Did I reject Complimentarianism?

I would venture to say that if there are concerns about whether someone is rejecting complimentarianism, what most are really wondering is “Are you rejecting the Bible as ultimate authority?”

This is an important question…the important question.

This is a key point that I have wanted to address for myself and for those of you who have been influenced by the position I held as a Bible study teacher. If someone I had trusted to faithfully handle scripture suddenly seemed to go against it, I could see a spectrum between two possible responses. On the one hand, I could reject that person as someone who has gone astray. On the other, I could question my own security in the faith and begin to wonder if the Bible really is authoritative. Maybe you fall somewhere in this spectrum. Maybe you straddle both extremes.

Then let me be absolutely clear: The Bible holds the highest authority given to man. There is nowhere else to go to hear God speak to us of His love toward us in Christ. There is nowhere else to learn of salvation in Christ Jesus.

BUT, there are two other sources that men have used throughout history, that while they must be measured against scripture and formed by it, they must be employed. In fact, we use these two other sources all the time no matter what denomination you find yourself in. These two sources are reason and tradition.

Even those who claim the bible as the exclusive authority, those who hold to the bible and the bible alone, ALWAYS unwittingly employ reason and tradition. In fact, if you are familiar with the “Seven Arrows” method of Bible study, you will observe that you are asked to employ reason and tradition by asking the questions such as, “What does this passage say?” and “What does this passage mean to its original audience?”

First, we cannot understand anything, including the Bible, without using our reason. Reason is what scripture speaks to in us. God created our reason, and in order to be what he created us to be, he calls us to use it. As many have agreed over the millennia, our ability to reason is part of what it means to be created in God’s image instead of a mere animal. You might even say that God created our reason so that He might commune with us.

You might argue that our reason is fallen. Yes it is. But that does not make it inoperative. Dysfunctional, yes, but not completely useless. You may point to the “total depravity” idea. This does not mean, as RC Sproul points out, that we are completely and utterly depraved. Total depravity means that there is no part of our being that remains unaffected. (If you are interested, here’s a great article: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/tulip-and-reformed-theology-total-depravity)

However, in order to use our reason properly, it must be both formed and informed by scripture. Faith does not replace our reason; it forms our reason.

Second, as far as using tradition, it is important to ask what a passage might have meant to its original hearers as the "Seven Arrows" study method prompts. Likewise, it is a good and humble activity to ask, “How has the church traditionally understood this passage?” Looking at both cultural and church tradition is a humble recognition that you are not the definitive source of truth. This activity can even relieve the pressure of trying to surmise truth on your own.

The doctrine of the Trinity provides an obvious case in point. Faithful followers of Christ and brilliant theologians spent hundreds of years working this out with the Bible as the foundation of their scholarship and the reality of Jesus, the God-Man, as the cornerstone. Thankfully, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel every generation.

Concerning traditions, Presbyterians have the Westminster Confession. Baptists have the Baptist Faith and Message. Christians throughout most of history have had the Apostles Creed and later the Nicene Creed. These statements of faith are rooted firmly in faithful biblical exegesis, tried and tested by generation after generation.

Can men get things wrong?

Absolutely. However....

God’s word is infallible. This means that “the Bible is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith and will not fail to accomplish its purpose” (The Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms). None of creeds, confessions, or statements of faith can claim this, even as all of their authors sought to be grounded in scripture.

I have both heard and seen this phrase, “No creed but the Bible.” This is not a claim any of us can make in truth, however honestly we mean it. If you look back through history, people have argued both sides of an argument from just the Bible. Abolitionists and slave-holders alike used the Bible and came to opposite conclusions. Those who baptize infants and those who do not use the Bible. Even concerning the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, we read the same Bible and see this differently. Who’s understanding of the Bible is right?

While there may not be clarity about the above issues (except for slavery, and abolitionists and slaves alike fought hard for this clarity), we can trust that the Bible is absolutely clear in matters of salvation, as noted above. The entire testimony of scripture reveals there is salvation in Christ alone. The Bible is infallible, or “completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith,” because the Bible is the testimony of our Triune God as revealed in Christ Jesus.

So to answer the question at the beginning of this post, “Have I rejected the Bible as the ultimate authority?” The answer is emphatically, “No.”

But I still haven’t answered the question about complimentarianism. I will endeavor to answer this well over the next couple of posts in the form of a few questions.