Episode Information
- Date: 2026-02(Feb)-05(Thu)
- Links:
YouTube
X
Episode Wiki
This is the episode wiki — trusted users can edit it.
Topics Covered
- True and False Brethren
- Lutheran Church with Female “Educator”
- 2/5/26 Q&A questions about Koine Greek
- What are your thoughts on why the left can organize so easily, often around a single issue, while the right cannot seem to do so, even on a very small scale. I’m thinking about the American context specifically. It seems like there are relevant internal and external factors.
- Will you start a Bible study?
- What makes someone “Lutheran”?
- What are the minimum beliefs that are required for salvation? What level of doctrinal error puts someone outside the faith entirely? And perhaps most central to my question, do you think that someone being in severe error in terms of the law (that is, being correct about the gospel and the identity of God, but being incorrect about some component of what obedience looks like) can on its own lead to damnation?
- How can Scripture be inerrant if the canon is errant?
- Thoughts on the Restorationists?
Topic Timestamps
Resources
The Canterbury Tales (and Translations)
Transcript
WEBVTT
00:00:01.260 → 00:00:04.040
It is the 5th of February, 2026.
00:00:04.040 → 00:00:05.040
I am Corey J.
00:00:05.040 → 00:00:05.560
Mahler.
00:00:05.560 → 00:00:07.100
This is At Any Cost.
00:00:07.100 → 00:00:09.560
This is the 15th episode.
00:00:09.560 → 00:00:14.560
It is a question and answer episode, and I will go ahead and get right into the questions.
00:00:14.560 → 00:00:19.140
I don’t have any housekeeping matters for this week.
00:00:19.140 → 00:00:25.280
The first question here, I will pull up the actual wording of the question instead of just my summary.
00:00:25.280 → 00:00:34.060
How do we discern between false brethren and those who will be saved as through fire, especially given the current climate?
00:00:34.060 → 00:00:46.860
And so, this is one of those questions that is going to just be relevant for quite some time, given the reality of the times in which we live.
00:00:46.860 → 00:00:51.380
But, of course, this is a reference to the passage in 1 Corinthians, and I’ll pull that up here.
00:00:54.940 → 00:00:59.740
Probably helps if I switch over to Logos, so you all can see that.
00:01:09.768 → 00:01:11.868
I’m on the log, there we go.
00:01:12.988 → 00:01:13.128
So.
00:01:21.727 → 00:01:24.847
So, the reference here is to 1 Corinthians 3.15.
00:01:24.847 → 00:01:31.587
If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
00:01:31.587 → 00:01:34.727
And you could also read that as if through fire.
00:01:34.727 → 00:01:37.707
It’s not saying that, you know, purgatory, they try to draw that out of here.
00:01:37.707 → 00:01:39.387
This is not purgatory.
00:01:39.387 → 00:01:41.467
It is exactly what the verse says.
00:01:41.467 → 00:01:46.287
You suffer the loss of the works not being actually good.
00:01:46.287 → 00:01:58.447
So, for instance, those who do things they think are righteous, that turn out not to be righteous, those works, you don’t get credit for them in eternity, basically, is what is being said here.
00:01:58.447 → 00:02:12.787
This is also a reference to a few places in the Old Testament where there’s a reference to God pulling something out of the fire, which is almost a proverb, a proverbial saying, that thing being rescued.
00:02:12.787 → 00:02:30.907
So, one of those would be, I happen to remember this because I just read this passage in Zechariah, but Zechariah 3.2, And the Lord said to the slanderer, of course, the slanderer being Satan, one of his names, the Lord rebuke you, O slanderer, and the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you.
00:02:30.907 → 00:02:34.627
Behold, is not this like a brand plucked from the fire.
00:02:34.627 → 00:02:46.427
And of course, it says Jesus here, because the Septuagint uses Jesus, because it’s the same name instead of Joshua, as it is translated in your Bible undoubtedly, if you’re using the Masoretic text.
00:02:47.727 → 00:02:55.827
So, this is a proverbial saying, someone who has been rescued from destruction.
00:02:55.827 → 00:03:08.647
And so, how do we tell those who are not false brothers, but are doing wicked things from those who are, in fact, just wicked?
00:03:08.647 → 00:03:09.967
They’re not even real brothers.
00:03:09.967 → 00:03:13.167
They are going to spend eternity apart from us.
00:03:16.747 → 00:03:23.667
It almost feels like I have to say this every episode, but it remains true, and so it bears repeating.
00:03:24.827 → 00:03:35.147
Part of this is going to be a wisdom call, because you simply are going to have to be able to tell true brothers from false brothers.
00:03:35.147 → 00:03:38.247
Part of this is going to, of course, be works, right?
00:03:38.247 → 00:03:41.727
Because a Christian is known by his works, ultimately.
00:03:42.347 → 00:03:46.347
Yes, it is your faith that saves you, but your faith is demonstrated in your works.
00:03:46.347 → 00:03:54.407
And so you can look at the works of those who are claiming to be Christian, and you can run an assessment on the basis of those works.
00:03:54.407 → 00:03:55.887
It’s not a wicked thing to do that.
00:03:55.887 → 00:03:59.547
In fact, that is using your God-given wisdom.
00:04:00.727 → 00:04:10.847
So if you have someone who claims to be a Christian brother, but everything he does in his life is wicked, and we can, of course, think of the most obvious examples of this.
00:04:10.967 → 00:04:19.727
You have the female so-called pastor in the rainbow stole, saying BLM and all that nonsense, right?
00:04:19.727 → 00:04:23.987
Clearly not your sister in Christ.
00:04:23.987 → 00:04:25.327
That’s the obvious example.
00:04:25.327 → 00:04:27.087
We’re not asking really about that.
00:04:27.087 → 00:04:29.287
That’s not difficult.
00:04:29.287 → 00:04:31.667
Everyone can make that call.
00:04:31.667 → 00:04:39.227
The question is, how do you discern those who are closer to being Christian, right?
00:04:39.367 → 00:04:48.667
They’re better at presenting themselves as Christian, and the better the person is at deceiving, the harder it is going to be to detect him.
00:04:48.667 → 00:04:50.607
That’s sort of how deception goes.
00:04:50.607 → 00:04:55.527
It’s one of the reasons that sometimes what Satan is doing is difficult because Satan is very good at deceiving.
00:04:55.527 → 00:04:57.467
He’s been doing it a long time.
00:04:57.467 → 00:04:59.407
He doesn’t sleep.
00:04:59.407 → 00:05:02.927
He’s better than most human beings at deceiving people.
00:05:02.927 → 00:05:04.847
Most people aren’t that good at it.
00:05:04.847 → 00:05:16.767
And so you can get a pretty good feel for whether or not someone is trying to maneuver you to stab you in the back to be sort of blunt.
00:05:16.767 → 00:05:17.567
You have instincts.
00:05:17.567 → 00:05:19.467
God gave you instincts.
00:05:19.467 → 00:05:21.347
In large part, you should trust those.
00:05:21.347 → 00:05:22.967
They’re not always accurate.
00:05:22.967 → 00:05:26.387
Sometimes they’re 95% accurate instead of 100%.
00:05:27.847 → 00:05:33.467
But you should trust them, at least as a data point in making your final assessment.
00:05:33.467 → 00:05:43.567
And so if someone gives you a really bad feeling, well, those are your God-given senses telling you there’s something off here, there’s something wrong here.
00:05:43.567 → 00:05:45.167
Listen to that.
00:05:45.167 → 00:05:49.027
But the biggest part of it is going to be looking at those works.
00:05:49.027 → 00:05:54.747
If you have someone who is producing good works, who happens to simply be in error, that’s a different thing.
00:05:54.747 → 00:05:56.867
You should want to rescue that brother from his error.
00:05:56.867 → 00:05:58.727
He is not a false brother.
00:05:58.727 → 00:06:00.467
He’s simply a brother in error.
00:06:00.467 → 00:06:02.307
There are many of those.
00:06:02.307 → 00:06:05.687
Most Christians are going to have some false belief somewhere.
00:06:06.387 → 00:06:10.787
It’s not going to damn you if you have some minor false belief.
00:06:10.787 → 00:06:15.487
There’s a question about that later on, so I’ll get into that when I get to that question.
00:06:15.487 → 00:06:16.487
Hopefully get to that question.
00:06:16.487 → 00:06:18.367
There are a lot of questions.
00:06:18.367 → 00:06:31.327
So for the false brothers, it’s very similar to what we have to do all the time in our current social and political climate.
00:06:31.327 → 00:06:32.267
We’re all accustomed to this.
00:06:33.287 → 00:06:43.067
If you are dealing with new people, you don’t go ahead and bring up all of your political beliefs right up front, right?
00:06:43.067 → 00:06:45.347
Particularly if you’re one of us, right?
00:06:45.347 → 00:06:48.507
You’re a guy who’s on the far right, so to speak.
00:06:48.507 → 00:06:56.707
You’re not far right by historical standards, of course, because most of us are pretty moderate by historical standards, even if you would call yourself far right.
00:06:56.707 → 00:06:58.867
A separate topic perhaps, but related here.
00:07:01.447 → 00:07:17.747
You already know how to do this because you know that many times you are going to be dealing with people in society, in your social life, who would cause you harm if you revealed all of the things that you actually believe.
00:07:17.747 → 00:07:21.327
And so you’re already running that sort of assessment.
00:07:21.327 → 00:07:32.667
Unfortunately, you have to run that assessment in the churches as well, particularly these days, because there are many false Christians, there are many who claim the name of Christ and don’t follow Christ at all.
00:07:32.667 → 00:07:33.767
We run into this all the time.
00:07:33.767 → 00:07:47.987
You can see many examples of this, particularly on X, where any number of us at this point will post a Bible verse, sometimes in quotes, sometimes not, and then someone says, well, I don’t believe that.
00:07:47.987 → 00:07:49.607
Well, that’s the problem.
00:07:49.607 → 00:07:53.767
They don’t actually believe what Christianity teaches because they aren’t actually Christians.
00:07:54.947 → 00:08:07.087
And so, use those skills that you have undoubtedly developed with regard to politics and just living your life in society, and translate that into the church.
00:08:07.087 → 00:08:11.567
It’s again unfortunate, but that is the reality of where we are today.
00:08:11.567 → 00:08:17.967
And you can also think of the verses that speak of handing someone over to Satan, right?
00:08:18.767 → 00:08:27.307
Because, ultimately, that is the point of driving someone from that fellowship, is you want him to repent, right?
00:08:27.307 → 00:08:27.537
That’s…
00:08:27.537 → 00:08:29.647
it’s speaking of excommunication.
00:08:29.647 → 00:08:32.967
And I know that someone in the comments will post, well, weren’t you excommunicated?
00:08:32.967 → 00:08:41.487
Yes, by a church that thought that racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism were sins.
00:08:41.487 → 00:08:46.207
Found nowhere in scripture, addressed thoroughly in stone choir and elsewhere.
00:08:46.367 → 00:08:49.587
So, for those who want to look for those, that’s all there.
00:08:49.587 → 00:08:51.907
I can put some of that in the show notes as well.
00:08:51.907 → 00:08:55.867
And obviously, I recognize that happened.
00:08:55.867 → 00:08:57.907
Luther was excommunicated.
00:08:57.907 → 00:09:00.687
Chrysostom was driven from his church at some point.
00:09:00.687 → 00:09:04.407
You can think, of course, of Matthew 5, right?
00:09:04.407 → 00:09:20.807
Your reward will be great in heaven, because these people who are persecuting us today for believing the things that Christians have always believed, well, their ancestors, spiritual or physical in many cases, persecuted the prophets in the same way.
00:09:20.807 → 00:09:26.067
So, blessed are you when they persecute you for the sake of Christ.
00:09:26.067 → 00:09:30.347
And of course, I posted the video of me being challenged by police outside my church.
00:09:30.347 → 00:09:31.167
I’m not hiding that.
00:09:31.167 → 00:09:33.547
I recognize that’s the reality of where we are today.
00:09:33.547 → 00:09:35.987
It’s important for people to see that.
