N0009
ON FOUNDATION
1. Foundation is the conceptual framework that shapes our thoughts, desires, and actions in the world. Once foundation is laid, it is established through repeated and continual use.
2. Without foundation, we cannot become mature (Heb. 6:1); we cannot bear lasting fruit (1 Cor. 3); we cannot endure trials (Lk. 6:48).
3. Foundation is of perennial concern; it establishes the beginning and the end; it is corporate; it is radical (Heb. 11:10).
4. Foundation is the work of the apostles and prophets with Christ Himself in all his fullness as the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20; 4:11; Rev. 21; 1 Cor. 3).
5. Foundation is described as the Word of God (Lk. 6:48) and as Christ Himself (1 Cor. 3). It includes repentance (sin and death), faith (faith and reason), baptisms (union with Christ and the Holy Spirit), one’s work and preparation, eschatology (resurrection and the outcome of history, eternal judgment (reward-life and punishment-death) (Heb. 6).
APOLOGETICS
What may be known of God . . . his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse (Rom. 1:19–20).
The purpose of apologetics is to establish the reality of sin and death and thereby prepare the way for the message of redemption given in the Scriptures. It is not first for defending the faith (Scripture) but for showing the necessity of Scripture as the only way out of sin and death. Scripture assumes sin and death, and it is sin and death that must first be established as real if the call to repentance will be heard. It is not merely for giving a reason to believe in God but to show that unbelief is without excuse and therefore is sin.
The sin of unbelief is inexcusable if and only if there is a clear general revelation. So apologetics assumes the clarity of general revelation.
By general revelation is meant what can be known of God by all men, everywhere, at all times. It is constantly available to those who have never heard the gospel. It is equally available to the learned and the unlearned alike.
One cannot be called upon to defend a belief that all peoples, whatever their background, should hold unless the revelation is clear.
One cannot be held accountable for believing what is not clearly revealed. For sin to be established as a reality, it must therefore be established that there is a clear general revelation that God the Creator exists. Before minimizing or avoiding the work of apologetics by asserting that deep down all men know God, one has to show how anyone (oneself included) would know God.
Tags: foundation; general revelation; clarity and inexcusability; apologetics and unbelief; sin and death
Editor’s note: N0009 was likely written in the early 1990’s.