What Almighty Cannot Do by Chris White

“Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?”

                                                    (Job 11:7)

God is referred to as almighty over 300 times in the Old Testament.  While this should certainly steer our hearts towards awe and reverence, we should also be reminded that He who holds all divine power is Himself a loving Father.  As I was reflecting on God’s divine power,  I was reminded of an exercise we all had to do in theology class during ministerial training.  We had to list all the things God almighty cannot do (I came up with 4, but there were many more):

1.      God can’t lie or be unfaithful.  This is a contradiction of His character and heart.

2.      God can’t do the logically inconsistent (no rocks so big He can’t lift them or create a shade of black that looks white.)

3.      God cannot be limited by our limitations—He has infinite possibilities of creativity and the laws of the universe (which we only faintly understand) may be more flexible than we realize.

4.      God cannot be unjust.  His justice is a reflection of His Holiness and thus to violate this would be to violate His very self.

All these things are comforting mostly in the sense that they make a single statement that God is not like we are.  We do all these things with the greatest of ease and we can be thankful that God would not do any of them.  But there is a sense in which the “almightiness” of God is of great comfort to us.  This is found in Romans 8:28 where we read “for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”  We know in our heart of hearts, no evil, no problem, no sin, no power is so great that God is overcome and unable to bring His good plan for our lives to fruition.  Nothing shall keep us from the love of God because He is almighty.  Keep that close to your heart today.

Why Christian Scholarship is an Essential Enterprise by Chris White

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

Desiderius Erasmus

The year is 1403 and many religious scholars living in Constantinople are seeing the handwriting on the wall.  For nearly 1000 years their city has been a glimmering diamond of civilization and an impregnable fortress against enemy attacks.  But things have changed and it seems inevitable that this capitol of Eastern Christianity will fall to the Turks.  In hopes of preserving their lives but also their faith and culture, many of these scholars began removing ancient manuscripts of the Bible and philosophers from the doomed city and carrying them back to Italy.  Meanwhile in Italy, many scholars were growing excited as they were learning to read and study Greek. For nearly 900 years the Catholic Church had been reading the Latin translation of the scriptures and now they were able study and compare their New Testament against manuscripts in the original languages.  One young Italian scholar by the name of Lorenzo Valla was both excited and troubled by his explorations in these ancient manuscripts.  One troubling discovery was that the biblical word for repentance (metanoia=change of heart and mind) had been translated in Latin as penance (paenitentia=regret, making satisfaction).  Valla’s writings would later conclude that the Catholic Church’s entire system of penance and use of indulgences had its basis in mistranslation of the Bible.  Valla’s scholarship was later noted by Desiderius Erasmus who, 100 years later, would create the Textus Receptus, a Greek New Testament from which Martin Luther and others would use in modern translations of the Bible as well as their efforts to reform the Christian Church.

All Christians are called to ministry but for most of us, this ministry is one of service and sharing the simple message of Christ with the world.  But it is vitally important that some in the Church continue the painstaking work of Biblical scholarship making certain that the things the rest of believe and share are truly the ideas contained in Holy Scripture.  Learning languages long out of use, carefully comparing words, reading endless books on scripture and history, visiting archaeological sites and finds may all sound like the work of someone who lives in an “ivory tower”, but such work is very necessary and something on which we Christians all must depend if our faith is to retain its historic shape and credibility.  I write not as one who is a part of this enterprise for such critical work is beyond my abilities and temperament, but one who is full of gratitude to those who before and now guard the “deposit of faith” entrusted the church by Christ and his Apostles.