1 & 2 Timothy- Hold on to the truth

I love coming back to these pastoral epistles of Paul because they sound a klaxon call to me of what is really important in the Christian life. And with so many voices in the media, some even claiming to be genuine believers, giving so many opinions which seem to contradict the Word of God, these two letters give a timely reminder to us today to hold on to the truth. In both letters, Paul keeps coming back to the prevalence and danger of false teachers ('remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine' - 1 Tim 1:3; 'Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons' - 1 Tim 4:1). Why does he repeat these warnings? Why does it matter that some people out there are saying different things about God, Jesus and the gospel? It's clear from Paul's language that it's not something we should take lightly. In fact, these false ideas and wrong messages are from the realm of the demonic.

The fact is, however clear of the gospel we are when we are saved, we so easily forget the simplicity and yet depth of the truth of salvation. We are prone to grow cold in our appreciation of what Christ has done for us. I think it's interesting that Paul in these letters gives several 'trustworthy sayings' which may have been used like creeds in the early church, statements to memorise and say together as a group of believers, reinforcing the basic doctrine of God. There are also some more poetic sections which may have been sung as hymns. Either way, their function was to give a bite-size statement of what we believe as Christians, what makes us distinctive. The first 'saying' is this:

'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' (1 Tim 1:15).

It's a fundamental truth that reminds us that we are all in need of a rescuer. Paul used to be a religious fanatic, zealous for the law of God, and yet he recognises that none of it is good enough to achieve his salvation (see Philippians 3:4-8); the reality is that he was 'a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent opponent' (1 Tim 1:13).

The message Paul has been 'appointed a preacher' for (1 Tim 2:7) is that 'there is one God... one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus' (1 Tim 2:5). Paul emphasises that he is 'telling the truth' (v7) here- the gospel is not another lie. We have to remember the truth of the gospel, because as soon as we start moving away from it, we start giving ourselves credit for our own salvation or losing our assurance and hope. Paul writes: 'If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.' (1 Tim 6:3-4) False teaching is linked to arrogance, because it's a re-invention of the truth or a distortion of it, and also to corrupt motives.

By contrast, truth in the pastoral epistles is linked with purity and living an exemplary life for the gospel. In his descriptions of the qualities of an elder and deacon, Paul writes that they must 'keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience' (1 Tim 3:9, NIV). There's a clear link between knowing the truth, teaching the truth, and obedience, just as there is a link between sin and lying and deceit. Paul says that if Timothy closely watches himself for right conduct and truthful teaching, he will save himself and his hearers (1 Tim 4:16). Similarly, in 2 Tim 3:10 Paul refers to his teaching and his way of life in the same breath as things which validate his ministry. Truth must be lived out; if it isn't, then it isn't really believed.

As a leader and a teacher in the church, Timothy is told repeatedly to 'guard' the truth that he knows (1 Tim 6:20-21, 2 Tim 1:11-14) and to be a 'workman who correctly handles the word of truth' (2 Tim 2:15). The Scriptures have to be our start and end point for knowing truth; they are a gift to us from God revealing everything we need for life and godliness (2 Tim 3:16-17). We have to hold on to the truth and church leaders need to keep preaching the truth, despite any negative reaction (2 Tim 4:2-3). Truth is something we have to pass on when training up future leaders (2 Tim 2:2), to protect the church from falling away from Christ and into sin. Paul also says that Timothy should be 'using truth to gently instruct those who oppose you, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.' (2 Tim 3:25). This suggests that we need humble conviction to see and accept God's truth, a work which can only be done by the Holy Spirit. The job of the messenger is simply to pass on the truth to the hearer; the rest is up to God.

Knowing the truth is the most freeing thing about being a Christian. Finally we can stand before God knowing we are accepted in Christ. We can receive God's good gifts with thanksgiving, because we are freed from legalism and false shackles (1 Tim 4:3-5). We hold on to the truth because it sets us free (John 8:32).

What does John teach about combatting heresy in 1 John?