00:09:35.987 → 00:09:52.887
Like I’ve mentioned before, when people ask about, say, confronting their pastor on some particular issue of false doctrine, usually judaizing, but sometimes other things, your outcome may very well be that he calls the police on you and has you escorted out of the building.
00:09:52.887 → 00:09:55.227
So, I tell people, you need to be ready for that.
00:09:55.227 → 00:09:57.247
It doesn’t mean that you don’t do it.
00:09:57.247 → 00:09:58.447
It means you be ready for it.
00:09:58.447 → 00:10:14.567
But to get back to the immediate question about false brothers, exercise the wisdom that God has given you and run the same sort of identify friend or foe analysis that you would in the world at large with regard to social and political issues.
00:10:17.687 → 00:10:18.847
The next question here.
00:10:24.848 → 00:10:27.388
Next question is about the Lutheran Church.
00:10:27.388 → 00:10:29.948
I don’t believe I answered this one previously.
00:10:29.948 → 00:10:34.828
I think I answered something that was similar to it, and so I’m remembering that.
00:10:34.828 → 00:10:39.548
But the question is, I have been strongly considering joining our local LCMS congregation.
00:10:39.548 → 00:10:52.028
I don’t know how many Lutherans in the area I live in, or I don’t know many Lutherans in the area I live in, nor was I raised Lutheran, but I do believe the Lutheran confessions are consonant with the word of God and is the only church I wish to advance being a member of.
00:10:52.028 → 00:10:58.428
One of the obvious things noted after viewing the congregation’s staff is that there’s a female educator.
00:10:58.428 → 00:11:03.348
I would presume this may be a Sunday school or Bible study teacher.
00:11:03.348 → 00:11:08.228
Do you have any advice on how to proceed visiting the church service at this congregation?
00:11:08.228 → 00:11:11.728
Or is this a clear marker to stay away?
00:11:11.728 → 00:11:19.728
So I don’t think it’s necessarily a clear marker to stay away, because it’s going to depend on what educator means.
00:11:21.528 → 00:11:22.208
Could be a teacher.
00:11:22.928 → 00:11:27.388
We have, and in that case, I mean a school teacher, not a Bible study teacher.
00:11:27.388 → 00:11:28.968
It’s a different thing.
00:11:28.968 → 00:11:38.928
In many cases, you’re going to have a school attached to the church, and so if it’s an educator in that sense, that’s not a problem, because it’s going to be a primary school.
00:11:38.928 → 00:11:44.128
They’re going to be teaching children, which women are permitted to teach children, that’s fine.
00:11:44.128 → 00:11:46.828
Women are permitted to teach other women as well.
00:11:46.828 → 00:11:51.068
There’s some limits on that, but that’s sort of a tangential issue.
00:11:52.128 → 00:11:58.708
If you have a woman who is leading the Bible study that is mixed men and women, that’s unacceptable.
00:11:58.708 → 00:12:06.888
If you have a woman who is standing up in teaching and just saying that she’s not acting like a pastor, but that’s really what she’s doing, that’s not acceptable either.
00:12:06.888 → 00:12:13.988
The best way to figure it out is either attend a service or watch one online.
00:12:13.988 → 00:12:25.268
If you’re watching online, you can probably get through things much more quickly, much more efficiently, because you can skip around and figure out if she appears and if she does appear, what she’s doing.
00:12:25.268 → 00:12:27.788
So I would say just do that.
00:12:27.788 → 00:12:29.888
Check the live stream if they have it.
00:12:29.888 → 00:12:33.488
Check their back catalog of stream services.
00:12:33.488 → 00:12:35.988
If they have that, that’s the easiest way.
00:12:35.988 → 00:12:37.908
Or go to a service.
00:12:37.908 → 00:12:42.048
You could email the pastor and see what he says.
00:12:42.048 → 00:12:46.968
That’s also an option, but I think the easiest way is just look at what they’re actually doing.
00:12:46.968 → 00:12:49.148
Women should of course not be doing those things.
00:12:49.228 → 00:12:53.428
I’ve gone into that before many places and many times.
00:12:53.428 → 00:12:57.628
But it’s not necessarily a red flag that she’s listed.
00:12:57.628 → 00:12:59.528
People just like to be listed.
00:12:59.528 → 00:13:00.548
They like to be included.
00:13:00.548 → 00:13:02.488
They like to be on the website.
00:13:02.488 → 00:13:05.088
It may be she’s doing nothing wrong.
00:13:05.088 → 00:13:15.468
There’s a non-trivial chance she’s doing something she shouldn’t be doing, but the only way to figure out which one it is, is to actually look at the service or attend one of the services.
00:13:15.468 → 00:13:18.048
So hopefully it’s a good church.
00:13:18.188 → 00:13:22.488
Hopefully she’s not doing things that God has told her not to do.
00:13:22.488 → 00:13:26.668
But these days, you just have to check.
00:13:28.808 → 00:13:32.248
The next question is about Greek.
00:13:32.248 → 00:13:32.928
Hello, Corey.
00:13:32.928 → 00:13:38.288
I’m early in my Coina Greek journey myself, and greatly enjoyed your Septuagint series.
00:13:38.288 → 00:13:39.488
Thanks for the great content.
00:13:39.488 → 00:13:43.628
I have a few questions about your learning process that would be super helpful.
00:13:43.728 → 00:13:48.028
One timeline, how long did it take you to feel comfortable with your understanding of Greek?
00:13:48.028 → 00:13:50.328
I’ll just answer these sequentially.
00:13:50.328 → 00:13:55.988
I’m not fluent in Greek, and I’m obviously completely fine admitting that.
00:13:55.988 → 00:13:59.768
I am probably quite a ways off from being fluent in Greek.
00:13:59.768 → 00:14:04.088
My German is much better than my Latin is better than my Greek.
00:14:04.128 → 00:14:16.668
But, you know, maybe at this point, they’re about parity, but I don’t need to have the fluency in that sense, because I understand the mechanics of how language works.
00:14:16.668 → 00:14:18.888
I’m pretty good with that part of it.
00:14:18.888 → 00:14:28.168
And so having access to things like Logos, which obviously I pull that up all the time, you can use the language if you understand the mechanics of how a language works.
00:14:28.168 → 00:14:31.368
Obviously, it helps a lot if you know the alphabet, because Greek’s a different alphabet.
00:14:32.728 → 00:14:43.728
But if you know those basics and then you understand language, you can achieve a lot without yourself being fluent, absent access to those materials.
00:14:43.728 → 00:14:51.648
So in terms of the timeline, I can’t give you really an answer because I’m not personally fluent.
00:14:51.648 → 00:15:00.688
The general rule for a language is going to be something like 10,000 hours, I think it is, that you want to invest to reach a certain level of fluency.
00:15:01.548 → 00:15:07.568
It’s going to depend on the distance of the language from your native language and other languages you know.
00:15:07.568 → 00:15:15.528
So for instance, if you know Italian, right, it will take you less time to pick up Latin than Japanese.
00:15:15.528 → 00:15:17.588
So that’s going to partly depend there.
00:15:17.588 → 00:15:25.928
Greek is a little more distant from other European languages, so as an English speaker, it is not something where you have huge overlap.
00:15:25.928 → 00:15:43.068
You already know some of the terms, some of the language, the vocabulary, just because English has imported so much from Greek, mostly Latin and French, right, and obviously French, ultimately Latin, some German, in the case of French being some German, not in the case of English.
00:15:43.068 → 00:15:44.928
English is a lot of German.
00:15:44.928 → 00:15:51.728
But not as much of an overlap in terms of the overall language, English and Greek.
00:15:51.728 → 00:15:56.228
So there’s a lot of stuff that’s going to be new for an English speaker.
00:15:56.228 → 00:16:00.428
Not least of all because English has dropped a lot of the things that other languages have.
00:16:00.428 → 00:16:01.888
Inflection and things like that.
00:16:01.888 → 00:16:04.648
We have very little of that left in English.
00:16:04.648 → 00:16:07.328
Personal pronouns basically the only exception.
00:16:07.328 → 00:16:12.908
The word blonde, which we ultimately Latin, but we took it from the French there.
00:16:12.908 → 00:16:15.648
And so that’s why that E is on the end.
00:16:15.648 → 00:16:18.788
It’s blonde with an E if it’s referring to a female.
00:16:18.788 → 00:16:21.528
It’s blonde without the E if it’s referring to a male.
00:16:21.528 → 00:16:26.768
Everyone forgets that rule, but it’s one of the only things in English we have that’s inflected other than the personal pronouns.
00:16:27.548 → 00:16:32.048
But that’s basically the rough answer for timeline.
00:16:32.048 → 00:16:33.788
Grammar reliance is the second question.
00:16:33.788 → 00:16:35.668
Do you still need to frequently reference grammar?
00:16:35.668 → 00:16:36.328
Yes.
00:16:36.328 → 00:16:52.308
For me, in the sense of referencing a grammar, which is telling me functionally how the mechanics of Greek works, I don’t have to reference it in sense of what most people hear when they hear grammar, because I know that stuff.
00:16:52.308 → 00:16:54.528
I know what the accusative is.
00:16:54.608 → 00:16:58.808
I know what the dative is and the genitive and all of these things.
00:16:58.808 → 00:17:09.188
But in order to actually understand how a particular Greek verb has been conjugated, yes, of course, I’m going to use logos.
00:17:09.188 → 00:17:11.768
But the nice thing about logos is…
00:17:11.768 → 00:17:16.728
I’ll go ahead and just switch back over to logos here for a second.
00:17:16.728 → 00:17:20.128
One of the nicest things about logos is…
00:17:20.128 → 00:17:20.608
Let’s pull up…
00:17:22.568 → 00:17:28.188
Not the nets, because the nets does not have the full thing that I want here.
00:17:28.188 → 00:17:30.028
So we’ll pull up the lexem.
00:17:30.028 → 00:17:38.968
And so one of the nice things here, right, like garments, I click on this and it tells me, of course, it doesn’t show the interstitial menu to you, because why would it do that?
00:17:38.968 → 00:17:45.968
But anyway, if you click on a word, it gives you all the information you need about the word, which obviously very useful.
00:17:45.968 → 00:17:55.388
It also gives it down in the lower left, which it also does not show in the preview for streaming, because why would they implement that?
00:17:55.388 → 00:18:04.268
But with these sorts of tools, you can get a lot done in the language in which you are not yet, anyway, personally fluent.
00:18:04.268 → 00:18:07.288
Methods and resources, the third sub-question, as it were.
00:18:07.288 → 00:18:09.988
What did you use to learn and what was your overall approach?
00:18:09.988 → 00:18:15.628
I have some Greek books, just standard language learning books, and then I’ve used some online tools a bit.
00:18:15.628 → 00:18:27.288
And then most of it has just been looking at scripture, switching back and forth between the Greek and the English and using the available tools in Logos, because the tools are very nice.
00:18:27.288 → 00:18:30.108
And no, this is not an advertisement for Logos.
00:18:30.108 → 00:18:35.248
I absolutely hate their pricing model, and I think that it’s highway robbery.
00:18:35.248 → 00:18:57.268
But the reality of our situation is that these tools overcharge, and part of it is not their fault to give them credit where credit is due, because of course, this is IP, intellectual property, and so the ultimate owners of these things get to set some of the terms and the prices and things like that, and so they don’t have 100% control.
00:18:57.268 → 00:19:07.028
But my position, as I’ve been very clear all along, long held position, most resources of this kind at least should be free.
00:19:07.988 → 00:19:16.608
The men who are capable of using these resources who aren’t going to get off into crazy trouble on their own with them should have access to these.
00:19:16.608 → 00:19:26.468
If someone is going to seminary to be a theologian, someone who has the skills to do that, he should just have access to all of the materials for free.
00:19:26.468 → 00:19:29.308
You should not be gatekeeping things related to God.
00:19:29.308 → 00:19:31.128
That’s completely ridiculous.
00:19:31.128 → 00:19:33.368
No Christian should want to do that.
00:19:33.368 → 00:19:35.348
But tangential issue there.
00:19:36.768 → 00:19:39.388
The fourth and final subquestion.
00:19:39.388 → 00:19:43.988
You recommend modern Greek pronunciation, very much so, over Erasmian.
