In 1 Corinthians 15:4 the apostle Paul clearly includes Christ's burial as part of the gospel message. Bob Wilkin of the Grace Evangelical Society is correct to say:
"Paul made it clear in 1 Cor 15:3-4 that Jesus’ burial is a central aspect of the gospel that Paul preached. Yet there are some Free Grace people today who argue vociferously just the opposite. They say Jesus’ burial is a sort of extraneous detail that Paul threw into his discussion of the gospel. If Paul took the time to mention Jesus’ burial when explaining the gospel, then Jesus’ burial is clearly a central part of his gospel. To suggest otherwise is to ignore the clear teaching of the text."[1]As Wilkin noted, some Free Grace people have a problem with Christ's burial being included in Paul's gospel message and so they use a complicated method of Bible interpretation in order to try to remove the burial of Christ from the gospel. I've labeled their no-burial interpretation of the gospel the "groundless gospel".[2] Proponents of this teaching say that since only Christ's death and resurrection are followed by the twice repeated phrase "according to the Scriptures" in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, only the statements about Christ's death and resurrection are really part of the gospel, in distinction to the burial and appearances which are not modified by these phrases.[3] In his book The Gospel of the Christ (Milwaukee: Grace Gospel Press, 2009), Tom Stegall calls this double occurrence of the phrases: "symmetrical literary markers". Stegall says that these two phrases mark out the actual content of his no-burial gospel, yet they are not included in that content themselves.[4] But there are several glaring problems with Stegall's method of Bible interpretation that I would like to briefly point out:
(1) Stegall uses the twice repeated phrase "according to the Scriptures" in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 to mark out the content of his groundless gospel, but amazingly he doesn't even include these two phrases in his gospel! Is it any wonder that a man-made gospel doesn't include the references to "the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4)? It's truly a tragedy that Stegall exploits the Scriptures in this way. In contrast to Stegall's reductionist reasoning, notice what John Piper has to say about the twice repeated phrase "according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). Under the heading "6 Aspects of the Gospel Without Which There Is No Gospel", Piper declares: "The gospel was planned by God beforehand (verses 3, 4: 'according to the scriptures')...Now, why is that good news? Because I'm arguing this is an essential part of the gospel. You strip away 'according to Scriptures' — [so as to say] 'there was no plan here'...well what was it if it wasn't a plan? Historical vagaries, just something slipped up here, something went wrong here, some horrible coming together of evil has produced a terrible thing, the Son of God is dying! That's not gospel."[5] Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, affirms: "'Of first importance' (en protois) in the gospel tradition that Paul has received and passes on is 'that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve' (1 Cor. 15:3-5). Death and resurrection, not as isolated events but in their significance and as the fulfillment of Scripture (entailing revelatory, tradition-establishing appearances of the resurrected Christ to the apostles), are central to Paul's message."[6]
(2) Stegall also excludes from his groundless gospel any mention of the phrase "on the third day" (1 Cor. 15:4) even though the apostle Paul plainly declares it to be "according to the Scriptures". The phrase "according to the Scriptures" supposedly marks out the content of the groundless gospel, but Stegall still doesn't include the time element of the third day in his gospel. Stegall excludes "the third day" from his groundless gospel using some very clever reductionist reasoning. First, he defers to the "opinions among commentators" as his new authority on the third day. Stegall writes: "Opinions among commentators are divided as to whether the phrase 'according to the Scriptures' [in 1 Corinthians 15:4] qualifies the entire statement, 'and that He rose again the third day'".[7] Wait a minute! "Opinions among commentators"?! "But what does the Scripture say?" (Gal. 4:30, italics added; cf. Rom. 4:3). That's the only question that really matters. Let's back up for a minute and examine why Stegall makes such a statement in the first place. Stegall knows that he has some explaining to do in regards to his removal of "the third day" (1 Cor. 15:4) from the content of the gospel because he has no reason to remove it, at least if he wants to be consistent with his own reductionist reasoning (which views the twice repeated phrase "according to the Scriptures" in 1 Corinthians 15:3 & 4 as marking out the real gospel). But Stegall knows that he has to remove the reference to "the third day" from the content of the gospel because the third day points to the burial of Christ (see Matt. 12:40, 27:63-64; Lk. 24:6-7; 1 Cor. 15:4; also see Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, 8 Vols., Vol. 4, p. 82). And Stegall has removed the burial of Christ from the gospel. So Stegall defers to the "Opinions among commentators" as his new authority on the issue of "the third day".[8] A few pages later in his book, Stegall similarly appeals to the supposed conversion experiences "of a vast percentage of God's children in the world today".[9] The problem with Stegall's reductionist reasoning is that he is rejecting Jesus' statement on the matter, when He says, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day" (Lk. 24:46a, italics added; cf. Lk. 4:4, 8, 17, etc.). By saying, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should...rise again from the dead the third day" (Lk. 24:46a), Jesus makes it clear that the reference to "the third day" is indeed "according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:4)! That's what the Scriptures say. Commenting on Luke 24:46, Everett F. Harrison affirms: "Here Jesus is not simply stating the fact of His resurrection on the third day, but rather the Scriptural necessity for its occurrence at that time. The same thing is true of Paul's statement in 1 Cor. 15:4 to the effect that the resurrection transpired on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures."[10] Commenting on the similarly worded passage in Luke 18:31-34, Merrill C. Tenney affirms: "By the inclusion of the phrase [in Luke 18:31], 'the things that are written,' Jesus connected the events of His passion with the Old Testament."