It seems clear that John wrote his first epistle specifically to counter various forms of Gnostic heresy which had infiltrated the church. Gnostics believed that the spirit was good, but matter was evil, and denied the Incarnation of Christ as God made flesh. More extreme forms of Gnosticism such as Docetism suggested that Jesus was a phantom and only appeared to have a body. John emphasises in his letter the historical coming of Christ: 'which we looked upon and touched with our hands' (1 Jn 1:2); 'Jesus Christ has come in the flesh' (1 Jn 4:2).

Similarly to his gospel, John writes about polar divisions of light and darkness, truth and error, children of God and children of the devil in his letter. The false teachers seemed to have claimed a higher revelation and spirituality through their 'superior' understanding, and John is keen to stress that all men are spiritually blind and dependent on God's revelation of Himself to them in Christ. Either a person rejects Christ, and thus is in spiritual darkness, or believes in His Name. Anyone who believes in Him is in the light and there is no sense of a hierarchy of spiritual experience. Instead, John emphasises the benefits that all people receive when they believe in Jesus: they have eternal life and become children of God, with His Spirit's anointing: 'He has given us of His Spirit' (1 Jn 4:13).

As Stott points out, 1 John is marked with certainty. Believers can be certain of having eternal life, by testing themselves on whether they believe in the truth of Christ and whether they love one another. Ultimately the assurance of our salvation rests in the fact that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins, which John mentions twice in his letter. God took the initiative to offer His Son as a sacrifice for our sins, and the Son willingly offered Himself: 'we have an advocate... He is the propitiation for our sins' (1 Jn 2:1-2).

David Jackman suggests that the false prophets had separated themselves from the main body of believers on their claim to a special 'anointing' of the Holy Spirit, by which they had been given true knowledge of God. John therefore emphasises and defines what a true knowledge of God really is, and the point he makes repeatedly is that true knowledge of God is shown in loving your brothers. The false teachers did not regard their unwillingness to value and love other Christians as sin; John shows them how they have completely missed the point of God's commandment: 'that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us' (1 Jn 3:23). The singular form of 'commandment' is used, and yet two things are included: believing in Christ and loving one another. This shows just how inseparable these aspects are from true faith. 'Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.' (1 Jn 4:8)

John finishes his letter with a brief summary of all the assurances of the believer. Repeating the phrase 'we know', he emphasises that 'you may know that you have eternal life' (1 Jn 5:13), 'we know that he hears us in whatever we ask' (1 Jn 5:15), 'We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning' (1 Jn 5:18) and 'We know that we are from God' (1 Jn 5:19). This culminates in his great statement: 'we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.' (1 Jn 5:20) For John, combatting heresy is about rejoicing in the truth: Christians have a unique privileged status before God in Christ, and a unique privileged certainty that they have salvation through His blood ('your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake', 1 Jn 2:12). As long as we consciously seek to obey His commands, we have no reason to doubt His love towards us and the reality of our salvation: 'if we walk in the light... we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.' (1 Jn 1:7)

Soundbites from 2 Corinthians: Truth not Deception

'we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.' 2 Corinthians 4:2

What a challenge this verse is! How often, in conversations with work mates or family, do we try to 'cover up' the bits in the Bible we find difficult or that we know they will find offensive? Do we only give them half the picture, talking about God's love and never His judgement? Paul's letter to the Corinthians has much to teach us about genuine gospel ministry. Paul was being compared to so-called 'super apostles' and showy men who were more impressive with their speeches, and yet preached a different gospel. He makes a genuine defence in this letter that he is the real deal! He has been faithful to God's truth in the gospel, and he has not used deception in order to pander to his audience.

Paul had to tell the Corinthians some hard truths. Many of them were from a totally pagan background, and he had to call them to repent from their sinful ways in order to enter genuine relationship with God. In 1 Corinthians 6 he wrote:

'Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.'

Paul did not simply tell the Corinthians about God's love for them in Christ; he also taught them that genuine faith was always accompanied by genuine repentance from former ways of living that were against God. Note his phrase 'Do not be deceived'. Perhaps some false teachers were telling the Corinthians that they could live however they wanted to- it didn't matter to God. Sometimes it's easy to leave out of our gospel presentations that God calls for His people to live holy lives that stand out from the crowd. But we have to give people the full picture. We can't pretend that the Christian life is easy- it's not! It's a struggle against our own desires, particularly if in the past we've been used to living how we wanted to.