00:19:43.988 → 00:19:48.288
However, most Koina materials seem to stick exclusively to Erasmian.
00:19:48.288 → 00:19:49.728
That’s also true.
00:19:49.728 → 00:19:53.908
What’s the best way to learn and practice modern pronunciation for Koina?
00:19:53.908 → 00:19:57.308
So for modern pronunciation, you’re just learning modern pronunciation.
00:19:57.308 → 00:20:00.008
You’re not learning it for Koina, really.
00:20:00.008 → 00:20:04.548
It’s not sort of the difference here.
00:20:05.328 → 00:20:11.928
It’s that Greek hasn’t changed as much as English in the same period of time.
00:20:11.928 → 00:20:14.248
Of course, English isn’t that old.
00:20:14.248 → 00:20:17.368
But it’s closer to say what German has done.
00:20:17.368 → 00:20:24.628
And so I’ve mentioned before, I can pick up a German text from the 1500s and get through it just fine.
00:20:24.628 → 00:20:29.848
There will be some quirks, there are some rules that have changed, there have been some standardizations in terms of spelling.
00:20:30.708 → 00:20:37.528
But by and large, any German speaker can pick up a text from the 1500s in German and read it.
00:20:37.528 → 00:20:41.708
So I have a Luther Bible that’s on my shelf over here from 1545.
00:20:43.308 → 00:20:46.868
That’s not that much more difficult to read than modern German.
00:20:46.868 → 00:20:49.928
English is not the same, because English has changed a lot.
00:20:49.928 → 00:20:52.908
You have Old English, you have Middle English, you have Modern English.
00:20:52.908 → 00:20:57.928
And I’ll put a link to Chaucer in the show notes, for anyone who wants to go and look at it.
00:20:57.928 → 00:20:59.388
You can see how much it’s changed.
00:21:00.568 → 00:21:02.268
For Greek, it’s not as big of a change.
00:21:02.268 → 00:21:09.148
So just learn how modern Greeks pronounce their words, and then read the Koina as if it were modern Greek.
00:21:09.148 → 00:21:10.528
There are some things that have changed.
00:21:10.528 → 00:21:15.968
There’s some spelling quirks and things like that, but you won’t have trouble doing that.
00:21:15.968 → 00:21:22.688
And the reason I recommend that you learn modern pronunciation and not Koina, really it’s kind of twofold.
00:21:22.708 → 00:21:31.508
One, Erasmus just constructed his pronunciation rules, partly because he didn’t want any vowels to sound the same.
00:21:32.988 → 00:21:35.948
The problem is, natural language has things that sound the same.
00:21:35.948 → 00:21:37.168
That happens.
00:21:37.168 → 00:21:44.308
I can think of a number of different vowel pairings in German that are not the same, but sound the same.
00:21:44.308 → 00:21:45.988
And English does the same thing, of course.
00:21:45.988 → 00:21:52.968
English less so because English has a lot of weird sounds from importing other languages and blending them together.
00:21:52.968 → 00:22:03.988
But the second part of the reason would be that you have an entire world of materials available to you if you are learning modern pronunciation.
00:22:03.988 → 00:22:07.188
Because the Greek still exists.
00:22:07.188 → 00:22:08.528
The Greek language still exists.
00:22:08.528 → 00:22:10.808
The Greek language is still in use.
00:22:10.808 → 00:22:18.288
If you are learning Erasmian, that’s not in use because it was never in use, because it was never a real thing.
00:22:18.288 → 00:22:25.928
It was a constructed pronunciation of Greek specifically for use in Biblical studies.
00:22:25.928 → 00:22:33.948
So just use modern Greek because you are going to have more materials available to you, and it will actually be helpful as well.
00:22:33.948 → 00:22:39.848
Because say you want to visit Greece at some point, you will actually be able to speak to people.
00:22:39.848 → 00:22:40.988
Not if you are Erasmian.
00:22:40.988 → 00:22:43.428
They will look at you like you have two heads.
00:22:43.428 → 00:22:46.768
So it just makes more sense to learn modern.
00:22:47.368 → 00:22:56.508
There is no benefit to learning the Erasmian other than you can talk to pastors who also learned it.
00:22:56.508 → 00:22:58.488
But I don’t think that’s very compelling.
00:23:01.248 → 00:23:07.848
The next question, moving on to some of the questions from X, I believe now.
00:23:10.568 → 00:23:15.028
I don’t know that I will get to many of the questions in the chat this time.
00:23:15.028 → 00:23:19.408
I will go through and write them down because I have a lot of questions.
00:23:19.408 → 00:23:23.188
I will not get through all of them this episode.
00:23:27.868 → 00:23:39.768
But the next question, what are your thoughts on why the left can organize so easily, often around a single issue, while the right cannot seem to do so, even on a very small scale?
00:23:39.768 → 00:23:42.288
I’m thinking about the American context specifically.
00:23:42.288 → 00:23:46.628
It seems like there are relevant internal and external factors.
00:23:48.828 → 00:23:57.828
This is very true, and it certainly makes things more difficult in the American context.
00:23:59.708 → 00:24:04.548
Because let’s see, what is the best way to start for the core reason here?
00:24:04.548 → 00:24:10.768
The core reason really is that politics is the identity of the left.
00:24:10.768 → 00:24:17.188
That is who they are, because they ultimately found their life on that.
00:24:17.188 → 00:24:21.468
They don’t have any other coherent organizing principle.
00:24:21.468 → 00:24:25.568
They don’t have something that means more to them than politics.
00:24:25.568 → 00:24:27.908
Politics is their life.
00:24:27.908 → 00:24:30.108
Politics is their core.
00:24:30.108 → 00:24:39.488
And so, it’s going to make it easier to organize people when you are appealing to their highest principle, to speak about principles they don’t have.
00:24:39.588 → 00:24:43.048
But when you are appealing to them in that way.
00:24:43.048 → 00:24:51.808
Versus the right, well, anyone on the right has things that he cares about ultimately more than politics.
00:24:51.808 → 00:24:53.828
And that’s correct, you should.
00:24:53.828 → 00:24:56.628
You care about your family more than politics.
00:24:56.628 → 00:25:00.528
You care about politics because you care about your family.
00:25:00.528 → 00:25:04.288
You care about God more than you care about politics.
00:25:04.288 → 00:25:12.008
You care about politics because you care about God, because you want to bring our politics in line with what God demands.
00:25:12.008 → 00:25:13.868
Ultimately, that’s what Christian nationalism is.
00:25:13.868 → 00:25:17.008
It’s sort of a short summary of that.
00:25:17.008 → 00:25:28.148
But politics is the end goal for the left, because the left is animated almost exclusively by power, which they’re not wrong for that.
00:25:28.148 → 00:25:33.568
They recognize that power ultimately is what matters in these affairs, and that’s true.
00:25:33.568 → 00:25:35.228
The person who has the power sets the rules.
00:25:35.368 → 00:25:38.588
Mike makes right in a certain sense of right.
00:25:38.588 → 00:25:42.388
Not in the sense of ultimate moral good versus wrong, right?
00:25:42.388 → 00:25:48.488
But in the sense that the person who has the power gets to set the terms and say what is right and wrong.
00:25:48.488 → 00:25:49.848
That’s absolutely true.
00:25:49.848 → 00:25:54.428
The left is better at recognizing that than the right, at least these days.
00:25:54.428 → 00:25:58.508
In the American context, there’s another aspect of it.
00:25:58.508 → 00:26:02.108
It’s actually perhaps two facets, same thing.
00:26:03.268 → 00:26:23.628
The first part of it would be that we have this strain of individualism and just sort of being obstreperous almost, just being disagreeable in the US., particularly on the right side of politics, that has been there since the beginning in the American context.
00:26:23.628 → 00:26:41.068
Part of it is going to be constitutional, not uppercase C referring to the document, but lowercase C referring to the people, because just some of the people who came over here from Europe were more like that than average, and it has entrenched over time.
00:26:41.068 → 00:26:53.848
A bit of it’s genetic in our case, partly because we have the Scottish admixture and things like that, people who are a little less agreeable, and Germans aren’t entirely agreeable when it comes to certain things.
00:26:53.848 → 00:27:03.968
So part of it is going to be constitutional in that sense for us, and then entrenched and sort of a feedback loop with how our society has been organized.
00:27:03.968 → 00:27:16.468
And then there is also the fact, the second facet of this, libertarianism has long been a force on the right side of politics in the US.
00:27:16.468 → 00:27:24.348
Left as well, but very minor over there, because left libertarian never really got any traction.
00:27:24.348 → 00:27:34.808
Supposedly right-wing libertarianism has, for many years, decades, been part of the right-wing in the US context.
00:27:34.808 → 00:27:51.708
And so, because of that, and because of the intellectual push they’ve had, they’ve had fairly good funding in some cases, you have various outfits putting out, all these pieces trying to push libertarianism and libertarian thought.
00:27:51.708 → 00:28:02.468
And it gets tied up with the American love of freedom and liberty, regardless of whether or not the person who is advocating for those things knows what either term means.
00:28:02.468 → 00:28:09.548
And because of that fact, it makes it more difficult to get men to follow orders, to fall in line.
00:28:09.548 → 00:28:17.808
And ultimately, if you don’t have people willing to follow orders, you don’t have an actual movement.
00:28:17.808 → 00:28:23.308
All you have is a bunch of people in a room arguing with each other and not cooperating.
00:28:23.308 → 00:28:24.908
That’s the problem the right has.
00:28:25.008 → 00:28:31.328
It is very difficult on the right to be a leader, because most men are not very good at following orders.
00:28:31.328 → 00:28:41.588
They always want to question your orders, which I’m not saying you can’t question the orders of a leader, but there’s a time and a place.
00:28:41.588 → 00:29:00.188
If you’re in the middle of a battle and your commander tells you to do something, unless it is completely and utterly insane, and you know that because you’re in a position to know it, and he isn’t, so unless you have a compelling, truly compelling reason to ask him about his order, right?
00:29:00.188 → 00:29:01.648
You just obey.
00:29:01.648 → 00:29:03.588
That’s what you do as a soldier.
00:29:03.588 → 00:29:08.768
And we are going to have to recognize that we are actually in a war.
00:29:08.768 → 00:29:13.028
It is not simply political disagreement.
00:29:13.028 → 00:29:14.188
It’s a war.
00:29:14.188 → 00:29:19.668
And so in a war, and given that we are in a war, men need to learn to follow orders.
00:29:20.228 → 00:29:29.528
That’s going to be difficult on the right side of things in the US context, for all the reasons I mentioned and some others as well.
00:29:29.528 → 00:29:37.688
The left does not have that problem, because again, no animating principle for them, except for politics and power.
00:29:37.688 → 00:29:41.188
So for them, politics is the goal.
00:29:41.188 → 00:29:41.888
It’s the end.
00:29:41.888 → 00:29:44.768
It’s the thing toward which their life is oriented.
00:29:44.768 → 00:29:46.908
For the right wing, it’s not.
00:29:46.908 → 00:30:04.848
And so you have men who are going to have competing principles, as it were, because they want to try and make whatever the leader has said, whatever someone has told them they need to do, consonant with these other things that demand a greater allegiance.
00:30:04.848 → 00:30:09.748
The problem is that all of those things about which you actually care, and I’m not saying they’re wrong.
00:30:09.748 → 00:30:10.848
Again, I’m saying those are right.
00:30:10.848 → 00:30:12.468
You should care about those more.
00:30:12.468 → 00:30:23.348
But all of those things about which you actually care, you can’t get to them, you can’t defend them, you can’t achieve them without the power.
00:30:23.348 → 00:30:27.488
The left recognize that aspect of it much better than the right.
00:30:27.488 → 00:30:42.728
The right needs to get more serious about the fact that if you do not have political power, if you do not maintain political power, and if you don’t crush your enemies when you have political power, you will never achieve all the other things that are more important than political power.
00:30:43.868 → 00:30:46.648
You need the means to achieve the ends.
00:30:47.448 → 00:30:54.408
For us, on the right wing, politics is the means to the ends we seek.
