Notes From Freed-Hardeman's 2000 Lectures
Sometimes, people have the erroneous view that the only truly significant things that have happened occurred during their own lifetimes. If, for example, a book was written in the twentieth century, it is probably out of date. If it was published in 1850, like Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, it is probably irrelevant to our way of life. And if it's a play by Shakespeare, well, who can even read the thing?
Despite such feelings, many "older" writings are well worth reading; some of them are seldom matched in today's market. Especially true is this principle as it relates to lectures, articles, classes, and sermons taught in the past. What follows are notes taken from Wayne Jackson during the 2000 Freed-Hardeman lectures. Although some of us had a major disagreement with him on one subject in particular, generally speaking he was an excellent student of the Word. The following notes are just as important and worth studying today as they were nearly a quarter of a century ago.
THE WRATH OF GOD (2-8-2000)
Thumos, translated "wrath" or "indignation" means "to boil." In the Old Testament, the Lord waxed hot in His anger. This refers to a burst of anger.
Orgee refers to God's sustained or abiding level of anger towards evil. God's anger in this instance is not emotion-based; it is controlled.
God is portrayed with feelings and emotions (anthropopathism). Pathos refers to feelings.
When the text says that God repented Himself, it is a figure of speech used to express His disapproval. His anger is a manifestation of His justice.
Traits of the Wrath of God
1. God's wrath is not capricious, spontaneous, or an impulsive response, as per Calvinism and Predestination. The phrase, by nature the children of wrath (Eph. 2:3), does not mean that God created them that way. Thayer says that nature is that which becomes natural on the basis of habit.
2. God's wrath is not vindictive; it is not a matter of getting even. Bertrand Russell gave as a reason for his unbelief in his book, Why I Am Not a Christian, the fact that Jesus taught the doctrine of hell. At least Russell understood what Jesus taught. Hell is not emotional vindictiveness (Rom. 6:23).
Everyone who goes to hell goes there, not by chance, but by choice. Paul told those in Antioch of Pisidia that they judged themselves "unworthy of everlasting life" (Acts 13:46). People are allowed to follow their own inclination. Figures of speech are used here. God sends a strong delusion, if they are so inclined (2 Thess. 2:9-12). When the text says God made vessels of wrath, it means that He allows them to be such. God endured them with much longsuffering (Rom. 9:22; 1 Peter 3:20; Ex. 34:6-7).
Fitted is passive and in the middle voice, which means that the subject acts in some way with respect to himself: they "fitted themselves for destruction."
No evidence indicates that Hades will change anyone's character; the rich man still viewed Lazarus as a servant.
God's wrath is just. If a man commits murder, how much time should he be punished: 10 seconds? That's all the longer it took him to kill someone. We don't know how God runs things, but we know that God is just.
Abraham (Gen. 18:25). No one can accuse God of injustice.
Righteous Judgment (Rom. 2:5). We do not fully understand it now, but we will then.
In righteousness He makes war (Rev. 19).
Judgment will be proportionate, based on one's level of knowledge (Luke 12:46-48).
e. Ability (Luke 19).
THE GRACE OF GOD (2-9-2000)
God gives us even the grace of giving (2 Cor. 8:3). Paul writes in Philippians 4 that the brethren were partakers with him in this grace. Paul views his imprisonment as a favor granted to him by God. How great is God to bring out the level of dedication in His follower.
1. Grace has been universally made available to all men—to all who want to access it.
2. Grace has been channeled through a system of educational instruction (Titus 2:11-14). Christianity is a taught system (Matt. 28:19; John 6:45; Heb. 8:8-12).
3. Grace cannot be earned.
4. Grace must be accessed. It has conditions (Rom. 5:1). Obedience must accompany faith (Rom. 1:5; 16:26). Romans 6:17: You obeyed "that form of doctrine." You access grace when you receive life (Rom. 6:3-5; cf. Eph. 2:8-9). Salvation is accessed through the cleansing of water at the instructions of the Word (Eph. 5:25-26).
5. Continue in the grace, or it will be in vain. You can access grace and fall from it (Gal. 5:4).
THE PLAN OF GOD (2-10-2000)
There are 6 epochs of God.
