“I am amazed that you are so quickly
deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel;
which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want
to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be
accursed!” (Galatians 1:6-8).
Dr. MA Petillo
O God
of truth, whose living Word
Upholds whate'er hath breath,
Look down on thy creation, Lord,
Enslaved by sin and death,
Set up thy standard, Lord, that we
Who claim a heav'nly birth,
May march with thee to smite the lies
That vex thy groaning earth.
Ah! would we join that blest array,
And follow in the might
Of him, the Faithful and the True,
In raiment clean and white!
Then, God of truth for whom we long,
Thou who wilt hear our pray'r,
Do thine own battle in our hearts,
And slay the falsehood there. (TH, 468).
Upholds whate'er hath breath,
Look down on thy creation, Lord,
Enslaved by sin and death,
Set up thy standard, Lord, that we
Who claim a heav'nly birth,
May march with thee to smite the lies
That vex thy groaning earth.
Ah! would we join that blest array,
And follow in the might
Of him, the Faithful and the True,
In raiment clean and white!
Then, God of truth for whom we long,
Thou who wilt hear our pray'r,
Do thine own battle in our hearts,
And slay the falsehood there. (TH, 468).
1.
Those of us in
Biblical Christianity disagree with those not of sound doctrine in God’s divine
truth (2 Tim 4:3) but disagreement with Eastern
Orthodox doctrine does not mean hatred of persons (Jn 13:34; Mt 5:44). Rather it means hatred of Satan-made and
man-made doctrine (Rev 2:15) because the Christian faithful are called a sound and reasoned faith
(Tit 2:1; 2 Tim 3:16-17).
2.
The Spirit
accompanies the Word preached, and the Word preached has God’s presence of His
Holy Spirit. The Bible does not call for
an ant-rational faith, but a spiritual, scriptural, doctrinal, theological and
historical faith of Jesus Christ (Jn 15:26). Orthodoxy
denies the inter-working of the Triune Majesty in light of divine revelation.
3.
Orthodoxy denies
that the Holy Spirit can be known as the Spirit of Christ. “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the
Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him”
(Rom 8:9 NASB).
4.
Orthodoxy says
that the Spirit of God does not proceed from the Father and the Son. That is, she
denies that the Spirit legitimately preceeds from the Father and the Son.
5.
The Scriptures
alone are the sound unity of divine truth contrary to the Orthodoxy view of
“Sacred Tradition”, because as Dr. Martin Luther said we are called to tota scriptura (all of Scripture).
6.
There is no
scriptural support for the Orthodox doctrine of “Sacred Tradition” (2 Thess
2:15), because the verse in Paul’s writings that refers to “tradition” refers
to nothing less than the very unified imputed righteousness of Christ alone by
faith alone in the only way to be right with God (Phil 3:9; Gal 2:20; Eph
2:8-9) because oral tradition is simply the spiritual hearing of the Word
preached, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing
by the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17 NASB).
7.
Orthodoxy
demonizes the West in her interpretation of Christianity. She may interpret the divine Word but she is
not above it because the meaning of Scripture is in light of Scripture (Gen.
40:8).
8. Orthodoxy evangelizes those of us in Reformed Christianity,
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who
were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the
grace of our God into
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude
1:4 KJV).
9. The Jesus of Eastern Orthodoxy is not the real Jesus,
because He needs the Marian appeasement to
sway His judgment. The Bible says that He will never cast out anyone who comes to Him.
10. Orthodoxy wrongly holds that “the way of knowledge
leads to deification” (Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern
Church, p. 39). The Bible teaches
that it is the purpose of Satan to make men gods (Gen 3:5).
11. The Bible does not teach that knowledge leads to
deification, because there is only One self-existent Triune Creator: the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
12. Orthodoxy is opposed to “western confessions of
Faith.” But the Westminster and London Confession of Faith support the purity of
the supremacy of the infallible Word over the local church. Orthodoxy denies the biblical and historical
truth of sola scriptura.
13. A reasoned defense of the faith is denied by
Orthodoxy. Rather in scriptural terms
they deny a spiritual rational defense of the Christian faith with the concept
of blind mysticism. (Aleksei Stepanovich Khomyakov, On The
Western Confessions of Faith. In Ultimate Questions, Alexander
Schmemman, editor, p. 64).
14. The Bible calls us to be well-approved unto God
rightly understanding and handling the God-breathed Word of Truth (2 Tim 2:15).
