save him?” Our Lord calls those who separate faith from works false prophets and ravening wolves, stronger language than any of us who dare to use. Very clearly, Biblical faith is intensely practical; it is very far removed from what used to be called ‘pies in the sky by and by religion’. It was Greek paganism which separated the spiritual from the material, and led to the paradox of supposedly higher and highly moral thought linked to clearly immoral lives as in Socrates and Plato. They could talk about virtue, while involved in homosexuality.

This ancient paganism is the background of modern anti-nomianism. The early church was overwhelmingly Jewish in the Apostolic age, and for some generations to come; even well into the Middle Ages the Jews are very obviously present in the leadership of the church. As a result, in their fully Biblical perspective, they insisted on the unity of faith and works, ideas and action, mind and body. For example, in the epistle of Barnabas written before 135 A.D. we read this concerning Jesus Christ and the believer- (let me say that the epistle of Barnabas was not written by Barnabas, it gained that title through some fluke, but it was a letter of the early church, a word of advice) we read therein: “Because He, Christ, came not to call men according to status, but to call those in whom He prepared the Spirit, share all things with your neighbor, and do not claim that anything is exclusively yours. For if you are sharers in that which is imperishable, how much more so in that which is perishable? Do not be over talkative, for the mouth is deaths snare.”

There is a like statement in the Didache written before 150 A.D. “Do not turn away from the needy man, but share everything with your brother and do not claim is anything is exclusively your own, for if you are sharers in the immortal, how much more in the mortal things?”

We learn also from the Didache that the law of the first fruits was strictly practiced. They did not see the law as dead, the dietary laws were commended in Barnabas and in Didache, and much much more. Somewhat later in the second century there was a cynic philosopher who early in life for a time masqueraded as a Christian in order to milk the Christian community. Lucian, a pagan philosopher, Lucian of Samosata, wrote an account of this man’s life; how accurately we do not know, but he ridiculed both Peregrinus, this fake Christian, and the Christians. At the same time his record tells us that the Christians were very charitable because their ‘first law giver’ meaning Jesus Christ, whom Lucian calls “That crucified sophist whom they worshipped” had told them to help one another. Very early, the church met the needs of its members, and rendered help to other needy peoples. There was no area of need outside their concern, abandoned babies and children, the sick and the needy, the elderly, schooling, ransoming captives, and more. Wherever they were, the Christians functioned as God’s Ecclesia in Christ, His city council, governing in terms of God’s law word. They were not working to undermine Rome, but to give Rome and the nations the government ordained by God in His holy word.

The government they gave was different from that of Rome and the modern state; Rome for example was deeply involved in welfarism of a most generous nature, and a very corrupt character, but its purpose was to keep the masses sedated and quiet; its purpose was power and control, it was immoral in purpose and in results.

In 1939 H.J. Haskell wrote on The New deal in Old Rome describing how the political answer to human need corrupted both the rulers and the ruled, the people and the state. People fled from their own country, Rome, because it had become their enemy. Haskell summed it up in these words: “As oppression by the central authority increased, many Romans in the frontier provinces escaped from its heavy hand to find refuge among the Germans, and even the Huns. It is recorded that a refugee with the Huns told a Roman Ambassador that he considered his new life with the Huns better than his old life among the Romans. To the poor it was said: ‘The enemy was kinder than the tax collector.’”

The Roman welfare state corrupted all levels of society, and the modern welfare state does the same. The states entrance into otherwise good areas led to the corruption of those areas; the same is true today. The state is not providing people with anything because it is big-hearted, but because it wants power. It is not giving social security because it wants to help the elderly, but it started it as a con operation on the elderly. Do you know that at the time that they started in the 30’s, Social Security, not many people lived beyond 65, so they were safe in promising them a pension after 65. But lo and behold, Hollywood did something good- it sold people on ‘the Hollywood diet’ and as people began to eat more fruit and vegetable and grow a bit trimmer in size, they started to live longer, and Washington began to panic- and with good reason, because they saw the end of Social Security, which is predicted within a decade by some.

The Ecclesia, the city council of Jesus Christ, means that Christ has called us to exert His government in all spheres. This meant that Christians had a responsibility, they had a duty, they had to govern in all spheres- health, education, welfare- because our Lord is king we must rule, not by revolution, but by regeneration and transformation. The Christian must work to further self government, instead of undermining the recipients of help, he must work to free them from the bondage of welfarism by Christianizing their faith and their daily lives. The Christian premise cannot be power, but a moral renewal.

Remember what Paul said? “He that doth not work, let him not eat.” When anyone was out of work, a Christian, three days of food was provided, and then a job working with someone in the congregation- but a sub-standard pay so he would not be encouraged to stay with that job. The Roman political appeal was either for more power, to help the people ostensibly, or an appeal to the bitterness of people over corruption. And so politics always was concerned with welfarism, this horror that was destroying Rome.