00:30:54.408 → 00:31:01.208
For the left, politics is the end, and so they will do anything to achieve it.
00:31:01.208 → 00:31:09.308
We need to be willing to look at politics and political power in the way that they look at all these other things they’re willing to do to achieve that.
00:31:09.308 → 00:31:11.668
Because otherwise, they win.
00:31:11.668 → 00:31:14.628
The side that wants it more generally wins.
00:31:14.628 → 00:31:23.188
We need to want it more than the left, and we need to be willing to wield it in a way that even they aren’t willing to do, quite yet.
00:31:23.188 → 00:31:31.788
Now, I think they will in the near future if they should have power again, but we need to be ruthless, because that’s politics.
00:31:31.788 → 00:31:36.308
And again, men need to learn to follow orders.
00:31:36.308 → 00:31:48.988
We need to treat it more as if we are, which we are in reality, soldiers in a war, instead of men discussing philosophy around the dinner table.
00:31:48.988 → 00:31:54.728
That’s how politics has been treated by the right wing for many years.
00:31:54.728 → 00:31:57.188
That’s not what it is.
00:31:57.188 → 00:32:00.208
Politics is a knife fight in a bar.
00:32:00.208 → 00:32:07.508
You need to take it a little more seriously than discussing the philosophy of Kant over coffee.
00:32:07.508 → 00:32:15.708
Kant would approve of the coffee incidentally, but we just don’t take it seriously in the same way the left does.
00:32:15.708 → 00:32:21.248
And it’s for a number of reasons, but that needs to change, and it needs to change yesterday.
00:32:25.908 → 00:32:28.568
I have a question here from the chat.
00:32:28.568 → 00:32:31.868
Hi, I’m EO, but I love the podcast.
00:32:31.868 → 00:32:34.708
How do I start to get educated on political science?
00:32:34.948 → 00:32:39.328
What reading material, podcasts, et cetera?
00:32:39.328 → 00:33:00.208
I don’t know of that many podcasts for political science, but if you need, say, the philosophy background for it, there is the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, is probably one of the better summary podcasts for philosophy to give you.
00:33:00.208 → 00:33:11.508
And at this point, it’s many, many hours of listening, but it will give you sort of the foundation you need for many political ideas, because many political ideas ultimately are philosophical.
00:33:13.568 → 00:33:21.028
So you can pick and choose the episodes that are relevant, listen to the political philosophers instead of others.
00:33:21.028 → 00:33:27.328
But insofar as reading is concerned, that is almost an endless number of suggestions.
00:33:27.328 → 00:33:30.348
But for anyone on the right wing, you probably want to read Schmidt first.
00:33:31.748 → 00:33:33.688
That’s just the reality of the matter.
00:33:33.688 → 00:33:42.568
So definitely read Schmidt, and then looking at what books I happen to have here.
00:33:42.568 → 00:33:44.928
Most of my political science books are actually in another room.
00:33:46.488 → 00:33:53.048
But it’s partly going to depend on what your goal is with reading political science.
00:33:53.048 → 00:33:54.148
Why are you reading it?
00:33:54.148 → 00:33:56.548
Are you reading it to get into politics?
00:33:56.548 → 00:33:57.728
Because then you want practical.
00:33:58.448 → 00:34:01.088
Are you reading it because you just enjoy it?
00:34:01.088 → 00:34:04.408
Then you probably want to go heavier on the philosophy.
00:34:04.408 → 00:34:11.868
So depending on your goal, you’re going to tailor your reading list to that goal.
00:34:11.868 → 00:34:14.968
So if it’s just for enjoyment, then read whatever you like.
00:34:14.968 → 00:34:31.608
But if it is for discussing with other men, it’s because you want to understand this fundamental aspect of humanity and human nature, then go heavy on the philosophy, even more so than the straight political science, as it were.
00:34:31.608 → 00:34:36.548
But the practical side of things, read about actual campaigns that worked.
00:34:36.548 → 00:34:40.728
It’s the same sort of thing that you have over in the military, right?
00:34:40.728 → 00:34:48.348
The military will read about historical battles and what worked or didn’t work, because theory is one thing, but it’s sort of like a battle plan.
00:34:48.348 → 00:34:50.408
It doesn’t survive contact with the enemy.
00:34:51.088 → 00:34:55.228
So, you can read political theory all day.
00:34:55.228 → 00:35:08.628
You’re not going to get a real, deep understanding of how the game is actually played, how the sausage is actually made, until you actually start looking at real campaigns, real politicians, and probably get involved in it as well.
00:35:08.628 → 00:35:15.708
So, tailor your reading list with regard to what it is you want to achieve.
00:35:15.708 → 00:35:21.188
It’s basically the spectrum, his philosophy on the one end, and reading about the nitty-gritty of running a campaign on the other.
00:35:29.578 → 00:35:31.778
Next question is, nice and short and easy one.
00:35:31.778 → 00:35:33.198
Will you start a Bible study?
00:35:33.198 → 00:35:46.018
I have begun the process of revising my notes on Genesis, partly because obviously this time they will be based on the Septuagint instead of the Masoretic text.
00:35:46.018 → 00:35:53.838
And I don’t know when I will start that, but I do intend to at least do a Bible study on Genesis.
00:35:53.838 → 00:35:58.118
I’ll make the video freely available in the audio and whatnot.
00:35:58.118 → 00:36:04.418
I won’t give a timeline on that because again, I have no idea when I will manage to set the time aside and actually get through that and finish that.
00:36:04.418 → 00:36:07.758
But yes, I do intend to resume…
00:36:07.758 → 00:36:10.598
I did a Bible study back at my church in California.
00:36:10.598 → 00:36:13.358
I do intend to resume doing that.
00:36:13.358 → 00:36:19.858
So hopefully in the relatively near future, but I guess we will all see how that goes.
00:36:24.978 → 00:36:29.718
The next question, what makes someone Lutheran?
00:36:33.638 → 00:36:44.018
I actually want to abstract this one out at least one level, I think, because I will answer the question itself, but I think abstracting it out of level is perhaps more helpful here.
00:36:49.158 → 00:36:53.678
My first answer would be, of course, that a Lutheran is just a Christian.
00:36:53.678 → 00:37:08.778
That is, what you should believe about whatever denomination is your denomination, whichever one you claim, because if you think that you’re some other thing than Christian, why are you still that denomination, right?
00:37:08.778 → 00:37:16.178
You are part of your church, part of your denomination, because you believe it teaches the Christian truth.
00:37:16.178 → 00:37:23.018
And so, if you are a Baptist, it’s because you don’t believe that baptism saves.
00:37:23.018 → 00:37:36.038
If you are any number of, usually non-denominational Baptists as well, you probably don’t believe in the real presence, because if you believed in the real presence, you would not stay in one of those churches.
00:37:37.318 → 00:37:50.098
If you don’t believe that the Mass, the Roman Catholic Mass forgives your sins, you’re probably not going to stay in a Roman Catholic Church.
00:37:50.098 → 00:37:57.998
And so, my first answer again is that I am a Lutheran, because I believe that that is simply another word for Christian.
00:37:59.138 → 00:38:18.618
For those who don’t know the history, the Roman Catholics during the time of the Reformation started calling the Protestants Lutherans, because they were trying to say, you follow a man instead of following Christ, perhaps never realizing the irony of the fact that they call themselves specifically Roman.
00:38:18.618 → 00:38:29.858
But leaving that aside, the Lutherans just said, okay, fine, we’ll keep that term, we’re fine with it, because we believe what Luther has taught, and so we agree with that.
00:38:31.578 → 00:38:43.238
But to give sort of the abstracted-out answer to the question and get into some specifics as well, you have different levels at which you can answer that question, right?
00:38:43.238 → 00:38:45.858
And you can do that with any denomination.
00:38:45.858 → 00:38:50.458
And so the first one would be, what is a Christian, right?
00:38:50.458 → 00:38:57.038
Well, a Christian is one who believes in Christ crucified for sinners, right?
00:38:57.038 → 00:39:09.958
You can expand that out, you can talk about all the different points in the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, you can point to the Lord’s Prayer, you can say, you believe the Ten Commandments, and you believe this, that, and the other, right?
00:39:09.958 → 00:39:26.098
You can go through all those specific points, but ultimately, a Christian is one who believes in the Gospel, which is why we can say that Adam was a Christian, because Adam believed Genesis 3.15, spoken to him directly by God, that probably helps a little bit, but perhaps didn’t help with the tree bit.
00:39:26.858 → 00:39:31.818
But believing in the Gospel is what makes a Christian.
00:39:31.818 → 00:39:38.678
But in another sense, there are those who will believe that a Christian is simply someone who attends church, right?
00:39:38.678 → 00:39:42.618
Much of the world says, well, he’s a Christian, he goes to church, he must be a Christian.
00:39:42.618 → 00:39:46.878
That doesn’t make him a Christian, in the ultimate sense of being a Christian.
00:39:46.878 → 00:39:54.898
This gets back into the difference between being something essentially and being something according to believing in the tenets of it, right?
00:39:54.898 → 00:39:59.418
And, you know, it’s the no-true-Scotsman thing again, right?
00:39:59.418 → 00:40:08.198
You’re Scottish because you’re born Scottish, not because you agree with the design of the flag, or you like scotch, or you love golf, right?
00:40:08.198 → 00:40:09.858
That’s not what makes you Scottish.
00:40:09.858 → 00:40:11.498
You’re Scottish because you’re Scottish.
00:40:11.498 → 00:40:13.438
You’re American because you’re American.
00:40:13.438 → 00:40:15.418
That’s something you are essentially.
00:40:15.418 → 00:40:17.698
Christianity is an ideology.
00:40:17.698 → 00:40:21.858
In order to be a Christian, you actually have to believe the tenets of Christianity.
00:40:23.058 → 00:40:26.018
You can’t just say, I’m a Christian, and then you’re a Christian.
00:40:26.018 → 00:40:27.638
That’s insufficient, right?
00:40:27.638 → 00:40:28.558
Think of what Christ says.
00:40:28.558 → 00:40:31.878
Lord, Lord, did we not know?
00:40:31.878 → 00:40:33.438
I never knew you.
00:40:33.438 → 00:40:37.578
So to be a Christian, you actually have to believe in the tenets of Christianity.
00:40:38.618 → 00:40:42.478
By and large, what that means is believing what is taught in the creeds.
00:40:42.478 → 00:40:45.018
There’s a reason we have creeds, right?
00:40:45.018 → 00:40:53.478
You have creeds because they’re a summary of the faith founded in Scripture, and they are a short way to explain, what do you believe?
00:40:53.478 → 00:40:57.458
The Apostles’ Creed is the short statement of the Christian faith.
00:40:57.458 → 00:41:01.378
So, that’s ultimately what it means to be a Christian, right?
00:41:01.378 → 00:41:03.778
It’s belief in the tenets of Christianity.
00:41:03.778 → 00:41:17.958
So, to be a Lutheran is to believe in the exegesis of Christianity as set forth in the binding documents of the Lutheran Church, which would be the Book of Concord, which I don’t think I actually have on my desk right now.
00:41:17.958 → 00:41:19.058
I think it’s over here somewhere.
00:41:19.058 → 00:41:32.418
But the Book of Concord is one of the answers to what it means to be a Lutheran, because that is ultimately the definition of Lutheran understanding of the Bible.
00:41:33.438 → 00:41:37.118
So, that is one of the answers to what is a Lutheran.
00:41:38.238 → 00:41:43.498
Do all Lutherans know everything taught in the Book of Concord?
00:41:44.198 → 00:41:45.418
Well, the answer is no.
00:41:45.418 → 00:41:53.098
You can go to my timeline and find me catching pastors, Lutheran pastors, who don’t know things that are taught in the Book of Concord.
00:41:53.098 → 00:41:57.518
And so, does that make them not Lutheran?
00:41:57.518 → 00:41:58.738
I don’t think that’s fair.
00:41:58.738 → 00:42:05.018
I actually don’t believe it would be fair to say that, no, you’re not Lutheran, because you don’t know absolutely everything taught in the Book of Concord.
00:42:05.018 → 00:42:10.798
You can be a member of a church, a member of a denomination at different levels, as it were.
