Freedom in Christ, part 4

Freedom in Christ lesson 4, part 1.

 

In 1789 there were 5 free states in the north and 8 slave states. By 1858 there were 15 free states in the north and 17 slave states in the south and in 1861 the Civil War broke out and in four years of bloody battle over one million casualties (3% of the population) were caused.

 

After the war and the very difficult reconstruction, the idea that man's rights can change over time and with conditions was not lost.

 

It continued in the progressive movement.

 

Progressivism: humans and society are evolving and with modern science we can control changing man and create the best society for the time.

 

This is an idea, hatched long before Darwin's book, that human beings are evolving and society is evolving and that with the tools of modern science we can control the changing man and his society in order to make it the best possible for the time.

 

This ingenious strategy forces one to look at the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as good for the time but no longer good for our time. Darwin's Origin of the Species was published in 1859, which was a great help to the progressive movement. The movement began in America around 1880 and has culminated in today's American administrative state.

 

Satan has assumed the same attack on the Church and the word of God. He has encouraged false ministers to amalgamate the word of God with the world. The thought is to harmonize the word of God with the current needs of man and his latest debates, and to attract the youth by addressing their current preoccupations. Man's culture may change and man's technology may change but man does not change. 

 

Progressives sought to enlarge vastly the scope of the national government for the purpose of responding to a set of economic and social conditions that, it was contended, could not have been envisioned during the founding era, and for which the Founders' limited, constitutional government was inadequate.

 

While the Founders had posited what they held to be a permanent understanding of just government, based upon a fixed account of human nature, the Progressives countered that the ends and scope of government were to be defined anew in each historical epoch.

 

God does not change and man hasn't evolved, nor will he ever, and so the principles in the word of God do not change just as natural rights do not change since both emanate from God.

 

1SA 15:29

And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind."

 

MAL 3:6

"For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

 

Statute and statue are cognates in Latin meaning to set something firmly in place. In fact with the prefix con, constitution is also a cognate of these words. The word of God has perpetual statutes.

 

For Israel:

EXO 27:21

In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it [candlestick] in order from evening to morning before the Lord; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout their generations for the sons of Israel.

 

"Perpetual statute" is a phrase used often in the OT.

 

For the Church forever:

EPH 3:21

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

 

HEB 7:24-25

but He, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

 

HEB 13:7-8

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.

 

1PE 5:11

To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

1JO 2:17

And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.

 

A statute and a statue have a lot in common.

 

Constitution, statute [doctrine], and statue are cognates in Latin - set something firmly in place.

 

Everything that is made has four causes: Material, Efficient, Formal, and Final.

 

A wonderful way of seeing these together is in the example of a statue or sculpture.

 

Michelangelo's David

 

Material cause: What's it made of?

David - white marble

America - land and people

God's plan - believers

 

The white marble depicts purity.

 

Efficient cause: Who accomplished it?

David - Michelangelo

America - Founders

God's plan - Christ

 

Formal cause: What should it look like?

David - young hero of Israel

America - Constitution

God's plan - love

 

David looks like David with the subtle points to it that bring out awe, imagination, fierceness, beauty, God's providence, etc. America looks like the three branches of government. The form is the constitution - it is the way it operates. British kind - executive is inside the legislature. Russian - duma which is independent from Putin, but not in reality. Hitler’s government - absolute dictator. All different forms which affect the way it looks.

 

Why did Michelangelo make the David? It must have been very hard. Painting the cysteine ceiling almost killed him. He loved it. He loved the notion of making it. God loved the notion of saving us and making a plan by which we would be free although fallen.

 

Final cause: The love of the idea.

David - Michelangelo loved the idea of making it.

America - Founders loved freedom.

God's plan - God is love.

 

For America it is the DOI. It begins with all time and all people. They loved the law of nature and nature’s God. No matter how weak or strong I am, I may not be governed without my consent. I have been endowed with certain unalienable rights by God, who is stronger than the strongest and most powerful man. If America was to defeat the greatest empire in the world they needed divine help and the founders knew this.

Oregon Bible Conference. Freedom in Christ, part 4.

All three are revolutionary in the way of being something that the world has never seen before. All three are conservative in that they belong to permanent principles that do not progress or change and are forever. The first two will not last forever, but God's plan will.

 

Madison on constitution - we’re going to be a big country and this makes us talk out loud, candidly, with no back-room whispering. A lot of people will hear and this will tend for us to make better arguments. The branches are going to have to coordinate. Politicians are elected at different times and for different lengths of time so they’re going to have to talk to one another and it will place controls on the government. We need those controls because government is a profound reflection on human nature. Men are not angels and angels do not govern men. The process will discipline us and reason will have to control passion.

 

George III - he was born to be the king and because of that we have to do what he says. No one is born that way. Jefferson - men are not horses.