To give you an idea how they felt, the Roman Sallust quoted Catiline as saying in one speech and I quote: “Everything is monopolized by a proud and insolent oligarchy. Power, riches, honors, are in the hands of the few; or scantily dealt out among their creatures at their will and pleasure. To us they have left nothing but disgrace, contempt and danger; the terror of persecution, and the pangs of gripping poverty. We have beggary at home, a load of debts abroad, desolation before our eyes, and not the smallest hope of relied to assuage our misery. In a word, the breath we draw is all that is left for us.”

Well, Catiline may have had very valid historical grounds for his stand, but he lacked a moral answer and he paid for his failure with his life. Apart from Christ, all those who addressed the problem within the Roman empire offered only revolution or political revolt and protest in some form, and it was all in vain because with a more reform, without a religious transformation, Rome remained Rome.

Our world is full of Catiline’s, of Cicero’s and Sallust’s; all good observers. They can tell you what is going on, but they lack a moral answer because they lack a Christian faith. Their answers are limited to winning elections, passing laws, and creating political solutions. Rome fell, then, because of its moral failure, and new Rome’s are failing now. There is no answer apart from Christ.

In Matthew 16:18 he tells us that the very gates of hell cannot prevail or hold out against His church, His ecclesia, His city council, if it will indeed be an ecclesia and govern in His name. Pure religion and undefiled will do Christ’s bidding. It will minister to man’s needs in all areas of life. It will educate the children and teach the Lord’s congregation, it will teach, heal, restore, and cleans the peoples because Christ requires it. (Let me state parenthetically, the ‘ecclesia’ meant the city council, not the national council. Now, if your church polity is congregational or Baptistic, that word alone gives you the best argument for your type of church government. City council, local, a local congregation with a local responsibility.

We are all to be full-time Christians, wherever we are. Not all of us can do all the things necessary to meet man’s needs in Christ, but we can all support those who do; and we can help and create or further ministries that do these things. We can and must pray for all who work on the frontiers of faith, whether missionaries of the word or Diaconal ministries. I have twice in the past few months written in the Chalcedon Report, written about the Deaconate. We see there alone how far we have strayed from the ecclesia of the New Testament, because the Deaconate in the Bible and for centuries thereon, the Deaconate under John Calvin, was a full time ministry.

You had the ministry of the word, and you had the ministry of compassion; full time. Calvin felt so strongly about it that every church service had two offerings; one for the work of the local congregation, the other for the deacons to use, and that came at the end of the service. And Calvin felt so strongly about the Deacons offering that after the plate was passed- it was on a long pole that was passed down the pews- the deacons would wait outside the door to catch those who pretended they were busy praying when the plate went by. Nobody was going to miss the deacons offering, and they set up in Geneva what they called hospitals; taking care of the sick was one aspect of the work, taking care of the homeless, the aged, the infirm, children who were homeless, travelers who went through the city and had no place to stay nor money to pay for an inn; in fact anyone passing through the city was told where they could go if they had no funds, and Calvin even opened his own home at all times to any traveler who could not afford an inn, and if their hospitals were filled up.

The Deaconate has been over the centuries a major part of the churches ministry. We need to reestablish it. We need to see this responsibility, because it is a part of our governing power and responsibility. The Greek word ‘pistis’ means ‘faith’. It is so translated routinely in the New Testament. But our definition is too close to easy-believism- this is not true to its original meaning. Let me quote what Dr. Michelle in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology Volume 1 said with regard to the meaning of the word, and I quote: “With reference to people, ‘pisteuo’ means ‘to obey.’” It means to obey. In other words, when James was saying faith without works is dead, he was saying: “If there is a faith without works, it is not what the word implies.” Because the word means you obey because you believe. This is why antinomian faith is not faith. This is why James is so emphatic on the meaning of faith.

Again in Hebrews 6:1 there is a reference to ‘dead works’ works without faith, so that works without faith, and faith without works are alike invalid according to the word of God. Thus to conquer this world for Christ requires true faith, a living faith. Our Lord requires us in His great commission to bring all the world under His sway, and nothing short of that is acceptable. We, as our Lord’s local governing councils, have a duty to believe and obey and to apply the word of God as the governing word in every area of life and thought. We are His ecclesia. Thank you.

[Audience Speaker] We will be taking questions, as well as Dr. Rushdoony (?) at the moment (?) microphone for taping purposes.

Alright, our first question then, for either (?) or Dr. Rushdoony. Yes?

[Audience Member] Dr. Rushdoony, you mentioned that you saw the church moving into charity, and that next would be healthcare and medicine; I’ve seen a lot of good writings in the area of medical ethics, but is there anything good in the area of medical therapeutics?