00:42:11.518 → 00:42:19.138
And so, you can be a Lutheran because you believe in what Lutheranism teaches.
00:42:19.138 → 00:42:30.118
You can be a Lutheran because you’re a Christian, and your whole family’s always been Lutheran, and you just attend the Lutheran Church, even if ultimately your doctrinal and theological knowledge is pretty shallow.
00:42:30.118 → 00:42:49.418
In fact, in some cases, that’s probably good for most people, because if you just simply rely on Christ, and maybe you don’t understand the union of God and man in Christ, right?
00:42:49.418 → 00:43:05.358
You don’t understand how the nature of man and the nature of God interact, and how the attributes of one don’t become properly the attributes of the other, but they can be exercised through the union because of the personal, right?
00:43:05.398 → 00:43:07.518
You don’t have to get into all of that.
00:43:07.518 → 00:43:12.298
Most Christians don’t understand all of that stuff, and that’s not what ultimately makes you a Christian.
00:43:12.298 → 00:43:18.858
The same as the very hyper-technical specifics as between, say, Lutherans and Reform.
00:43:18.858 → 00:43:25.418
So, if I were to argue with a Reform theologian, we’re going to get into some pretty hyper-technical stuff.
00:43:25.418 → 00:43:31.658
Do you have to believe on either side and understand all of that to be a Lutheran or a member of the Reform Church?
00:43:31.658 → 00:43:32.418
The answer is no.
00:43:33.478 → 00:43:43.698
And so, the basic definition of being a Lutheran is to know the small catechism and to agree with the small catechism, because that is the basic statement.
00:43:43.698 → 00:43:45.518
It’s what we teach to all Lutheran children.
00:43:45.518 → 00:43:47.878
In fact, they memorize it.
00:43:47.878 → 00:43:51.098
So, that’s another one of the answers you can give.
00:43:51.098 → 00:43:57.878
But you can see there are different answers to this sort of question depending on exactly what it is you mean.
00:43:57.878 → 00:44:10.878
So, at the top level, as it were, the fullest definition of what is a Lutheran is the Book of Concord, because that is what we teach, that is what we hold, that is the statement of Lutheran belief.
00:44:10.878 → 00:44:21.098
But at the basic level, at just a more functional, realistic level, it’s the Small Catechism, because that’s what everyone who joins a Lutheran church is supposed to believe.
00:44:21.098 → 00:44:27.878
In fact, we typically have people explicitly state that they believe the teachings of the Small Catechism when they join the church.
00:44:29.718 → 00:44:33.478
They don’t always have someone say they believe in the entirety of the Book of Concord.
00:44:33.478 → 00:44:42.498
I would hope that at least elders and others in positions of authority would read the Book of Concord and understand it, but again, the average person doesn’t really need to do that.
00:44:42.498 → 00:44:49.278
You don’t need all of the women in your church, for instance, trying to be a theologian and reading the solid declaration.
00:44:49.278 → 00:44:52.578
The children in your church are not going to read it and understand it.
00:44:52.578 → 00:44:54.838
But the Small Catechism, they can understand.
00:44:54.838 → 00:45:12.298
And that’s going to be the same sort of different levels that you will find in any church, because over in the Reformed Camp, how many, maybe some more in some Reformed churches, but how many men in your church have actually read the Institutes?
00:45:12.298 → 00:45:15.658
How many of those who read it understood it?
00:45:15.658 → 00:45:32.338
So, just because someone says he’s a Christian doesn’t mean he is, but just because someone doesn’t understand all the nuances of a particular denomination, a particular tradition, doesn’t mean he isn’t a member of that tradition.
00:45:33.718 → 00:45:46.338
So, yes, it’s not a question where there’s sort of a cut-and-dry, neat answer because it depends on what exactly it is you’re asking and what exactly is being answered in response to that question.
00:45:46.338 → 00:45:48.918
But hopefully, that explains what it means to be a Lutheran.
00:45:48.918 → 00:45:51.958
The basic answer is you believe the Small Catechism.
00:45:51.958 → 00:45:53.298
You want to know what Lutherans believe?
00:45:53.298 → 00:45:54.278
Read the Small Catechism.
00:45:54.918 → 00:45:58.338
You want more information on what’s in the Small Catechism?
00:45:58.338 → 00:46:01.838
Read the Augsburg Confession, the Apology, the Solid Declaration.
00:46:01.838 → 00:46:05.278
Read the Small Call Articles for fun because it’s fun to read Luther.
00:46:05.278 → 00:46:09.218
You can read the Power and Primacy of the Pope if you want to know why we reject Rome.
00:46:09.718 → 00:46:15.058
There are more documents, but the basics are all there in the Small Catechism.
00:46:15.058 → 00:46:17.158
That is the basis of what we believe.
00:46:17.158 → 00:46:20.218
That is the Lutheran exegesis of Scripture.
00:46:20.218 → 00:46:23.838
And I am a Lutheran because I believe that is simply what Scripture teaches.
00:46:24.878 → 00:46:27.138
I am not a Lutheran because I like Luther.
00:46:27.138 → 00:46:30.658
I am not a Lutheran because I am of German extraction.
00:46:30.658 → 00:46:41.258
I am a Lutheran because I believe that what is set forth in the Small Catechism specifically, and in the Book of Concord generally, is consonant with Scripture on all points.
00:46:41.258 → 00:46:42.658
That is why I am a Lutheran.
00:46:42.658 → 00:46:46.558
And so, again, I believe it just means I am a Christian.
00:46:46.558 → 00:46:58.658
We say Lutheran in order to distinguish from other groups because, for better or worse, we are not all united in our understanding of Scripture and in what we teach.
00:46:58.658 → 00:46:59.658
I wish that we were.
00:46:59.658 → 00:47:01.358
It would be better if we were.
00:47:01.358 → 00:47:17.918
We would be able to provide and present a unified front against so much evil in the world, but I would hope that at least we can all agree on some basics and act in a concerted way to try to make things better, right?
00:47:18.618 → 00:47:22.418
Just because we disagree on some specifics doesn’t mean that we can’t get along.
00:47:22.418 → 00:47:30.478
We don’t have to hate the Reformed or the Anglicans, whichever camp the Anglicans ultimately want to be in.
00:47:30.478 → 00:47:31.798
We disagree.
00:47:31.798 → 00:47:36.298
We’re going to keep disagreeing, but we’re Christian brothers and we can work together.
00:47:36.298 → 00:47:48.158
And the same is true of the Roman Catholics, even though, yes, our confession certainly has some choice phrases to say about your pope, but I’ve heard choice phrases from Roman Catholics about the pope as well, so.
00:47:48.158 → 00:47:52.238
Hopefully, that answers the question in a way that is actually useful.
00:47:55.878 → 00:47:58.118
The next one is related.
00:48:00.078 → 00:48:03.738
What are the minimum beliefs that are required for salvation?
00:48:03.738 → 00:48:07.598
What level of doctrinal error puts someone outside the faith entirely?
00:48:07.598 → 00:48:23.678
And perhaps most central to my question, do you think that someone being in severe error in terms of the law, that is, being correct about the gospel and the identity of God, but being incorrect about some component of what obedience looks like, can on its own lead to damnation?
00:48:25.598 → 00:48:37.758
This one again is going to have, I think I can limit this one really to two different levels, instead of getting into something that’s a little longer, a little more nuanced, perhaps.
00:48:37.758 → 00:48:46.598
But there are two different kinds of error, and really only one is truly error, right?
00:48:46.598 → 00:48:50.578
Error is, in this case, a false belief.
00:48:50.578 → 00:48:55.598
It is an unintentional false belief.
00:48:55.598 → 00:49:02.998
It is something that is done with neither the intent to be in error or with knowledge that you are in fact in error.
00:49:03.998 → 00:49:05.758
Those are related, of course.
00:49:06.918 → 00:49:10.698
God does overlook error.
00:49:10.698 → 00:49:16.518
Scripture doesn’t give us the exact contours of that, but it literally says that God overlooks error.
00:49:16.518 → 00:49:19.658
And so, God takes that into account.
00:49:19.658 → 00:49:20.498
God is perfect.
00:49:20.498 → 00:49:26.038
He knows what you knew, when you knew it, the depth to which you knew it, if you were confronted with your error.
00:49:26.038 → 00:49:28.418
He knows all of those little specifics.
00:49:28.458 → 00:49:33.518
And so, his judgment is absolutely perfect, because he can take everything into account.
00:49:33.518 → 00:49:35.258
He knows all of your thoughts.
00:49:35.258 → 00:49:41.318
He has perfect knowledge in a way that no human judge could ever have.
00:49:41.318 → 00:49:50.698
And so, you can rely, of course, on God being perfect in his judgment, perfect in his assessment, perfect in his sentence.
00:49:51.818 → 00:50:03.058
But don’t worry too much about those who are in some kind of error, like the ones you mentioned there, you referenced anyway.
00:50:03.058 → 00:50:06.758
I don’t mean not to worry about them in the sense of trying to get them out of the error.
00:50:06.758 → 00:50:09.778
If you have the opportunity, by all means, try to get them out of the error.
00:50:09.778 → 00:50:21.298
But if someone has mistaken beliefs about the specifics of what it is Christians are supposed to do with regard to good works, right?
00:50:21.298 → 00:50:23.778
That’s not going to damn him.
00:50:23.778 → 00:50:24.398
He’s an error.
00:50:25.378 → 00:50:31.018
Like I said earlier, most men are in error in some way in some things.
00:50:31.018 → 00:50:33.658
Obviously, I’m Lutheran.
00:50:33.658 → 00:50:37.058
I believe the Reformed are in error with regard to election.
00:50:37.058 → 00:50:40.878
I believe the Roman Catholics are in error with regard to transubstantiation.
00:50:42.078 → 00:50:51.458
In turn, the Roman Catholics believe that I am in error with regard to the real presence, the way that the Lutherans interpret that in the supper of the Sacramento Union.
00:50:52.258 → 00:50:59.138
We call it the Sacramento Union because the Reformed believe that we’re in error with our formulation of the real presence.
00:50:59.138 → 00:51:05.678
And so, of those three groups, we all believe the other groups are in error, mutually.
00:51:05.678 → 00:51:11.558
That doesn’t mean that everyone in that camp is damned, or this camp is damned, or all the Lutherans are damned if the Reformed happen to be right.
00:51:11.558 → 00:51:13.458
I don’t believe they are, of course.
00:51:15.078 → 00:51:20.018
Because ultimately, the core of the faith, as I said earlier in the episode, is Christ crucified for sinners.
00:51:20.138 → 00:51:22.398
Do you believe in the gospel?
00:51:22.398 → 00:51:24.198
I’m never going to be a gospel reductionist.
00:51:24.198 → 00:51:28.678
I’m not going to say nothing else matters, because all truth is one.
00:51:28.678 → 00:51:31.518
All error is bad.
00:51:31.518 → 00:51:34.378
All error is a moral failing.
00:51:34.378 → 00:51:35.698
It’s not just an intellectual failing.
00:51:35.698 → 00:51:38.318
It is a moral failing to be wrong.
00:51:38.318 → 00:51:46.818
And so, I’m never going to trivialize or minimize that, but I am similar not going to say that you’re damned because of it, because that’s not what scripture says.
00:51:46.818 → 00:51:47.658
It’s not what God says.
00:51:48.718 → 00:51:51.878
God says we should try to be perfect, right?
00:51:51.878 → 00:51:54.258
Be perfect as God is perfect.
00:51:54.258 → 00:51:57.378
But scripture is also very clear that we can’t do that.
00:51:57.378 → 00:52:01.038
That’s one of the reasons we need a savior, because we’re not perfect.
00:52:01.038 → 00:52:11.438
Christ paid that price for all of our sins, for all of our errors, but we should desire to believe correctly.
00:52:11.438 → 00:52:17.178
We should desire to do the things that God has commanded that we do, and not do the things he has commanded we not do.
00:52:18.538 → 00:52:22.618
It does not mean that we are damned when we fail, because that’s just sin.
00:52:22.618 → 00:52:25.318
Sin is missing the mark, right?