15. All sinners are imperfect (Rom 3ff). However, the imperfection of man should not
decide what is and is not Scripture.
Rather the divine Scripture provide us with its own self-authentication. This was the historical view of the early
church.
16. We are called to make a reasoned defense of Scripture,
“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always
being prepared to make a defense
to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with
gentleness and respect…” (1Pet 3:15 ESV).
17. We are called not to be broad, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it
are many.” (Mt 7:13 ESV).
18. We are called to substantial truth, “To whom also he shewed himself alive after
his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God…” (Acts 1:3 KJV).
19. The Orthodox Reformed Baptist faith does not deny a
Christian morality. It is only denied if
someone thinks it is enough to be right with God in light of man’s complete
corruption and God’s perfect standard of holiness. We are called to Christian morality in holy
purity (1 Tim 4:12) to demonstrate
our faith by good works that God created and ordained for us to accomplish (Eph
2:10).
20. Monkhood seeks be away from the world, but it is
scripturally reasoned to live in this world in whatever God has called us to
and also not be apart of this world. To live in the world but not be of the
world. Monkhood is the sin of
over-righteousness (Ecc 7ff).
21. Monkhood
cannot save anyone except the person and work of Christ alone (Gal 2:20).
22. The Reformed
faith calls people to be upright. We are
called to be upright Christian people, “For
the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness;
the upright will behold His
face.” (Ps 11:7 NASB).
23. The Reformed
faith denies a subjective individualism because
we are called to have a subordinate authority to the divine and infallible Word
(Jn 10:35) concerning a ruling eldership (1 Tim 5:17).
24. The Reformed
faith calls the faithful Christian to search the Bible (Acts 17:11) and study to be approved unto God accurately
handling God’s inerrant Word (2 Tim 2:15).
25. Humility in
confession of alleged short comings should not be reason to dismiss the divine
words of God, because every human being has fallen short of God’s glory due to
complete sinfulness (Rom 3:23).
26. Orthodox
demonizes the West by saying a lack of hope in the atonement. Upon
what basis is this said? The Westminster and London Confession both support the substitutionary
and particular redemption of Jesus Christ.
27. Orthodoxy
does not really focus on assurance of
salvation (1 Jn 5:13),
but if we lack hope the atonement how do you explain that we teach the
infallible assurance of God’s Word for those who know Christ!
28. Biblical
Christianity is not based on random choices regarding sound doctrine but in
complete conformity with all of Scripture (2 Tim 3:16-17).
29.The use of
final authority is the infallible, God-breathed and inerrant Scriptures that
has supreme supremacy over anyone or any church (2 Tim 3:16-17; Jn 10:35;
Ps 19:7).
30. Insight
mysticism adds to the final infallible authority of Scripture (2 Tim 3:16-17; Jn 10:35)
because it is something that is placed upon the author’s intended meaning (the
Bible says do not go beyond what is written in Scripture (1 Cor 4:6).
31. Mysticism of
intuition and instinct over the clear testimony of Scripture is contrary to
“the simplicity and purity of the doctrine of Christ” (2 Cor 11:3).
32. Mysticism of
experience is individually subjective, because of our radically and completely
flawed natures unto cosmic treason. We are called to test everything to what is
good and totally rely on the objective Scriptures (1 Thess 5:21; Jos 21:45; Prov 16:20).
33. Mysticism is
blind regarding meditation because meditation is spiritual dwelling on the pure
words of God (Ps 1:2). The Scripture is
supernaturally rational to fill the mind unto meditation in light of the law of
God.
34. The
Scriptures are not by sum and substance mystical. Rather the divine Word is centered and
structured with presuppositional truth in a spiritual rationality unto biblical
acceptability (Ps 119:97, 163).
35. Orthodoxy
says that the West has an inability to understand truth as a living
reality. Upon what basis is this said? Do
you even know what truth is? Truth is
not mystical. Rather truth is the basis
of a reasoned faith. Scripture-based
faith devoid of Word-inspired reason is cosmic chaos! I suggest to you that truth is a Person: His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and
where He is I shall be also, for Jesus says of Himself “I AM THE TRUTH…” (Jn
14:6).
36.
Luther wrote
a treatise on good works and the Reformed Confessions doctrinally hold to good
works as a living reality in terms of faith.
There is no just charge by the
Orthodox about a true Protestant denial of a Truth as a living reality.
37.
All the
Christian faithful are called to be living epistles. That is, we are to live out the
presuppositional truth of God through His divine revelation to walk worthy of
the certainty of God’s gospel.