[Rushdoony] I don’t know, I hope there is, but I am not in touch with all that is going on there.

[Audience Speaker] Next question please. Yes, Irwin?

[Irwin] Can I make a comment directly?

[Audience Speaker] Sure.

[Irwin] I will try to make this brief, but the comment has to do with Fred (Fews?) address. Particularly if I can rephrase it, I think that the issue is, that in citing Deuteronomy 6, the great commission mandate appears at least in partial form throughout the Bible in many places, and that is one place, that as parents we are not just in the business of educating our children in the secular sense, but in actually making disciples, Christian disciples, of our children. Statistically the Christian community has failed abysmally in honoring that charge. One statistician tells us that 7/10 children born into Christian homes fail to maintain fellowship in the community of believers in which they are raised.

I question whether even those three that do maintain fellowship in that Christian community may in fact be disciples, and the reason I say that is because another statistician actually (?) says that between 90-94% of those who identify themselves as being Christian are indistinguishable from non-Christians in terms of attitudes, belief and behavior.

Discipleship in the Christian church in America is conspicuous by its absence; I don’t even- I think that most Christians don’t have the faintest idea as to what a disciple really is, and if we don’t know what it is that we are trying to produce, how can we go about discipline our children, making disciples within our church, or making disciples within a large community; and I would appreciate any comments anyone would have on that.

[Audience Speaker] Thank you Irwin. Any other questions to Dr. Rushdoony or Pastor (?)

[Audience Member] I would like to know, Dr. Rushdoony, if he believes that the Colonial founders of our Republic, in particular and in addition to that, the founders of our constitutional Republic, indeed founded a Christian Republic, and if they were in fact implementing a vehicle of ecclesia.

[Audience Speaker] The question for Dr. Rushdoony revolves around, do you believe that our colonial forefathers and specifically the constitutional forefathers were in fact founding a Christian Republic, and were following the model of ecclesia?

[Rushdoony] That question is quite an order. As briefly as I can summarize it, we have to realize that the constitution was created primarily to provide a document which gave a few guidelines for procedural government. It had nothing to say about fundamental law; all it does is to tell you the terms of office for a Federal Union. As they saw it, Congress would meet about 2 weeks every other year to take care of a few details. (laughter) That literally was the case. When they went to Washington they stayed at boarding houses, and the rest of time Washington was a deserted place.

As a result, they did not see it as an instrument for government, but as a plan for union of the several states. Up until 1864 the United States was a plural noun- one would say: “The United States are” now it is “The United States is.” We created a consolidated government after that time.

They severely limited then the Federal Union they created with the first ten Amendments; the 1st Amendment barring any establishment of religion was passed at the demands of the Colonial Clergy. The last thing they wanted was an established church for the United States, in fact as Carl Bridenbaugh said in his book on Mitre and Sceptre, that perhaps the major reason for the War of Independence was the plan by Parliament to impose Bishops on all the colonies, and create unified churches all under the Church of England. You don’t read that in the textbooks because that is not a popular subject now.

Then one other item to indicate what was in their minds when they created this document- which was only to be a plan of union, not consolidation- They intended, even though they had no statement in it concerning law or religion, this being left to the several states all of whom until the 1840’s decided cases in courts out of the Bible. A professor of law told me that well into the 1840’s, cases were decided by judges or jury’s out of the Bible. However there was one very interesting aspect to the constitution, one which is of no significance today: the oath of office.

Now an oath was a very serious matter in those days. By an oath you invoked all the wrath of God if you broke the oath, and you called for all the blessings of God if you were faithful to the oath. An oath was usually taken on an open Bible at Deuteronomy 28. Read it, and you will see what an oath means.

So an oath of office was a total Biblical, a totally Christian step, that was required by the Constitution; and today we’ve forgotten what an oath means.

Incidentally, at least until around 1850 in the courts in the several states, either you could not be a witness in a trial if you were an unbeliever and therefore could not take an oath, or if you were allowed to testify without an oath the judge would warn the jury that since you were not a Christian your word had to be taken as not altogether trustworthy.

[Audience Speaker] Our next question please? Yes, Perry?

[Perry] For Rev. Fred, in the history of Protestant Orthodoxy since the Reformation… particularly since the Reformation, there has been this simple emphasis on truth; as you were speaking it occurred to me, the Westminster Confession, the London Confession, and others begin with a chapter on the authority of the holy scriptures, the source of truth implicit… and it adds a whole idea of truth in your particular application in education. What do you think has contributed in this country in the United States, what has contributed to evangelical Protestantism’s departure from that central focus on truth and the source of truth?

[Audience Speaker] The question, given for pastor Fred is: What is the central reason for the departure of the emphasis on truth so essential and prevalent in our confessions?