00:52:25.318 → 00:52:26.158
We are going to sin.
00:52:26.158 → 00:52:30.198
We are going to continue to sin, even if we are Christians.
00:52:30.198 → 00:52:32.538
That’s one of the reasons we pray the Lord’s prayer, right?
00:52:32.538 → 00:52:34.258
Forgive us our trespasses.
00:52:34.258 → 00:52:37.998
We need to pray that all the time, because we’re always committing some kind of sin.
00:52:37.998 → 00:52:41.518
We have the inclination toward sin, which is, yes, itself sin.
00:52:41.518 → 00:52:43.858
I know the Roman Catholics are going to disagree with me.
00:52:43.858 → 00:52:45.418
Concupiscence is sin.
00:52:45.418 → 00:52:48.198
Desiring to do that which is wicked is sin.
00:52:48.198 → 00:52:51.438
Acting on it is another sin.
00:52:51.438 → 00:52:54.618
We recognize this in our law as well, in some cases.
00:52:54.618 → 00:53:00.018
For instance, the conspiracy to commit a crime is a crime.
00:53:00.018 → 00:53:03.178
Committing the crime is another crime.
00:53:03.178 → 00:53:05.758
Committing it as part of a conspiracy may be a third crime as well.
00:53:05.758 → 00:53:08.498
So we recognize this in our positive law.
00:53:08.498 → 00:53:15.918
It’s not just something that we recognize in the moral law, because the positive law, in some ways, does flow from God’s moral law, and it should do so.
00:53:18.038 → 00:53:30.778
But the second aspect of this is once your error has been rebuked, if you persist in that error, it is a different thing.
00:53:30.778 → 00:53:34.898
It can then transform into impenitent sin.
00:53:34.898 → 00:53:37.098
That’s when you are in danger.
00:53:38.518 → 00:53:46.158
Now, you have to recognize here that there are, again, two different sort of aspects or paths here, right?
00:53:46.158 → 00:53:49.898
On the one hand, let’s say you rebuke someone.
00:53:49.898 → 00:53:58.018
You bring up a passage of scripture, you say, what you just said disagrees with this passage of scripture, you’re wrong.
00:53:58.018 → 00:54:02.818
Well, he has two ways he can, he has multiple ways he can react, but two key ways he can react.
00:54:02.818 → 00:54:14.738
He can agree with your interpretation and recognize he’s wrong, or he can disagree with your interpretation and not, we’re going to say you’re right for the sake of the hypothetical, and then not realize he’s wrong.
00:54:14.738 → 00:54:17.938
Well, there’s a difference between those two, right?
00:54:17.938 → 00:54:25.298
Because in the one case, he’s still wrong, but he’s not willfully wrong.
00:54:25.298 → 00:54:28.278
So it does depend on the intent.
00:54:28.278 → 00:54:30.258
Intent matters.
00:54:30.258 → 00:54:35.918
It matters in our civil courts, it matters in our criminal courts, it matters in God’s court.
00:54:35.918 → 00:54:39.158
Because if you intend to do evil, that is worse.
00:54:39.998 → 00:54:43.558
If you do evil knowingly, it is worse than doing it accidentally.
00:54:44.878 → 00:54:49.238
So if someone is rebuked and doesn’t believe you, right?
00:54:49.238 → 00:54:50.498
For whatever reason, he doesn’t believe you.
00:54:50.498 → 00:54:56.538
He doesn’t understand your argument, he thinks that you’re insane, he thinks you’re evil, whatever it is, he’s still in error.
00:54:56.538 → 00:55:02.878
That’s different if he goes, I see what that says, that’s not my God.
00:55:04.238 → 00:55:05.698
That’s where you’re in danger.
00:55:06.658 → 00:55:09.278
That person is now in danger of damnation.
00:55:09.278 → 00:55:16.318
He is in danger of hellfire if he is just rejecting part of scripture because he doesn’t think that’s his God.
00:55:16.318 → 00:55:17.118
God’s not like that.
00:55:17.118 → 00:55:18.578
God wouldn’t do that.
00:55:18.578 → 00:55:21.138
You don’t get to disagree with God in that way.
00:55:21.138 → 00:55:33.798
And so when you read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and you see very clearly that God burned Sodom and Gomorrah to ash for sodomy, for homosexuality, for specifically male homosexuality, right?
00:55:33.898 → 00:55:36.198
You see that clearly in the pages of scripture.
00:55:36.198 → 00:55:38.218
There is no denying that.
00:55:38.218 → 00:55:42.318
If someone reads that and then says, I don’t believe that.
00:55:42.318 → 00:55:43.038
That’s not my God.
00:55:43.938 → 00:55:50.478
God would never burn a city because of the sexual wickedness of the inhabitants of that city.
00:55:51.518 → 00:56:00.158
That man is in danger because that man is reading the plain word of God, the clear word of God, and rejecting the clear teaching.
00:56:00.158 → 00:56:02.178
That is immense danger.
00:56:02.918 → 00:56:03.978
And so, it depends.
00:56:03.978 → 00:56:21.578
The answer to your question, ultimately, is that it depends on the nature of the error, and it depends on the intent behind the error, because intent can transform something from error into willful wickedness, into impenitent sin.
00:56:21.578 → 00:56:37.758
Now, to answer another aspect of the question that was definitely asked there in the question, there’s a difference between rejecting core parts of the face of faith and being in error about ancillary matters.
00:56:37.758 → 00:56:41.458
Not unimportant matters, but ancillary matters, right?
00:56:41.458 → 00:56:51.758
So if someone thinks, for instance, that the moral law, let’s say even less than that, someone who’s confused about the difference between the civil law and the moral law, right?
00:56:51.758 → 00:57:04.258
He looks at the Old Testament and says, well, they have these punishments for these crimes, and these sins are treated in this way, and this is an abomination, and that’s this, and doesn’t understand it, perhaps.
00:57:04.258 → 00:57:08.298
That’s a different thing from saying, I don’t believe Jesus was God.
00:57:09.678 → 00:57:11.698
You’re not saved if you don’t believe that Jesus was God.
00:57:11.698 → 00:57:12.398
You can’t do that.
00:57:12.398 → 00:57:15.278
You can’t reject a core tenet of the faith.
00:57:15.278 → 00:57:19.378
And one of the best ways to look at that is, again, the creeds.
00:57:19.378 → 00:57:21.818
Look at what is in the Apostles’ Creed.
00:57:21.818 → 00:57:27.018
Anyone who rejects any part of the Apostles’ Creed is in danger of hellfire.
00:57:28.158 → 00:57:46.398
If someone just doesn’t understand the distinction between the civil law and the moral law in the Old Testament and thinks that, well, that was then and this is now, granted, without hopefully getting into thinking God changed, you can’t do that, but if he’s just confused, that’s a different thing.
00:57:46.398 → 00:57:47.478
It’s still sin.
00:57:47.478 → 00:57:48.358
He’s still in error.
00:57:48.358 → 00:57:54.158
He needs to be rebuked, but that alone is not going to damn him.
00:57:54.158 → 00:58:07.198
So there’s a distinction there, a very important distinction between the core tenets of the faith and things that are not core to the faith, but again, all truth matters, and so the error is still sinful.
00:58:07.198 → 00:58:19.518
He should not remain in that error, and once rebuked, then it can become impenitent sin, which is one of the reasons that sometimes for certain men, it’s better not to know, right?
00:58:19.518 → 00:58:23.498
Because if they know, then, well, now you’re responsible.
00:58:24.578 → 00:58:28.758
Now that you’ve been rebuked, you have a duty to do something in response to that rebuke.
00:58:28.758 → 00:58:31.418
Whereas before, you were simply in error.
00:58:32.558 → 00:58:38.498
But the overall answer to the question is, it depends on a lot of specific moving parts.
00:58:38.498 → 00:58:52.138
It’s similar to what you would have in any given criminal case, because of course, ultimately, when you start looking at how scripture is, sin is a crime, God is a judge in a criminal court.
00:58:52.138 → 00:58:53.558
That’s one of the best ways to look at it.
00:58:53.558 → 00:59:05.358
And I constantly run into things in theology where I can use a legal analogy that is directly on point, if not virtually identical.
00:59:05.358 → 00:59:06.578
It’s the language that God used.
00:59:06.578 → 00:59:14.078
I know the EO particularly don’t like that fact, but God’s the one who calls himself a judge.
00:59:14.078 → 00:59:15.998
God’s the one who calls it a judgment.
00:59:16.918 → 00:59:19.578
God’s the one who treats these things as a crime.
00:59:19.578 → 00:59:21.838
God’s the one who has a court.
00:59:21.838 → 00:59:27.638
I mean, Satan acts as a prosecuting attorney till he was cast out of heaven anyway.
00:59:27.638 → 00:59:32.838
It’s very clear that this is conducted in a legal manner.
00:59:32.838 → 00:59:38.518
Even the way that we are saved, think about it, you’re not made righteous in this life.
00:59:38.518 → 00:59:40.238
Yes, there’s a process of sanctification.
00:59:40.238 → 00:59:48.838
You’re improved somewhat in this life, but you are declared innocent by virtue of Christ’s sacrifice.
00:59:51.278 → 00:59:52.418
These are legal terms.
00:59:52.418 → 00:59:55.258
We’re dealing in legal theories here.
00:59:55.258 → 00:59:57.758
That is simply the way that scripture speaks about these things.
00:59:57.758 → 00:59:59.618
It’s the way that Christ needs to think about these things.
01:00:05.406 → 01:00:07.986
The next one is also a short question.
01:00:07.986 → 01:00:12.546
How can scripture be inerrant if the canon is errant?
01:00:12.546 → 01:00:16.506
And I think there are really two questions here, so I’ll answer both of those.
01:00:16.506 → 01:00:21.106
The easy one is that the canon of scripture is not errant.
01:00:22.506 → 01:00:24.406
Can’t be.
01:00:24.406 → 01:00:30.686
And the reason for that, of course, is that God is the author, ultimately the author of the canon of scripture.
01:00:32.566 → 01:00:40.206
Nothing God has written or caused to be written by the hands of men, via inspiration, is in error.
01:00:40.206 → 01:00:41.866
It is inerrant.
01:00:42.046 → 01:00:45.146
I’m trying to capitalize that I, go ahead.
01:00:45.146 → 01:00:48.006
It is perfect in all particulars.
01:00:50.066 → 01:01:02.626
The other part of this, and really perhaps the more interesting question, right, the underlying question that causes people trouble, how do we know what the canon of scripture is?
01:01:02.626 → 01:01:04.906
And we’ve got into this before a little bit.
01:01:04.906 → 01:01:08.766
Lutherans don’t have a canon of scripture, and so that’s sort of the easy answer for the Lutherans.
01:01:08.766 → 01:01:12.906
We just sort of say, we don’t have one, and then we scuttle out of the room, right?
01:01:12.906 → 01:01:15.406
Leave everyone else to fight over it.
01:01:15.406 → 01:01:22.586
Which is, it has its time and its place, but how do we know which books are in scripture?
01:01:22.586 → 01:01:24.386
In part, scripture authenticates scripture.
01:01:25.486 → 01:01:29.386
Scripture has crossed references all over the place.
01:01:29.386 → 01:01:39.146
And so if you pick something up and find zero references to that thing, and then that thing doesn’t reference any of your part of scripture, you already pretty much know that’s not scripture.
01:01:39.146 → 01:01:41.146
You can pretty much leave that one aside.
01:01:41.146 → 01:01:42.946
Maybe it’s useful, maybe it’s Maccabees, right?
01:01:42.946 → 01:01:48.346
Maybe it’s a book that isn’t part of scripture, but is useful as history.
01:01:48.346 → 01:01:50.586
It’s useful in another way.
01:01:50.586 → 01:01:53.086
Just because something is not scripture doesn’t mean it’s useless.
01:01:54.526 → 01:01:56.946
Plenty of things are useful and not scripture.
01:01:58.646 → 01:02:01.426
How do we know that the canon of scripture exists, right?
01:02:01.426 → 01:02:02.846
What is the canon of scripture?
01:02:02.846 → 01:02:06.726
That’s sort of a fundamental underlying question here.