But here's the point: if we don't set forth the truth plainly, we actually lose our impact as Christians. Why would anyone see the need to be a Christian and trust in Christ, if they feel they are 'good enough' by themselves? Without the whole gospel, we end up with no gospel at all. We need to remember that we will stand before God one day and give an account for how we have represented Him and His message to the people around us.

Old and New Covenant: What's the Difference?

It's always a danger that we, as Christians, use complicated terms from the Bible without really understanding what they mean, as well as being totally unintelligible for the world outside. The trap of Christian jargon is sometimes really difficult to escape from. Salvation, atonement, penal substitution... All these words mean wonderful things and yet can also be very confusing.

As I study for my Moore College Christian Worship module, I have been looking at the Old and New Covenants of the Bible. And 'covenant' is one such jargon-word. It basically means 'promise', but it does have more weight than that. In Bible times, an oral culture where the spoken word was much more meaningful and binding than in today's world, a covenant was serious business. It involved conditions. It was not easily broken.

The Old Testament relates to us how God called the people of Israel into covenant with Him (having made a covenant with Abraham, and they were his descendants). On Mount Sinai He gave them the Law, and the essence of the covenant was this:

'Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always.' Deuteronomy 11:1

The conditions were that if Israel followed God's commands and stayed faithful to Him, He would give them a land flowing with milk and honey, and rest from all their enemies. But if they failed, then He would send famine and drought, routers, and eventually send them into exile. And sadly, this is what actually happened. After the exile, a remnant returned, but it was clear that Israel had problems with keeping the covenant because the post-exilic prophets (such as Malachi) spoke of their continued corruption and failure to obey God.

It is into this situation -a crushed people under the Roman empire, a disobedient people who had failed to keep God's law- that Jesus came. And with Him, He brought what is known as the New Covenant: a new way of relating to God.

Jesus changed:
The PLACE of worship
The MEANS of worship

Let's unpack that.

In the Old Testament, there were two important central places of worship. First, there was the Tabernacle (built under Moses in the time of being in the wilderness). This was a sort of tent, a central meeting place, where the Ark of the Covenant (a box containing the 10 Commandments and the Law) was kept. It was where God's presence dwelled- this is why Exodus ends climactically with the cloud of God's presence filling the place (Ex 40).

Once Israel had claimed the Promised Land and achieved rest from their enemies, the Temple was built (under the direction of Solomon, David's son). This was a much more permanent building, lavishly constructed, and provided the central place of worship where sacrifices were offered.

Jesus changed all of this by REPLACING the temple (place of worship), along with the sacrifices (means of worship). By offering Himself, dying an innocent death on the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sins, once for all. His blood justifies the guilty (Rom 5:8-9). There is no need now for any more sacrifices to be made. Jesus' sacrifice was enough to pay for all sins: past, present and future.

'He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him.' (Heb 7:25)

So Jesus IS the sacrifice, but Jesus is also the TEMPLE itself. The Temple represented God's rule, and God's will to bless Israel and other nations through them. In Jesus 'one greater than the temple' arrived (Mt 12:6). He embodied God's presence and authority, because He was the Son of God. In Him we find salvation and through Him all nations can be blessed (this is how God fulfilled His promise to Abraham from Genesis 12). We don't need a temple now to access God, because we have Jesus. This is why the Temple curtain was torn from top to bottom when Christ died on the cross (Mt 27:51).

True Christianity is all about presenting ourselves to God IN JESUS CHRIST. It's about coming to God, knowing you have NOTHING TO OFFER Him except a sinful soul, and asking for His forgiveness which is available to you THROUGH JESUS' SACRIFICE.

