Highlights from Sunday 1.13.08: The Need for Antithesis

Yesterday began a new series through the book of Galatians here at Council Road. The sermon title for the first section, Galatians 1:1-5, was The Importance of Belief. I thought it was a unique approach to this text, which consists of Paul's salutation to the churches of Galatia. The sermon centered much on the postmodern epistemology and how damaging it is to the Christian faith. It is important to know what you believe, the first point stated, but this also implies the necessity of knowing what you do not believe. So Paul begins this letter by stating that he is an apostle, but not from men or through men. In other words, it is important to know that Paul was an apostle. It is equally important to know that his apostleship was not granted by men.

And then here was the statement that stood out to me: "If you are not able to say what you do not believe then you will never be able to change people's lives." Why is that true?

Perhaps these words from Francis Schaeffer's work The God Who Is There will shed some light:

We must not forget that historic Christianity stands on a basis of antithesis. Without it, historic Christianity is meaningless. The basic antithesis is that God objectively exists in contrast (in antithesis) to His not existing. Which of these two are the reality, changes everything in the area of knowledge and morals and in the whole of life.

So be sure you know what you believe, and be sure you know what you do not believe.