To end a discussion that could continue to challenge us, I close with some of the lessons formerly stated that we might derive from this study. To that will be added, as a conclusion, some reflections on the necessity of increase in the knowledge of God.
One, embrace and absorb into your central spiritual world view that providence and redemption are no less in the control of God and under his ultimate purpose than was the immediate operation of creation. Creation was the initial temporal expression of the eternal desire of God for expanding to finite beings a knowledge of his glorious character. Wisdom always resides in submission to the divine will.
Two, the driving passion of our lives should be a reverent and filial fear of God that leads to discernment and enjoyment of the attributes of God. A worshipful respect for God’s wise purpose is embedded in repentance and faith and constitutes much of the happiness of heaven.
We should take care that some knowledge of God and his ways not drive us to arrogance, judgmentalism, and sinful over-confidence. We must not retreat from what we know to be true but must also realize that other dimensions of present knowledge will constantly flow into our heads and hearts.
We must value spiritual knowledge and holiness of life above all earthly advantage. If God will teach us more of Himself and his purity through the loss of what can be lost, then loss is a great advantage. “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7, 8).
While maintaining integrity in individual cases as each relates to the judgment of men, we must submit to God’s prerogative to design any event for our overall sanctification. True godliness always involves resignation.
Be thankful for the progressive nature of revelation—learn to admire the divine wisdom in the gradually unfolding of layer upon layer of truth—as well as the immediate perfection of the redemptive action of God.
We should contemplate the importance of the question, “How can a man, sinfully despicable from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head, be in the right before God?” Where will we find a ransom? Of what honor must such a ransom be? A serious, biblically-founded meditation on the relation between sin and ransom will have a purifying effect on our exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no such thing as innocent suffering. When we proportion temporal suffering to apparent temporal evil, we might be puzzled as to why the apparently good suffer and the apparently less-good prosper; but this sense of disproportion finds plausibility only because of our limited and dull reflections on divine holiness. If our knowledge of the moral character of a fallen world and fallen human beings were truly commensurate with the reality, we would immediately concede the justice of God in any infliction of punishment or discipline.
We must not forget that God’s granting of pleasure in this life should drive us to see the bountiful nature of his goodness and mercy, and any interruption of our pleasure in this life, whether mild or severe, is designed to bring us to a knowledge of sin and the need for a mediator that can restore righteousness, for God will not be finally reconciled to us apart from true and complete righteousness. Like Paul, we must “be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith’ (Philippians 3:9).
Dr. Tom Nettles is widely regarded as one of the foremost Baptist historians in America. He joined the faculty of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary after teaching at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he was professor of Church History and chairman of that department. Previously, he taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. He received a B.A. from Mississippi College and an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southwestern. In addition to writing numerous journal articles and scholarly papers, Dr. Nettles has authored or edited nine books including By His Grace and For His Glory, Baptists and the Bible, and Why I Am a Baptist.
Courses taught: Historical Theology of the Baptists, Historical Theology Overview, Jonathan Edwards & Andrew Fuller.