But once we have done that, we CAN offer God our lives. Romans 12:1 teaches that we are to become 'living sacrifices'- not trying to win our own salvation or our place in heaven by doing good things, but demonstrating in our LIFESTYLE that our relationship with God has been restored, and we are RIGHTEOUS in His sight (absolutely pure). Every sphere of our lives as Christians gives us the opportunity to glorify and serve God, in grateful response to the work of Jesus.

Therefore we "worship" not only in times of singing songs and reading the Bible and praying, but in obedience, loving others, showing hospitality, being faithful in marriage, witnessing to others (see Hebrews and Romans 12-15). Our worship is much more than what we do in church on a Sunday, or in our daily "quiet time" or personal devotions to God. It is our whole life.

That is not necessarily ABSENT from the Old covenant. God made it clear that He wanted His people to love Him all of the time, not just on a Sabbath day. He made it clear through the prophets that sacrifices were worthless unless they were accompanied by true repentance (1 Sam 15:22). But Jesus brought a whole new experience of worship for us, because He revealed to us in His very person the TRUTH about God, and He sent us His SPIRIT to aid us in crying out to God in our hearts (Rom 8:15). This is what Jesus meant when He said:

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:23-24

In Jesus we see a full revelation of who God is, because Jesus is 'the exact representation of his being' (Heb 1:3). In Jesus we not only receive a new PLACE of worship (ie. in Himself, not in a physical building), and a new MEANS of worship (through His sacrifice), but we also receive a full picture of the GOD we worship. We can worship Jesus because He is God; He is part of the Trinity, the three-person God who is Father, Son and Spirit. And as Christians, our aim is to bring others to worship Christ and make Him their own Lord and Saviour.

Worship

I read Barbara Hughes' chapter on 'The Discipline of Worship' in her 'Disciplines of a Godly Woman' this week for a ladies' discipleship group, and the following post is the result of our group discussion on the issues it raised.

True worship is not judged by outward appearances, but by the state of the person's heart towards God. You could sing with 100% energy, and yet not be worshipping God. You could attend church every Sunday, but if your heart is not striving to love God and obey Him, your worship is meaningless. In 1 Samuel 15, Saul makes the mistake of thinking he can worship God in the way that he wants to. He is commanded to kill all the Amalekites, including their livestock, but he keeps Agag the king alive, and keeps the best of the livestock to sacrifice to God. His motives seem fairly good, but fundamentally he was disobeying God's command, and so Samuel rebuked him.

Therefore, to worship God 'in spirit and in truth' (John 4) means that you engage both your heart and your mind. We need to worship the God of the Bible, not shape our own god from what we think God should be like. It's no use singing songs to a god that we've decided could never send anyone to hell. We wouldn't be worshipping in truth then. But similarly, there's no use being doctinally correct without engaging our hearts in real love for God and all He has done for us.

In everything we do -our work, our social time, our leisure- we can worship Christ by doing everything for Him and to please Him (Col 3:17). But does this mean that we don't need to go to church? What makes our Sunday services different from this everyday worship? Well, on Sundays we participate in corporate worship. Our corporate worship is not just singing songs together, but hearing the Bible read and preached. It is vital for us to be members of a local church for our own spiritual health and for the sake of the world. God designed us to live the Christian life as part of the Body of Christ- it's not a solo pursuit. It's much harder to stand for Jesus when you're alone in a hostile world. Knowing other Christians and meeting with them regularly helps to strengthen you and encourage you that you need to stand firm till the end. Also, hearing God's word preached can challenge you with things in your life that God wants you to change, and help you get to know God better.

The church is God's designated place for Christians to meet together, disciple each other, and send each other out into the world to preach the good news of the gospel. In one sense the church is not a physical building, but God's people all over the world. But in another sense, each local church is an important unit of God's people, and we should make every effort to commit ourselves to it. The church needs you and you need the church!

Bible bashing

I typed 'Bible basher' into Google and the Urban Dictionary gave me these definitions:

A Bible Basher is someone who constantly goes around forcing the word of the bible on everyone else, and claims that everything BUT the Bible is evil.