[11] Another argument that Stegall uses to exclude "the third day" from his groundless gospel is by saying that the reference to "the third day" in 1 Corinthians 15:4 is merely "a circumstantial detail".[12] The Collins English Dictionary says that "Circumstantial evidence is evidence that makes it seem likely that something happened, but does not prove it." Yet the Lord Jesus consistently foretold His resurrection "on the third day" in order to verify (prove) His claims to be the Messiah (see Matt. 12:38-41, 16:21, 17:23, 20:19; Mk. 9:31, 10:34; Lk. 9:22, 18:33, 24:6-7, 46; Jn. 2:19-21). So the reference to "the third day" is clearly not "a circumstantial detail"! The Puritan minister Isaac Ambrose affirms: "When He arose; it was the third day after His crucifying, As Jonas was three days and three nights together in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, Mat. 12.40. This was the time He had appointed, and this was the time appropriated to Christ, and marked out for Him in the calendar of the prophets: of all those whom God raised from death to life, there is not one that was raised on the third day but Jesus Christ; some rose afore, and some after...but Christ takes the third day, which discovers Him to be the Messiah; Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, Luke 24.46." Ambrose goes on to say that "all these [Scriptures] signify, that His rising on the third day was the accomplishment of prophecies, and a certain evidence that He was the Messiah indeed."[13] Similarly, Robert Gromacki writes: "If Christ had been raised from the dead on the second, fourth, or any succeeding day [such as the 666th day], that would have been a remarkable, unprecedented achievement; but it also would have declared Him to be a false prophet."[14]
(3) Stegall employs a double standard in regards to his use of "symmetrical literary markers", because there are other "symmetrical literary markers" in the passage which exegetically do in fact mark out the content of the gospel, such as the four-fold repetition of the Greek word hoti (English "that") in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5. Notice the four content conjunctions beginning in verse 3: "...that Christ died...and that He was buried...and that He was raised...and that He was seen...." The word "that" (Greek hoti), repeated four times in verses 3-5, functions as a "content conjunction" and indicates a content clause. Greek grammarian David Alan Black affirms: "Content clauses involve a subject, predicate nominative, direct object, or an appositional noun clause. Such clauses are commonly introduced by hina, hoti, hopos, and hos."[15] More specifically, Daniel Wallace cites 1 Corinthians 15:3 to illustrate a "content conjunction".[16] And John Niemela notes under the heading "Indicating a Content Clause" that "1 Corinthians...15:3...15:4a-b, [and] 5" (but not 15:6ff) each indicate "a Content Clause".[17] Even Stegall affirms that "Paul begins by stating explicitly, 'I declare to you the gospel (to euangelion) which I preached (euengelisamen) to you' (1 Cor. 15:1a)....In the following verses Paul then specifies the content contained in that good news starting with the conjunction 'that' (hoti) in verse 3."[18] This is the actual grammatical exegesis of the passage that marks out the content of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15. So I want to ask groundless gospel advocates: What are you going to do with "that"? My guess is they will probably just ignore it and will continue to twist the Scriptures to their own destruction, as the Bible says in 2 Peter 3:16.
The Gospel According to Scripture Twisting: Exploit the Scriptures. Exclude certain elements. Employ a double standard.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Bob Wilkin, "Five Current Confusions Concerning the Gospel" (Grace In Focus), April 1, 2010.
[2] What is the groundless gospel? In 2007, Pastor Tom Stegall removed the burial of Christ from the Word of Grace Bible Church doctrinal statement on salvation. I coined the term "groundless gospel" to describe Stegall's new teaching. The groundless gospel label has a double meaning: 1) It refers to a gospel lacking Christ's burial in the ground (Isa. 53:9; Acts 13:29; 1 Cor. 15:4, etc.), and 2) It refers to a gospel lacking biblical support (1 Cor. 11:1-2; 15:1-2; 2 Thess. 2:13-15).
[3] For example, Stegall writes: "A...major reason why the burial and post-resurrection appearances of Christ are not technically part of the gospel, and therefore not part of the required content of saving faith, is the double occurrence of the phrase, 'according to the Scriptures' in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4." (Thomas L. Stegall, The Gospel of the Christ [Milwaukee: Grace Gospel Press, 2009], p. 578, italics his, ellipsis added.)
[4] Thomas L. Stegall, The Gospel of the Christ, p. 578.
[5] John Piper, "How I Distinguish Between the Gospel and False Gospels," compiled from the sermon outline and the sermon audio (18:00 min. - 18:45 min.), bold and italics his. Note: Although Piper is a Calvinist, even he is honest enough to admit the obvious: that the references to "the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3-4) are part of the gospel!
[6] Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., "'Life-Giving Spirit': Probing The Center of Paul's Pneumatology," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41 (December 1998): p. 574.
[7] Thomas L. Stegall, The Gospel of the Christ, p. 560, note 60, italics his.
[8] Ibid., p. 560, note 60.
[9] Ibid., p. 566.
[10] Everett F. Harrison, The Christian Doctrine of Resurrection, unpublished manuscript, pp. 54-55.
[11] Merrill C. Tenney, The Reality of the Resurrection, p. 31.
[12] Thomas L. Stegall, The Gospel of the Christ, p. 727.
[13] Isaac Ambrose, The Complete Works of Mr. Isaac Ambrose, Book 4: Looking Unto Jesus (Dundee: Henry Galbraith and Company, 1759), p. 637, cf. Isaac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus: A View of the Everlasting Gospel; or The Soul's Eyeing of Jesus, pp. 136-137, 425.
[14] Robert Gromacki, Called To Be Saints, p. 182, bold added.
[15] David Alan Black, It's Still Greek To Me, p. 144.
[16] Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, p. 678.
[17] John Niemela, "For You Have Kept My Word: The Grammar of Revelation 3:10," Chafer Theological Seminary Journal 6 (January 2000): 29-30.
[18] Thomas L. Stegall, The Gospel of the Christ, p. 532.
No comments:
Post a Comment