38. Mystical
prayer is a stranger to the sound words of Scripture. God wants us to pray to Him with His
Spirit-revealed Word.
39.
The Orthodoxy
says that Orthodox Protestantism is a “rational idealism.” Such is either ignorance or an intentional fabrication. We do not teach a mere mental assent to the
gospel. For even demons have a mental
ascent to belief in God but they have attrition-bound fear in their unsaving
belief (Js 2:19).
40. Reformed
Orthodoxy denies a mere mental assent to the gospel. JC Ryle said, “Who can tell the misery that unbelief has brought on the world?
Unbelief made Eve eat the forbidden fruit – she
doubted the truth of God's word: “You will surely die.” Unbelief made the old
world reject Noah's warning, and so perish in their sin.
Unbelief kept Israel in the
wilderness – it was the barricade that kept them from entering the Promised
Land. Unbelief made the Jews crucify the Lord of glory – they did not believe
the voice of Moses and the prophets, even though they were read to them every
day. And unbelief is the reigning sin of man’s heart down to this very hour –
unbelief in God’s promises – unbelief in God's wrath and discipline – unbelief
in our own sinfulness – unbelief in our own danger – unbelief in everything
that runs counter to the pride and worldliness of our evil hearts.”
41.
The Christian
faithful is called to not only a rational approach to the investigations of the
divine Spirit-bound Word but also to apprehend the truth of the infallible Word
through an authentic, spiritual, supernatural and Spirit-made faith.
42.Skepticism is
rejected because of the reasoned evidence of many infallible proofs of the
bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
43.
Testing a
teacher and searching the Scriptures (see Acts 17:11) is the only biblically-founded method of the
solidarity of all of Scripture.
44.
Christians
deny that searching the Scriptures is skepticism, because we are to test the
spirits to see if they are of God (see 1 Jn 4:1).
45.
John
MacArthur wrote, “Mysticism is a system
of belief that attempts to perceive spiritual reality apart from objective,
verifiable facts. It seeks truth through
feelings, intuition, and other internal senses.
Objective data is usually discounted, so mysticism derives its authority
from within. Spontaneous feeling becomes
more significant than objective fact.
Intuition outweighs reason. An
internal awareness supersedes external reality.”
46.
RC Sproul
wrote, “When we speak of spiritual union
or mystical union with Christ, we must be careful not to fall into heretical forms
of mysticism. In Eastern forms of
mysticism the religious goal is a kind of unity (unio)
with the deity by which the individual is so absorbed by the ‘ultimate one’
that personal identity is obliterated.
In Christian mystical union, the self is not lost or erased by being
merged with some oversoul or universal essence.”
47.
The fate of
those in Orthodox Protestantism is eternal fellowship, worship, honor,
veneration and exaltation of Jesus Christ, the hope of glory in His
people.
48.
The fate of
Orthodox Reformed Baptist theology is not God’s justice because Jesus took
God’s justice upon Himself at the Cross (Jn 19:30).
49. “Exaggerated mysticism could lead to the conclusion
that God is so far removed from humanity that desperate efforts are required to
obtain His intervention. We are then far from the OT promise to make us God's
people, the New Israel, the redeemed heirs of His kingdom, endowed with Pauline
paresia, brothers of one another by grace and bearers of the Spirit
(pneumatophoroi) incorporated into Christ's Body and enjoying all the spiritual
gifts that membership in the Church provides” (E. Timiadis, God's
Immutability and Communicability, in T. F. Torrance (ed) Theological Dialogue between Orthodox and
Reformed Churches, p.47).
50.“Lossky's belief that the intellectual faculties and
conceptual reason cannot participate in the process of knowing God, not only
gives a death blow to language as an epistemic tool and as a valid means of
communicating the divine revelation, but actually upholds a reductionist view
of anthropology and soteriology”
(Paul Negrut, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, London, 1994, p. 36).
51.
“We must, of course, avoid the temptation of the
neo-Platonic type of mysticism where God is so far beyond the categories of the
understanding that he can be described only in terms of negation (as in
pseudo-Dionysius). Though he does, of course, transcend human understanding, he
does not totally elude rationality but instead embodies it. Because of the
illumination of faith there can be a partial conformity of our ideas to the
mind of God; this is an analogical, not univocal, knowledge, but a true
knowledge” (Donald Bloesch, Essentials of Evangelical Theology,
Vol. 2, pp. 281,282).