A religious person who is obsessively you could say, and insanely into his or her religion. They tend to 'bash on' about their religion and try to feed it to you. No disrespect to their religious beliefs, but knowing a bible basher can sometimes get sticky. They tend to be very protective over their religion, and know nearly everything about it. They will argue the point, and during times of bashing, can become quite violent.

A bible basher is one who lives their life by the bible, and tries to force the bible upon all they meet.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bible+basher

Wow! I'm guessing all these people have had a pretty negative experience with Christians. Faced with this definition, who wants to be a 'Bible basher'?

Well in this post I want to try to explain why the Bible is so important to me (and therefore why so much of my blog is based on the Bible), and also try to explain how I have no intention of bludgeoning people in an insensitive and emotionally detached manner, but I do want to confront people with the truth that the Bible claims has relevance for their life as much as mine.

The Bible is a unique book. It's made up of many different types of literature, written by different people at different times in history. It makes astonishing claims about who we are, why we are here, who God is, and how we can know Him. Many people look at the world around and think 'There must be a God behind all this'. But it's only in the Bible that we find out exactly who this God is. I believe this because, having read the Bible over and over since my childhood, I have never found a book like it which holds together so well, considering it was written under so many different circumstances as I mentioned above.

I love reading. I studied English at university and read many books by the same author (Dickens and Eliot being my favourites). What has always interested me is the way that a writer's ideas change over time. Even when you find ten books written by the same author, they will not always be consistent in ideology and morality or politics. And yet, despite the fact that so many different individuals contributed to the Bible, there is a striking coherence and unity throughout the various books. The main idea is that God is real, He made everything and wants to know us. Over the centuries that the Bible texts cover, there is a recurring cycle of people turning away from God to 'do their own thing' and live life the way they want to. God is never happy with that. He keeps on calling people to follow Him and go his way. But man's disobedience has separated him from God, so God sent Jesus, His Son, to come into the world and die on the cross to be punished for the sins of the world. He raised Jesus to life and calls people everywhere to follow Him and believe that their sins can be forgiven through Jesus.

All the Bible books in some way contribute to this message. They could be establishing the fundamental disobedience of humanity, as seen in Genesis. They could be calling men back to follow God, as seen in the prophets such as Isaiah. They could be predicting the coming of Jesus, such as the prophet Micah. They could be telling the story of Jesus' life, like the gospel of Matthew. All of the books in the Bible provide a piece to the puzzle. Together, they give a wholistic picture of who God is and how we can know Him.

So really, you have to read the Bible through and through before you judge it. So many people have said to me that the Bible is not trustworthy, that it's full of contradictions. But many of these people have not read it thoroughly. Perhaps their knowledge is based on taking some words out of context. The Bible is not always easy to understand, but I have found that the more I study it, the more it makes sense. It really does fit with what I see around me: people suffering with broken lives, desperate for meaning, but unable to find that meaning in human relationships, money and status. I see a world that needs Jesus. I can testify to how He has changed my life, and the lives of many others too.

Ultimately, I follow the Bible because Jesus did. Jesus is the most impressive person that ever existed, to me. He had an astounding impact on history and on the lives of those who met Him. And He identified the scriptures as the indestructible and authoritative word of God. He upheld the Bible at every turn, as an authority about God (Mt 21:42, Mt 22:29), as true promises which will always be fulfilled (Mt 26:54), as never becoming void (Jn 10:35, Mt 5:18). He saw the Bible as coming from God, revealing the truth and being utterly reliable. His life was based on scripture, and His life was amazing. Therefore I decided to follow Jesus, and so I am trying to base my life on scripture too.

The writer of Hebrews suggests that the word of God is 'living and active', 'Sharper than any double-edged sword... it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart' (Heb 4:12). I have always found this to be true. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:15-17 that scripture is 'God-breathed', and it certainly speaks with authority that seems to be more than human; divine. The Bible says many things which are difficult for us to accept -such as the existence of hell and the reality of God's judgement, which I have been blogging about recently- and I don't know why any human would make such terrifying stuff up! The Bible is full of genuine insight that makes sense with reality and does indeed judge the heart of anyone who reads it- again in a way that no human finds comfortable. Of course, humans physically wrote the Bible, but they were 'carried along by the Holy Spirit' (2 Peter 1:21), and it is God's words rather than the words of mere mortals.

