Still publishing rubish and slandering our Christian brothers I see. Repent and believe the Gospel!
Now you’re just scraping the bottom of the bucket, buddy. That was pathetically defended.
You’re making a couple of category errors. First, the term “heart” is too ambiguous to apply strict meaning. Sometimes the term is used to refer to the influence of emotion (physical) on one’s mind (psyche). Other times it’s used it to refer to the influence of our spirit (pneuma) on one’s mind (psyche) (or even to our body of presuppositions or “worldview”). The two are different. Based on Piper’s body of literature, I would conclude that he means that the law of God written on our hearts is part of the created order possessed by all creatures who have a spirit (all humans), for the spirit is that which is capable of responding to God. What you have done is to reassign meaning, switching the category, to Piper’s use of the term and conclude that he means something he doesn’t.
Second, you confuse the difference between knowing and believing. I would also add a third category, “faith”, understanding that the Bible, depending on author and context, sometimes uses “believe” to mean “faith”. James certainly draws a distinction. Fundamentally, we have the three concepts and the challenge is to discover the meaning in the text of the Bible. Piper here uses the word “know” and clearly indicates an internal assent to the truth of God while denying it likewise internally creating effectively an internal conflict. This is not what I would equate with the meaning of “believe” in 1 John 5:1.
You paraphrase Piper instead of dealing with what he said and your paraphrase changes the meaning of what he said. When he said “a sanctity over every human soul” it’s clear he didn’t mean “unbelievers are sanctified.” In context, he is trying to point out that God has given each of us the capacity to have faith even if He has not given each of us faith itself. While there is an elect, we don’t know if one who currently exhibits a lack of faith will at some point exhibit faith and be recognized as part of the elect. It is consistent with true reformed theology (as opposed to hyper-Calvinism) that believers are to play a role in the sanctification of others. That said, condemnation alone destroys. While we must point out the sins in each other, we do so with grace in that our goal is to bring an “unbeliever” to Christ or to restore a believer to right fellowship with God and with his fellow believers. To this end, Piper isn’t speaking theologically (not that his words don’t have a solid theological foundation), he’s speaking persuasively or devotionally.
As for the difference between the law of God being written on our hearts and the heart of a man being deceitful, this just goes back to the difference between various usage of the term “heart” and the difference between knowledge, belief and faith. Additionally, you must take into consideration the fact that the human will consists of arrays of competing inclinations. What Piper is doing is encouraging a good inclination engendering faith in the truth rather the competing inclination to deny the truth for the pursuit of the lusts of the flesh. In this the Spirit of God bears witness in the hearts of the elect and Piper’s words are effective. Likewise, believers hearing this may be inclined to pursue works leading to the realization of redemption in the lives of those who have not yet exhibited faith.
May the Lord rebuke you for attacking John Piper in this way. Please stop in Christ’s name. Turn from this sin to Christ.
Comments (5)
Still publishing rubish and slandering our Christian brothers I see. Repent and believe the Gospel!
Now you’re just scraping the bottom of the bucket, buddy. That was pathetically defended.
You’re making a couple of category errors. First, the term “heart” is too ambiguous to apply strict meaning. Sometimes the term is used to refer to the influence of emotion (physical) on one’s mind (psyche). Other times it’s used it to refer to the influence of our spirit (pneuma) on one’s mind (psyche) (or even to our body of presuppositions or “worldview”). The two are different. Based on Piper’s body of literature, I would conclude that he means that the law of God written on our hearts is part of the created order possessed by all creatures who have a spirit (all humans), for the spirit is that which is capable of responding to God. What you have done is to reassign meaning, switching the category, to Piper’s use of the term and conclude that he means something he doesn’t.
Second, you confuse the difference between knowing and believing. I would also add a third category, “faith”, understanding that the Bible, depending on author and context, sometimes uses “believe” to mean “faith”. James certainly draws a distinction. Fundamentally, we have the three concepts and the challenge is to discover the meaning in the text of the Bible. Piper here uses the word “know” and clearly indicates an internal assent to the truth of God while denying it likewise internally creating effectively an internal conflict. This is not what I would equate with the meaning of “believe” in 1 John 5:1.
You paraphrase Piper instead of dealing with what he said and your paraphrase changes the meaning of what he said. When he said “a sanctity over every human soul” it’s clear he didn’t mean “unbelievers are sanctified.” In context, he is trying to point out that God has given each of us the capacity to have faith even if He has not given each of us faith itself. While there is an elect, we don’t know if one who currently exhibits a lack of faith will at some point exhibit faith and be recognized as part of the elect. It is consistent with true reformed theology (as opposed to hyper-Calvinism) that believers are to play a role in the sanctification of others. That said, condemnation alone destroys. While we must point out the sins in each other, we do so with grace in that our goal is to bring an “unbeliever” to Christ or to restore a believer to right fellowship with God and with his fellow believers. To this end, Piper isn’t speaking theologically (not that his words don’t have a solid theological foundation), he’s speaking persuasively or devotionally.
As for the difference between the law of God being written on our hearts and the heart of a man being deceitful, this just goes back to the difference between various usage of the term “heart” and the difference between knowledge, belief and faith. Additionally, you must take into consideration the fact that the human will consists of arrays of competing inclinations. What Piper is doing is encouraging a good inclination engendering faith in the truth rather the competing inclination to deny the truth for the pursuit of the lusts of the flesh. In this the Spirit of God bears witness in the hearts of the elect and Piper’s words are effective. Likewise, believers hearing this may be inclined to pursue works leading to the realization of redemption in the lives of those who have not yet exhibited faith.
May the Lord rebuke you for attacking John Piper in this way. Please stop in Christ’s name. Turn from this sin to Christ.
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