01:02:06.726 → 01:02:14.806
And it’s the difference between knowing the canon and defining the canon, right?
01:02:15.946 → 01:02:25.806
This is an important point because this gets into sort of the core of some of the objections to scripture and things like that.
01:02:25.806 → 01:02:36.026
The canon of a particular author is defined by the fact that the author wrote the things, right?
01:02:36.026 → 01:02:46.066
And so I can look at my shelves here and say, you know, I have some books by Luther.
01:02:46.126 → 01:02:50.346
We’ll go back to Luther just because I have him on my shelves here.
01:02:50.346 → 01:02:54.486
I have some books by various other authors as well.
01:02:56.286 → 01:03:05.426
What qualifies those books as being part of the oeuvre, the canon of that particular author?
01:03:05.426 → 01:03:07.486
The fact that he wrote them.
01:03:07.486 → 01:03:09.226
That’s it.
01:03:09.226 → 01:03:10.926
It is a book by that author.
01:03:11.266 → 01:03:16.826
It is authored by that author if he, in fact, authored it.
01:03:16.826 → 01:03:22.166
It’s practically tautological, but that’s because it is the essence of the thing.
01:03:22.166 → 01:03:25.746
And so, you’ll have those who will say, how is it that we have this canon?
01:03:25.746 → 01:03:32.266
Because the canon pre-exists, because God is the author of the canon.
01:03:32.266 → 01:03:36.246
How we know the canon is a separate question.
01:03:36.246 → 01:03:38.666
Whether or not it exists is a core matter.
01:03:39.746 → 01:03:59.346
If you believe that God wrote anything, caused anything to be written, then the canon exists independently of whether we have access to it, whether we have all of it, whether we know how to understand it, whether we accurately identify which books belong to it.
01:03:59.346 → 01:04:04.646
For instance, Martin Luther wrote some number of works during his life.
01:04:05.526 → 01:04:13.446
The Weimar Ausgabe, the complete works of Luther in the Weimar edition, supposedly contain everything he wrote.
01:04:14.786 → 01:04:17.446
Could we find something else that he wrote?
01:04:17.446 → 01:04:18.666
Sure.
01:04:18.666 → 01:04:20.746
Could we have lost things that he wrote?
01:04:20.746 → 01:04:21.766
Sure.
01:04:21.766 → 01:04:26.686
That would mean that we have a partial canon with regard to Luther.
01:04:26.686 → 01:04:30.006
We don’t have the totality of his works because we lost some along the way.
01:04:32.106 → 01:04:35.766
If, for instance, we have the Bible, right?
01:04:35.766 → 01:04:42.086
And let’s say a thousand years from now, somehow they lose the Book of Numbers.
01:04:43.426 → 01:04:46.366
Does that mean that Numbers is not part of the canon?
01:04:46.366 → 01:04:56.766
No, because God, being the author of the Book, this time through Moses, but God being the author of the Book, it is part of God’s canon.
01:04:58.226 → 01:05:07.986
Just because, in this hypothetical, our descendants, in a thousand years, no longer have that Book, doesn’t mean the Book ceases to be part of the canon.
01:05:07.986 → 01:05:10.406
It means they no longer have access to it.
01:05:10.406 → 01:05:13.226
It means they now have a partial canon.
01:05:13.226 → 01:05:15.086
It’s a different thing.
01:05:15.086 → 01:05:18.826
And so the canon is inerrant.
01:05:18.826 → 01:05:26.006
Whether or not a particular group has that inerrant canon is a separate question.
01:05:28.246 → 01:05:39.046
And I don’t know that I want to get too deeply into how we know which books are part of the canon, because that’s a long discussion, and it gets somewhat involved, and I’d probably want to bring up a bunch of exhibits and things.
01:05:40.746 → 01:05:49.346
But the existence of the canon is an independent thing from whether or not any particular group at any particular time has the totality of the canon.
01:05:51.926 → 01:05:55.006
Related, but distinct things.
01:05:55.006 → 01:05:57.886
It’s vitally important to keep that in mind.
01:05:57.886 → 01:06:04.826
The canon as it exists with regard to God having authored these things is inerrant by definition.
01:06:06.246 → 01:06:15.266
Whether or not any particular written version of the Bible, printed version, say, the Masoretic text that we have, right?
01:06:15.266 → 01:06:20.926
That’s errant, because the Masoretic text has corruptions from the Jews in it.
01:06:20.926 → 01:06:23.486
And so, does it still contain the Word of God?
01:06:23.486 → 01:06:25.726
The answer is yes.
01:06:25.726 → 01:06:27.346
Is it the Word of God?
01:06:27.346 → 01:06:33.186
I would have to say no with regard to the Masoretic text because of those corruptions by the Jews.
01:06:33.186 → 01:06:35.706
But it contains the Word of God.
01:06:35.706 → 01:06:40.806
And so, it is a partially correct version of the canon.
01:06:40.806 → 01:06:45.506
It is not the perfect version that God inspired.
01:06:45.506 → 01:06:47.166
We have that, of course, that’s the Septuagint.
01:06:48.186 → 01:06:51.686
Thankfully, we have that as well, because God said he would preserve his word.
01:06:51.686 → 01:06:55.946
We rely on God, which is another aspect of this, of course.
01:06:55.946 → 01:07:00.386
And I think I’ll finish this answer here because I don’t want to get too deeply into it.
01:07:02.386 → 01:07:07.626
But God states that he will preserve his word.
01:07:07.626 → 01:07:13.386
If we believe God, then we must believe that he has preserved his word.
01:07:13.386 → 01:07:14.966
Where did he preserve it?
01:07:14.966 → 01:07:16.686
Because it has to be preserved, right?
01:07:16.766 → 01:07:21.726
If it is just unknown somewhere, it’s not in a cave somewhere, right?
01:07:21.726 → 01:07:24.566
It’s the Septuagint, because that’s what God preserved for us.
01:07:24.566 → 01:07:26.686
It’s what God preserved for the early church.
01:07:26.686 → 01:07:28.646
It’s what Christ himself used.
01:07:28.646 → 01:07:32.026
He preserved his word because he promised that he would.
01:07:32.026 → 01:07:36.166
So when we believe God, we believe that he preserved his word.
01:07:36.166 → 01:07:38.986
And we find that he actually did.
01:07:38.986 → 01:07:43.906
Again, one of the minor proofs of the fact that God does exist, it is, he is the God of scripture.
01:07:44.766 → 01:07:48.006
But answer for another time, right?
01:07:48.006 → 01:08:03.246
I think that pretty much addresses how we can know that scripture is inerrant, and in what way we mean that scripture, first at what we mean by scripture, and then second, that we mean that scripture is inerrant.
01:08:03.246 → 01:08:12.326
Because it’s that distinction between the thing existing and a particular instance of it being in error or not, right?
01:08:13.126 → 01:08:18.806
A quick additional example, there was a thing called the Wicked Bible at one point.
01:08:18.806 → 01:08:20.906
It had a single misprint.
01:08:20.906 → 01:08:23.906
It said, thou shalt commit adultery.
01:08:23.906 → 01:08:25.706
That was errant.
01:08:25.706 → 01:08:29.506
It did not mean that there was no inerrant word of God.
01:08:29.506 → 01:08:31.986
It meant the printer made a mistake.
01:08:31.986 → 01:08:38.906
And so, that printing, with regard to that one line, that one word, was in error, it was errant.
01:08:40.086 → 01:08:44.626
But that is a distinct matter from the canon itself existing in being inerrant.
01:08:51.213 → 01:09:04.093
I will save this question about the Restorationist for next time, because it has some subparts to it, and I don’t know that I want to get into it right now.
01:09:05.733 → 01:09:09.093
I will quickly scroll through the chat here.
01:09:10.693 → 01:09:13.313
I don’t know that I will get to all of it, but let’s see.
01:09:21.859 → 01:09:26.919
I have someone saying that as a German from Russia, they preserved the medieval German accent.
01:09:26.919 → 01:09:29.439
That’s probably true with regard to certain regional accents.
01:09:29.439 → 01:09:35.199
Germany, not to the same degree as Britain, but Germany certainly has regional accents.
01:09:36.619 → 01:09:45.679
I know because I’ve tried to talk to a Bavarian before, and no, I know standard German, and I do not know Bavarian.
01:09:48.379 → 01:10:01.899
A quirk of accents, though, we actually have some of the accents in the US are closer to what would have existed centuries ago in Britain because we preserved them and the British did not, which is kind of ironic.
01:10:08.143 → 01:10:08.383
Let’s see.
01:10:30.543 → 01:10:34.723
I think that may be just about it for this week.
01:10:34.723 → 01:10:41.023
I do see some other questions here in the chat that I am going to write down for next time.
01:10:41.023 → 01:10:43.883
I don’t know that I want to get into them necessarily this time.
01:10:49.902 → 01:10:53.162
Someone asked about which internet theologians to avoid.
01:10:53.162 → 01:11:01.842
The answer to that is most of them, because most internet theologians are just not going to be very good.
01:11:01.842 → 01:11:04.202
But that’s true for most theologians, period.
01:11:04.202 → 01:11:12.942
Because most theologians are not lowercase o orthodox, they are usually trying to push some sort of agenda.
01:11:13.982 → 01:11:34.782
Part of that, of course, is they haven’t yet passed through the filter of history, which I don’t want to get into this too deeply right now, but it’s important to recognize that many of the things that have been handed down to us from previous centuries, from previous millennia in some cases, they were things that were worth preserving.
01:11:34.782 → 01:11:37.242
That’s why we have them.
01:11:37.242 → 01:11:43.402
Most things produced in any given era are not going to be worth preserving.
01:11:44.222 → 01:11:53.722
And so, we have Shakespeare, but there are probably hundreds of others whose works were not preserved because they weren’t as good.
01:11:55.322 → 01:11:57.602
To some degree, that’s true of the Greek playwrights.
01:11:57.602 → 01:12:05.462
To some degree, we just lost things due to time and weather and the reality of living in a fallen world where things fall apart.
01:12:05.462 → 01:12:19.462
But you do have to recognize that there is a filter that acts naturally historically because things that are worth transmitting are the things that tend to get transmitted.
01:12:19.462 → 01:12:22.482
It’s not always true, but by and large it is.
01:12:22.482 → 01:12:30.722
And so the reason this is important is because when you’re looking at things in your current era, they have not yet passed through that filter.
01:12:30.722 → 01:12:36.842
And so don’t necessarily look back at history and think, wow, they were so much better at all of these.
01:12:37.842 → 01:12:42.102
No, many times the stuff that was terrible just didn’t get passed forward to us.
01:12:42.102 → 01:12:49.542
And many of the terrible stuff today won’t get passed forward to future generations because it won’t be preserved because it’s terrible.
01:12:49.542 → 01:12:58.922
So just something to keep in mind when you’re looking at what the past has transmitted to us in light of what we have today and vice versa, right?
01:12:58.922 → 01:13:04.142
Don’t necessarily think that the past didn’t produce garbage as well because garbage doesn’t get preserved.
01:13:06.302 → 01:13:08.742
Think of it in a physical sense, right?
01:13:08.742 → 01:13:16.102
Your actual literal garbage, you’re not going to keep around, and then someone in 100 years will have access to it.
01:13:16.102 → 01:13:19.922
But if you have family heirlooms, you probably will pass those down.
01:13:19.922 → 01:13:21.082
The same thing happens with culture.
01:13:33.074 → 01:13:34.234
I think I can answer this one quickly.
01:13:34.234 → 01:13:41.954
To what extent is German and the Luther Bible still valuable for theology and Lutheranism, even though Luther didn’t make use of the Septuagint?
01:13:41.954 → 01:13:44.734
He actually did make use of the Septuagint.
01:13:44.734 → 01:13:47.094
He spoke Greek, he had access to it.
01:13:47.094 → 01:13:52.034
He just did not rely on it to the extent that he should have, which is to say, exclusively.
01:13:52.034 → 01:13:56.574
It is based in large part, the Old Testament, on the Masoretic text.
01:13:57.594 → 01:14:00.234
So does it still have utility?
01:14:00.234 → 01:14:00.834
Of course it does.