The thing is, it's difficult to say that the Bible is only partially true and worship God. Surely you don't want to be friends with a liar? God has to be 'the true God' (Jer 10:10) or He is a false god. The Bible has to be truth, or lies. I don't think you can have it both ways.

The post-modern attitude towards texts and textual analysis is that there is no absolute truth and every reader brings something different to a text. For example, a Marxist will read Dickens and take away a Marxist message. English degrees are a lot about this! But I don't think you can approach the Bible as the same as any other text and just 'get something' from it. Either something is true, or it is false. If the Bible is true, it's worth building your life on it. If it's false, there is no point bothering.

And it follows that if the Bible is true, it is universally true. That means it's not just 'true for me'. It applies to everyone. That is why my blog is based on the Bible, and why I try to respond to people's questions, to the books I read, thinking about what the Bible says. I am sorry if it comes across as emotionally detached Bible-bashing! But in my view, what I personally say has very little value for the world. What God says does! That's why I look to Him for answers, rather than my own thinking.

Of course, I apply my thinking to the Bible. God doesn't ask us to switch our brains off when we open His word. But I think the tendency in our culture to come to the Bible with our own ideas of what is right and wrong, and judging its 'truth' on how it fits into our current worldview, is a fundamentally flawed concept. If it is the words of God, a God who is eternal and all-knowing and all-seeing, how can we possibly deem it our place to judge it against our standards? That would be like me handing my dissertation on George Eliot to a five year old who had just learned to read. My dissertation is nothing special, but I don't think the kid would have a chance of understanding it!

I don't want to bash the Bible, in both senses of the phrase. I don't want to crush people with it, but I don't want to under-value it and over-value my words and thoughts. I want people to know the truth, and I think the Bible contains better answers than my befuddled brain.

Are evangelicals 'fundamentalists'? Review of JI Packer

Post 9-11, the word 'fundamentalism' gives people a new sense of fear. To modern morality, any version of religious fundamentalism MUST be a bad thing. When evangelicals claim to believe the words of the Bible as the truth, the word 'fundamentalists' is frequently flung our way. So how should we respond?

J.I. Packer's 'Fundamentalism and the Word of God' is as fresh and relevant now as it was when it was first published in 1958. He argues that fundamentalism is often brushed off as a branch of Christianity, when in fact, it is the only authentic Christianity. Authentic Christianity is a religion of biblical authority. Only truth can be authoritative; only an inerrant Bible can be used, in the way that God means Scripture to be used. Subjection to the authority of Christ involves subjection to the authority of Scripture. ‘Fundamentalism’, in so far as consistent Evangelicalism is meant by this term, is in principle nothing but Christianity itself.

Christianity is built on truth, on the content of a divine revelation. It announces salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, but faith is only possible where the truth is known. The New Testament tells us that God has made provision for the communication of this saving truth. He entrusted to the apostles, and through them to the whole church, a message from Himself which conveys it. This is the Word of God, the Bible.

At the heart of the debate is the role of the Bible. Many people who reject fundamentalism do so because they consider the uncompromising demand for submission to what the Bible says as unreasonable. And this is very serious, at it is a criticism directed at evangelical principles rather than evangelical practice. In effect, these people believe that Evangelicalism is a form of Christianity that cannot honestly be held today. We must, therefore, strive to defend the faith that we believe to be the revealed truth of God.

In the climate of the current Anglican crisis, where the evangelical wing of the Anglican church is being criticised for being 'fundamentalist' and 'separatist', it is worth remembering that the Anglican church is founded on the belief that Scripture is the ultimate authority. The liberal wing of the church is not, historically, supported by the foundation of the church and the 39 Articles.

Unity between true Christians is vitally important to the life of the Church, but what Packer refers to as 'sham unity', the unity between supposed Christians and true Christians, is not worth working for. The wall is cracked because it is not all built on the same foundation. Packer's book provides a timely read in the light of these circumstances.