[Pastor Fred] After I say what I will say, I would like Dr. Rushdoony to respond to this as well, he has been around a few more years than I have, and has seen the departure take place over a much longer period of time, and it started long before I was born.

I think the departure started, Perry, probably as you noted last night, shortly after the Civil War or during the Civil War. But in our particular culture and in our particular day… I think a part of it has come simply because the pastors of this country have quit emphasizing truth. I think the principle in scripture: “Like shepherd like people” I think is coming through. I don’t think people today know what truth is any longer, because it is not proclaimed from the pulpit. There is a desire not to offend, there is a desire not to run people off from your church; it is amazing how many people, and any of you who are Calvinistic in your pastoring you know that when people come to your church they like all sorts of stuff about you church until they start hearing you proclaim the truth of scripture in terms of the sovereignty of God and salvation. And I think that the whole ‘church growth’ movement that we see in this country is a testimony to peoples dislike of truth.

Theology at one time was that which pastors did, they did theology. It was truth. And I think that the desire to become respected by the community around, the desire- David Wells notes it well in his book, the desire to be considered ‘professional’ by the clergy, caused them to downplay truth. And consequently when the pastors start downplaying it, the people are going to start down playing it. Dr. Rushdoony would you respond to that?

[Rushdoony] I think what you said is very much to the point. It hasn’t been a case of one single thing, but a complexity of things. Eschatology has had a lot to do with it; very early we saw what eschatology could do to the church. The first aumillennial thinker was Saint Augustine- he was a great man and in some ways a forerunner of Calvin, and yet he was also the father of the Medieval church. Because if you are an Aumillennial and you do not expect victory in time as well as in eternity, what are you going to do? Well, you don’t see any hope in building up the world and making it God’s kingdom, so you concentrate on the church; and the whole of the vast edifice of power that the Roman Catholic Church became grew right out of Aumillennial thinking; you centered on the church rather than the whole of life. And when Presbyterianism for example in America turned from Postmillennialism to Aumillennialism, it likewise started creating a vast bureaucracy and controlling its clergy and members. So you can create a false doctrine of the church if your eschatology is false.

Of course, antinomianism is also a key factor in that it reduces the churches concern to purely spiritual things, and that is a sure ticket to irrelevance. So on a wide variety of fronts, wherever the church has retreated from the fullness of the whole word of God, it has retreated into irrelevance.

[Pastor Fred] Let me say one more thing about that Perry. The truth is by its very nature exclusive. Our society today hates what they call ‘intolerance’. You look back at when Jesus came and proclaimed: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He was immediately saying to the Pharisees: “You’re a lie.” They hated that. I think it would have been okay if Jesus had come along and said: “I’m okay, you’re okay.” (laughter) But He didn’t, and if you look at the Judaizers in the Galatian church they came in and said: “Okay, it’s okay to teach that Christ is necessary, but also teach that what we are saying is necessary.” They would probably have settled for a tolerance. And if you want to be popular in our culture, be tolerant. But if you are going to preach truth as it is in Christ Jesus, it is exclusive.

You read the Cleveland (plain dealer?) and what they hate the most about Christians is their ‘Right wing Intolerance.’ That’s it. Praise God.

[Audience Speaker] The next question please. Yes?

[Audience Member] This is for Dr. Rushdoony. You mentioned that the Deaconate ministry was an emphasis in the early church and during the Reformation, and I sort of thought- you don’t see too much of it today. I wondered if you could comment on some examples on where you have seen it successively implemented in local churches, and those churches that don’t have Deaconate ministry, maybe suggestions on where they might begin?

[Audience Speaker] The question for Dr. Rushdoony is to cite examples of where you see the Deaconate ministry functioning properly, and for those churches that do not have such a ministry, how might they go about establishing one?

[Rushdoony] Thank you for that question, because it is a practical one. We’ve departed so far from it that the return is going to be slow and difficult. I think one thing that can be done is for several small churches to come together and to have a deacon, one out of their number, as a full time deacon working with the other deacons in the churches who are part time. They can thereby do something to further meeting the needs in their communities. They can perhaps start by helping an on-going work. For example, one of the very fine diaconal ministries is the Salvation Army- and let me add that one of my heroes of the faith is General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. One of the greatest poems in the English language by Vachal Lindsay well worth looking up and reading is Lindsay’s General William Booth Enters Heaven. A beautiful poem. Booth saw the need, he created a deaconate, he went into the slums of London which at that time were so bad it is hard for us to imagine how wretched they were; he rescued men, women and children, he set up farms in the country side to re-train them for gainful occupation, because as he told people who criticized him, he said: “The women in the slums of London whom I reach can never remember being a virgin. They have worked as prostitutes, and they were first taken by some drunkard who had come into the dwelling with their mother, a prostitute. The boys… [Tape Ends (cont. next tape file RR312D7]