The Increase of His Government

To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

—Isaiah 9:6-7
How good is this news, that government increases forever?

The Values of Alexander Hamilton

During his (New York) Assembly tenure that (1787) spring, Hamilton voted on two measures that suggested ambivalent feelings about his childhood.

Oddly enough, he supported a bill making it impossible for people divorced due to adultery to remarry. Such a draconian statute in the Danish West Indies had prevented Hamilton's parents from legitimizing his birth. If this vote suggests some latest hostility toward his mother, another vote betokens tenderness for her.

Remembering Michael Schwartz

Michael Schwartz passed away yesterday.  At the end of November, Senator Coburn honored Michael on the Senate floor.

   Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I wish to take a moment to honor a member of my staff who is not retiring but as a result of his ailment can no longer come to work on the Hill. This gentleman's name is Michael Schwartz. He has been my chief of staff for almost 15 years, beginning while I was in the House and here in the Senate as well.

   A lot of people on the Hill know Michael. What they know is that he is one of the kindest, gentlest people anyone has ever met. He has been a light focused on how we do things to honor other people.

Marriage Policy Preservation

This is a specific look at the Scriptures that speak to marriage, especially as would be relevant to a discussion of public policy.

From Genesis to Revelation, marriage is a picture of our relationship with God.

Genesis 2
[18] And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

For Evangelicals Defending Freedom

Daniel Darling is my friend and pastor for a family member in the Chicago area, and he has called on evangelicals to speak up about guns. He and I have engaged on this issue before. He publicly raises some good points and other points worth a response, so I thought I would answer his call here.

"The Bible doesn’t clearly express an opinion on the possession of guns, but many evangelicals defend the unlimited distribution of firearms with the same fervor that they defend biblical orthodoxy."

Somewhat to my surprise, an opportunity to "defend biblical orthodoxy" came along sooner than expected, even since I read his recent year-ending post.

The Two Biblical Purposes of Government

There are two sections of the New Testament that both speak clearly and directly to the two purposes of government, and both can also easily be misused.

This post is an attempt to give clarity to these passages, the purposes of government, and how Christians should respond to governments that do and do not stay within these purposes.

Baptism & Ordinances

From where did baptism come? Upon reading the Bible, it can easily seem like John starts the river ministry with people out of nowhere.

The Jerusalem Connection once published an article that talked about the old testament equivalent of baptism occurring in the doorway of the temple. (It seems to me full immersion would be hard to do in a doorway. A friend of mine said it more referred to the pools outside of and near the door of the temple.)

My thinking on baptism frequently returns to a message by a pastor I visited one Sunday in Yakima, Washington, years ago who explained that baptism comes from an untranslated Greek word that means or was used the way we use the word washing. (The King James translators did not want to offend the king over something, so they just brought the Greek word into English. Thus, perhaps many Baptist churches today would more accurately be called washing churches.

As I've thought about it, using the term that way answers a lot of questions for me about baptism and divisions over baptism we see in the Church today.

After salvation, not for salvation
Some people point to 1 Peter 3:21 as baptism being something “which now saves us.” If you keep reading the same verse, however, it's clear it was not talking about “the removal of the filth of the flesh” with water, but was a spiritual washing. The spiritual washing is what cleans “the inside of the cup” and “what comes out of the mouth,” not water.

In contrast, salvation comes through words. Peter told Jesus, “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Jesus specifically subordinated being washed with water to being washed by the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:16). The Holy Spirit provides “the washing of regeneration and renewing” (Titus 3:5).

Paul also did not make baptism a priority: “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel” (1 Corinthians 1:17). Paul's priority was “that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).

Ordinances
At the risk of oversimplifying things, ordinances are the protestant alternative to sacraments. Most protestants believe nothing special happens at baptism, and sacraments are not required for salvation; they are simply symbols and matters of obedience. Yet it may be time to give second thought to this choice of term ordinance.

Outside a theological context, an ordinance is typically something that a local county or city passes—it's a law. Has Christ established two laws for His Church?

“Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). Granted, righteousness here refers to salvation and Baptists are not saying ordinances are required for salvation. Yet, to call them ordinances is still the language of the law. Christ “abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Ephesians 2:15).

Just because there are things for us to do as described in Scripture, opportunities to do things, that does not mean that every one of those constitutes a command. “Commands” is language of the law. We are “not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). Did Jesus call them commands? Yes, and they are a different kind of commands. They are “new commandments” (John 13:34). These are the kind that are “not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

If we approach his new commandments as laws we must follow, then I think we will miss the point. Communion wasn't something Jesus had to do; communion, that final Passover, was something Jesus ate with them after having been craving it “with fervent desire” (Luke 22:15). Laws push from behind; desire pulls one ahead. Commands from the law bring death (Romans 7:10); grace brings life (Romans 5:17).

Note: Content from the first and last sections of this post were originally posted here as part of a larger discussion of specific church policy. The entire post was removed in 2017. This version restored some of the general doctrinal content was re-posted at the original 2013 location in 2020 with the clarifications about salvation. That was not an issue at that church.