52.
The matter of
the nature of justification by faith alone is a matter where the church stands
or falls (the teaching of Luther). Rome has the same cosmic and doctrinal problem with justification by faith alone.
53.
Here is
evidence of ant-Scriptural and radical addition to the Cross, “As a result of the Orthodox emphasis on the
idea of victory over death, evangelicals are likely to be critical of the
Orthodox understanding of the atonement, since it seems to ignore the
substitutionary, juridical elements which we believe are central to the work of
Christ. However, it is not completely accurate to assert that the Orthodox
ignore these elements. Orthodox theology does recognize the substitutionary
aspects of the atonement which are so critical to evangelical thought, although
it does not strongly emphasize them. The major difference between evangelical
and Orthodox atonement theory lies not in the exclusive adherence to a single
view, but in the way Eastern Christendom links the atonement to humanity's
purpose of deification” (Don Fairbairn, Partakers of the Divine Nature,
p. 50).
54. Theosis is
not how someone is right with God.
Rather it is God’s unified imputed merit of Jesus Christ alone by faith
alone! “Holiness connotes separation from all that is unclean (from the Hebrew
qad osh), and this
applies to God par excellence. Rudolf Otto has trenchantly observed that the
concept of the holiness of God leads to the assertion that God is "Wholly
Other," since man is both a creature and a sinner. Indeed, man is
separated from God not only by ontological fate but also by historic guilt. Our
iniquities have made a separation between God and ourselves (Isa. 59:1,2), and therefore God can only be approached via
a Mediator whose righteousness is acceptable to divine holiness, namely, Jesus
Christ” (Bloesch, Essentials
of Evangelical Theology, Vol. 1, p. 33).
55. The forensic
declaration by God is denied in Orthodoxy.
That is, where God’s makes a legal declaration that a sinner is
righteousness through Christ alone. “In the East, the cross is envisaged not so
much as the punishment of the just one, which satisfies a transcendent Justice
requiring a retribution for man's sins. As Georges Florovsky rightly puts it:
"the death of the cross was effective, not as a death of an Innocent One,
but as the death of the incarnate Lord." The point was not to satisfy a
legal requirement, but to vanquish the frightful cosmic reality of death, which
held humanity under its usurped control and pushed it into the vicious cycle of
sin and corruption” (John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology: Historic
Trends and Doctrinal Themes, p. 161).
56. The Bible
teaches that God’s declares His regenerate sinners righteous through His dear
Son alone. For the infallible Word says, “More
than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a
righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which comes through
faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith
“ (Philippians 3:8, 9).
57. Orthodox Protestants
are not Papists in some authority over the Word.
Rather it is the PERECT WORD over every alleged person, authority,
council, church, institution or church father.
58. It is said
that man is “flawed.” The Bible says he
is completely depraved and corrupt devoid of all spiritual success by nature
(Js 2:10; Ps 53ff; Jn 1:13;
Rom 9:11, 16).
59. Those who
support in homosexuality excuse grave sin (see Rom 1ff). We are called to judgment in whatever is
right (Phil 4). Have you not read that
Jesus proclaim a righteous judgment in life (Jn 7:24).
60. There is much
more to be said about Eastern Orthodoxy, but in light of the denial of the
Eastern Orthodox Church of imputed righteousness of the all-sufficient God-man we
humbly call them to reformation by the grace of God in doctrinal repentance in
mortification of the completely corrupt nature (Rom 4ff; Mk 1:15; Rom 3ff).
Standing by a purpose true,
Heeding God's command,
Honor them, the faithful few!
All hail to Daniel's band!
Dare to be a Daniel!
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known!
Many mighty men are lost,
Daring not to stand,
Who for God had been a host
By joining Daniel's band.
Many giants, great and tall,
Stalking through the land,
Headlong to the earth would fall,
If met by Daniel's band.
Hold the gospel banner high;
On to vict'ry grand;
Satan and his host defy,
And shout for Daniel's band. (TH, 660).
Heeding God's command,
Honor them, the faithful few!
All hail to Daniel's band!
Dare to be a Daniel!
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known!
Many mighty men are lost,
Daring not to stand,
Who for God had been a host
By joining Daniel's band.
Many giants, great and tall,
Stalking through the land,
Headlong to the earth would fall,
If met by Daniel's band.
Hold the gospel banner high;
On to vict'ry grand;
Satan and his host defy,
And shout for Daniel's band. (TH, 660).
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