1. Determination. Why did God create the human family (Isa. 43:7; Rev. 4:11)? God's glory cannot be enhanced. God did not need something for Himself. His creation was purely an expression of love. He redeemed us with the precious blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:18-19). We may not understand it all; if we don't, nevertheless we know enough to trust Him.
2. Preparation. The Old Testament era prepared the world for the coming of Christ. Failure to keep the law perfectly showed the need for someone to do it for us. There were prophecies, typology, and providence in the Old Testament leading to this time. Socrates said: "We don't know how to determine what is wrong; we need someone to come show us." Greek was the best language ever in which to communicate the will of God.
3. Implementation. God revealed His righteousness apart from law. We are justified apart from a law system (as opposed to a faith system). The mercy seat equals propitiation. The resurrection is the most well-documented fact in history.
4. Proclamation. There are over 400 miles of catacombs. There were over 100,000 Christians in Rome.
5. Acceptation. Why sacrifice Jesus if people can be saved in another religion?
6. Consummation. No human being or group would have written the Bible with God appearing to lose. Satan has more in his camp. Jesus said only a few would be saved (Matt. 7:14). God is not concerned with numbers. It's a matter of quality vs. quantity.
THE WILL OF GOD (2-11-2000)
Will is the intent of God to bring about events in history that will culminate in fruition—a successful conclusion.
Elements of the Will of God
1. The Ideal Will. "Thy will be done." In the heavenly sphere God's ideal will is being done. The ideal will is that we not sin—not even once. Hell did not always exist; it was prepared for the devil and his angels (Mat. 25:41). Heaven is the domain in which the ideal will of God will finally be realized.
2. Permissive Will. It is tolerated; God suffers (allows) it to happen (Acts 14:26). He suffered the nations to walk in their own ways. He suffered divorce (Matt. 19:3-9). Epicurus, on the problem of evil, said: "If evil exists, God cannot exist." The fact is, however, that God allows evil to exist because there is a purpose for it.
Certain things necessarily obtain from the nature of the case. Why does God never sin? He is too good and too wise to sin. We are not. We have the power of choice.
b. The atheist overlooks the possibility that there is good to be accomplished by the existence of evil. We are able to learn from the consequences of our own sins. Why won't we sin in heaven? Our knowledge will be so much greater. We won't want to (Rom. 8:18ff.) The whole creation languishes under the curse of sin. God willed this consequence from sin. Learn from it.
3. The Decreed Will of God (Eph. 1:3). The decree was that salvation would be through the redemptive work of Jesus.
4. Dramatic, Direct, Supernatural Will (miracles). This is for the purpose of evidence. In Acts 12, for example, Herod was smitten by an angel of God and eaten of worms. God directly imposed His will in the form of a punitive miracle.
5. Providential Will (Rom. 1:8-10). Man's course is prospered by the will of God. Acts records how God got Paul to Rome.
6. Objective Will of God (Rom. 12:1-2). This is God's revealed will. Subjectivism is replacing God's objective will. Let's logically and critically understand the text (as opposed to deconstructionism). Cotton candy fluff will not suffice.
[Editor's Note: This 7th point I added; brother Warren always used this one, and it is suggested by #2 above.]
7. Ultimate Will. God permits sin and righteousness to intermingle now, but His ultimate will will prevail throughout eternity when the two are permanently separated.
ADDED NOTE: DECONSTRUCTIONISM
Go ahead: look up the definitions; see if you can figure it out. Even the simple definition is complicated. My understanding of it is this: The approach to understanding what is written (whether it be Gone With the Wind, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Huckleberry Finn) is not to determine what the writer said—thus what he is trying to communicate. No. What matters is what I bring to the text from my own experience and what it means to me.
The text, then, is deconstructed from what the writer intended and reconstructed to fit what I think about it. In other words, people quit looking at what is written with objectivity; instead, it means what I subjectively think. Take, for example, "You shall not commit adultery." Under deconstructionism, it no longer matters what God intended by that commandment. What is important is the way I understand it. With this approach, guess how many people end up (in their own minds) being guilty of adultery?