01:14:01.714 → 01:14:07.934
Should we want to replace it with a Bible that is based on the Septuagint?
01:14:07.934 → 01:14:09.034
Absolutely.
01:14:09.034 → 01:14:12.094
And I also don’t have that currently on my desk.
01:14:12.094 → 01:14:15.814
There is already a version of the Septuagint translated into German.
01:14:15.814 → 01:14:17.494
You can buy it today.
01:14:17.494 → 01:14:19.794
We already have that in German.
01:14:19.794 → 01:14:21.154
We have some options in English.
01:14:21.154 → 01:14:22.514
None of them are great yet.
01:14:22.514 → 01:14:28.634
Hopefully the one that is coming out, I believe it’s supposed to be next year, will be a good option.
01:14:28.634 → 01:14:29.594
But it already exists in German.
01:14:30.214 → 01:14:36.254
The Septuagint de Deutsch is, I have a physical copy of it somewhere, somewhere in this room.
01:14:36.254 → 01:14:38.534
But you can buy it, unfortunately.
01:14:38.534 → 01:14:42.234
This is another one of those cases where it is overpriced.
01:14:42.234 → 01:14:49.494
It is 100 something dollars to get a copy of it delivered to the US, unfortunately.
01:14:49.494 → 01:14:51.874
But it’s available.
01:14:51.874 → 01:14:53.294
It does exist.
01:14:53.294 → 01:14:58.814
That’s what I would say you should use if you want to study scripture in German, not necessarily the Luther Bible.
01:14:59.474 → 01:15:07.594
The Luther Bible, of course, has historical utility in the sense that you can look at the development of the German language, and it’s one of the major sources of that.
01:15:07.594 → 01:15:08.694
So it has that usage.
01:15:08.694 → 01:15:13.254
But no, my position is the same in any given language.
01:15:13.254 → 01:15:17.014
We should be relying on the Septuagint, not on the Masoretic text.
01:15:17.014 → 01:15:20.594
We should not be using the Hebrew, period.
01:15:20.594 → 01:15:25.114
Same thing is true in German, as is true in English, French, Japanese, every other language.
01:15:25.834 → 01:15:36.554
So it has utility, but not what we should be using to study scripture, particularly when we already have the Septuagint translated in German.
01:15:41.948 → 01:15:45.208
I think I will answer one more question.
01:15:45.208 → 01:15:52.088
If my backlog starts to get too long, I’ll just run for, you know, 90 minutes at some point, or two hours, and get through some of the backlog.
01:15:52.088 → 01:15:56.188
But for now, I’ll leave some questions for next week.
01:15:56.188 → 01:16:07.568
Regarding concupiscence, is it a sin if some part of you desires sin, but you would still morally abstain if given the opportunity, if your steadfastness would overcome your desire?
01:16:09.668 → 01:16:19.768
I kind of touched on and answered that one, but to be more explicit, yes, it is still sin, because the desire to sin is sin.
01:16:19.768 → 01:16:24.128
But it’s just like the example I gave with the legal example, conspiracy.
01:16:25.768 → 01:16:30.108
Creating the conspiracy may very well be a crime.
01:16:31.208 → 01:16:39.108
Usually, you have to have an act in furtherance of the conspiracy, not just talking about it, but depends on the law of where you are.
01:16:39.108 → 01:16:43.928
Creating the conspiracy, making it a concrete thing, is a crime, probably.
01:16:43.928 → 01:16:45.108
I’m just going to say it is a crime.
01:16:45.108 → 01:16:49.568
I’m always going to give the attorney answer, because I don’t want someone saying, oh, you gave me bad legal advice, right?
01:16:49.568 → 01:16:50.968
It’s not legal advice.
01:16:50.968 → 01:16:53.128
I’m not teaching you criminal law right now.
01:16:53.128 → 01:16:57.268
But the conspiracy, for the sake of our hypothetical, is a crime.
01:16:57.268 → 01:17:01.548
Doing something in order to pursue the conspiracy, probably also a crime.
01:17:02.848 → 01:17:08.688
Committing the actual crime that was the point of the conspiracy is a crime.
01:17:08.688 → 01:17:13.128
Committing it as part of a conspiracy is a crime.
01:17:13.128 → 01:17:15.488
The same thing with regard to sin.
01:17:15.488 → 01:17:23.608
The desire to sin, because it is a desire to act contrary to God, is sin.
01:17:23.608 → 01:17:30.648
Doing something concrete in order to try to obtain the sinful end is a sin.
01:17:30.648 → 01:17:34.228
Obtaining the sinful end is a sin.
01:17:34.228 → 01:17:36.808
Not repenting is a sin.
01:17:36.808 → 01:17:40.708
Persisting in that sin is a sin.
01:17:40.708 → 01:17:48.268
And so I don’t want it to be to the point where you get neurotic about the law, and, oh, I’m a terrible person, and I’m sinful, and I can never do anything.
01:17:48.268 → 01:17:49.248
Don’t do that.
01:17:49.248 → 01:17:51.268
Don’t despair.
01:17:51.268 → 01:17:58.968
I’m not going to say that’s a sin, but it is, but don’t despair, because, of course, the sacrifice of Christ is of infinite value.
01:17:58.968 → 01:18:01.468
God has already forgiven all of your sins.
01:18:01.468 → 01:18:03.808
He knows that you are a sinner.
01:18:03.808 → 01:18:05.948
He knows you’re going to continue to sin.
01:18:05.948 → 01:18:11.228
He knows the sins that you are going to commit five years from today.
01:18:11.228 → 01:18:12.508
You have no idea what those sins…
01:18:12.508 → 01:18:17.468
Well, you probably know some of those sins, but many of those sins, you have no idea what they are yet.
01:18:17.468 → 01:18:19.348
You may not even recognize them at the time.
01:18:19.348 → 01:18:21.248
God knows each and every one of them.
01:18:21.248 → 01:18:26.808
Christ knew each and every one of them when he went to the cross, and you are forgiven for those already.
01:18:26.808 → 01:18:44.068
Yes, of course, pray the Lord’s prayer, ask God for forgiveness, repent, which properly means to turn away from that sin, but don’t despair because of the fact that, yes, you’re going to sin a lot in this life, and you basically can’t 100% avoid it.
01:18:44.068 → 01:18:48.288
The Christian life is not a life of perfect avoidance of sin.
01:18:48.288 → 01:18:54.868
The Christian life is a life of repentance for sin, because we live in a fallen world.
01:18:54.868 → 01:19:09.628
And a fundamental aspect of this, that most people get wrong, because it doesn’t seem intuitive at first, but you have to understand a little bit of Christian theology to know why this is the case.
01:19:09.628 → 01:19:13.448
You are not a sinner because you sin.
01:19:14.488 → 01:19:17.308
You sin because you are a sinner.
01:19:20.328 → 01:19:30.728
If you understand original sin, that is the conclusion, the natural, inevitable, necessary conclusion of understanding original sin.
01:19:30.728 → 01:19:41.808
And unless you arrive at that conclusion, that understanding of why you sin and the interaction there, the direction of the causation, you don’t understand original sin until you get to that.
01:19:43.208 → 01:19:47.988
And so, again, you sin because you are a sinner.
01:19:47.988 → 01:19:55.408
You are a sinner because our federal head, Adam, fell and took everyone and everything with him.
01:19:55.408 → 01:20:01.848
You are restored in Christ, but you are not perfected in this life.
01:20:01.848 → 01:20:19.608
Because justification, that juridical, that legal declaration that you are wiped clean, you are slated to wipe clean, you are innocent, you are forgiven for the sake of Christ, that is once and done.
01:20:19.608 → 01:20:24.008
It was finished on the cross, it’s applied to you when you are given the free gift of faith.
01:20:24.008 → 01:20:43.148
Sanctification is progressive in this life, and final sanctification, complete, perfect sanctification, not in the reformed sense, but in the sense that I think you all understand what I’m saying, that sanctification happens at the resurrection, at the second coming, if you’re still alive when it happens, right?
01:20:43.148 → 01:20:49.808
So you are not going to be perfect in this life, but that’s not the point of the Christian life.
01:20:49.808 → 01:20:57.408
So don’t despair just because, you know, concupiscence is sin, so that desire to sin is sin, and then pursuing it and committing it and hiding it.
01:20:57.408 → 01:21:06.828
And your instinct, your immediate reaction, should always be to turn to God and ask for forgiveness.
01:21:06.828 → 01:21:07.728
Don’t hide from God.
01:21:08.708 → 01:21:10.268
God hates that.
01:21:10.268 → 01:21:12.288
Don’t do that.
01:21:12.288 → 01:21:18.128
You don’t have to look at God and say, I can’t come before you because I’m this unholy wretch.
01:21:18.128 → 01:21:19.208
I’ve done this horrible thing.
01:21:19.208 → 01:21:21.608
I’ve fallen into this particular sin.
01:21:21.628 → 01:21:24.728
Yet again, I’ve done the thing that I hate to do.
01:21:24.728 → 01:21:26.648
Think of the words of Paul.
01:21:26.648 → 01:21:33.788
I do the very thing I do not want to do, and I do not do the thing I want to do because of the sin that is in me, right?
01:21:34.928 → 01:21:36.668
Turn to God, that’s what God wants.
01:21:36.668 → 01:21:41.208
God wants you to turn to him and ask for forgiveness and try again.
01:21:41.208 → 01:21:44.368
Pick yourself up, turn to God, try again.
01:21:44.368 → 01:21:47.068
Don’t despair, don’t think that, oh, I’ve fallen for it again.
01:21:47.068 → 01:21:48.988
No, that’s what Satan wants.
01:21:48.988 → 01:21:54.768
Satan wants you to wallow in it and keep thinking about how terrible and awful you are and focusing on that.
01:21:54.768 → 01:21:56.208
Focus on the cross.
01:21:56.208 → 01:21:58.288
I could point behind me, look at the cross.
01:21:58.288 → 01:21:59.668
That’s the answer.
01:22:01.448 → 01:22:02.308
All of your sins are forgiven.
01:22:04.468 → 01:22:06.548
That’s what you should do as a Christian.
01:22:06.548 → 01:22:11.968
So yes, concupiscence is sin, but that sin was also forgiven at the cross.
01:22:14.328 → 01:22:21.528
And I think that I will probably call it there for this week.
01:22:23.588 → 01:22:32.548
Once again, just as sort of a little bit of housekeeping here at the end, you can submit questions on the forum, omniforum.com.
01:22:32.548 → 01:22:36.608
There’s a request category specifically for this.
01:22:36.608 → 01:22:41.148
If you happen to put in another part of the forum, I’ll move it, it’s not a big deal.
01:22:41.148 → 01:22:47.708
But that does help me to try to organize these questions and link things so people can find it in the future.
01:22:47.708 → 01:23:00.248
If you ask questions in the chat or on X, wherever else you happen to ask them, Telegram, I do write those down, try to collate those as well and get them into the show at some point.
01:23:00.248 → 01:23:17.088
If you have asked a question and it has been a while and I have not answered it, referenced it, said I’m going to answer it, something like that, by all means, I don’t object to you reminding me, perhaps it slipped through the cracks, perhaps you asked it and it got hidden or suppressed or something that happens on X all the time.
01:23:17.088 → 01:23:22.928
I try to find things and their moderation team to be charitable has hidden it from me.
01:23:22.928 → 01:23:24.888
So bear that in mind.
01:23:25.888 → 01:23:28.248
But thank you for those of you who submitted the questions.
01:23:28.248 → 01:23:29.328
Thank you for your time.
01:23:29.328 → 01:23:31.668
I am glad I was able to answer the questions for you.
01:23:31.668 → 01:23:34.948
Hopefully, I answered the questions in a useful way.
01:23:34.948 → 01:23:39.428
If you have a follow-up question, by all means, feel free to ask that as well.
01:23:39.428 → 01:23:51.208
And I finally managed to get this on a Thursday instead of a Friday, so I won’t say just yet to have a good weekend, but survive Friday and then have an excellent weekend and go to church on Sunday.
01:23:51.208 → 01:23:55.028
I will see all of you next week, and may God bless you in the interim.