Deconstruction? –There Are other Options!
Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR
Deconstructing the Faith?
Something is happening to “the faith once delivered to the saints.” It is a process called deconstruction.
Deconstruction isn’t an event, like the demolition of a building or a bridge. In a demolition:
- Plans are made.
- Charges are set.
- The structure is weakened.
- The hour comes.
- The crowd gathers.
- Boom, boom, boom and the structure falls as the dust cloud rises.
- The crowd cheers.
With demolition, sometimes things go wrong.
One day several years ago, a 93 year old steel bridge over the Arkansas River at Little Rock was rocked by powerful explosives, carefully placed by demolition engineers. The structure was also cut in strategic places to aid the force of gravity in pulling it down. The crowds gathered. The cameras clicked and whirred while helicopters beat the air mercilessly. The cleanup teams were in place to remove the old bridge from the channel. With the countdown, the rapid-fire explosions did their worst.
Five hours later gravity finally won its long battle against the Broadway Bridge and the old frame turned north to dive into the river. Way to go, you tough old bridge!
Demolition Dangers
In the world today, there are skillful engineers at work trying to demolish our faith. This is nothing new. Their problem is, they cannot keep up—the Faith, a relationship with God through Salvation in Jesus, keeps getting planted in new hearts, younger and bolder. The demolitionists make a lot of noise but the Church keeps on going. How? Because Jesus is building it.
Deconstruction isn’t so dramatic as demolition.
- No dates are planned and publicized.
- No charges are set.
- No crowds, cameras, and concessioners gather.
Unlike demolition, deconstruction is a process of gradual attrition, like rust, decay, or neglect.
Deconstruction Dangers
The deconstructionists pose a greater danger than the demolitionists. They come from within the Church itself.
- Their motives are clear and for the good of all.
- Their methods are sound, based in accepted scholarship.
- Their questions are sincere.
But the answers they give are skewed, off the mark, sometimes by small measures and sometimes by wide margins. They lead away from Christian orthodoxy—the ancient faith as expressed in the creeds—to a less exclusive, more palatable kind of faith. Most likely this revised faith would have done little to inspire the martyrs and missionaries, reformers and revivalists in ages past.
Definitions Required
Deconstruction: The dictionary says deconstruction is “…the analytic examination of something (as a theory) often in order to reveal its inadequacy.”
“Analytic examination” of the “faith once delivered” has been my life’s work. A man of the 20th century my methods have included both inductive and deductive reasoning in the handling of Scripture.
More Definitions Please
“Inductive Reasoning is a logical process in which multiple premises, all believed true or found true most of the time, are combined to obtain a specific conclusion.
Deductive Reasoning is a logical process in which a conclusion is based on the concordance of multiple premises that are generally assumed to be true.
Deductive Reasoning is sometimes referred to as top-down logic. Its counterpart, Inductive Reasoning, is sometimes referred to as bottom-up logic.
- Where deductive reasoning proceeds from general premises to a specific conclusion,
- inductive reasoning proceeds from specific premises to a general conclusion.”[1]
In other words:
- Sometimes we come to faith and then go to the Bible to discover more to believe about our faith. (Inductive study)
- Sometimes we are not sure what to believe about an issue, so we go to the Bible to discover what is said about that issue in the Holy Scriptures.( Deductive study)
Faith is the difference. It is the strength in our steel.
Inductive or deductive study of the Bible requires the ministry of the Holy Spirit to arrive at the truth. We must always remember the futility of seeking wisdom from a standpoint of doubt or duplicity. That student will not learn what the Bible teaches. Without faith, he simply cannot.
With faith in our hearts,
- we are invited by the voice of God in the Scriptures to reason together .(Isaiah 1:18-20)
- King David set the example to regularly inquire of the Lord. (Psalm 26:12)
- Jesus had more to say than He could get to in His short time on earth. He promised that He would send a Helper who would lead us into all truth.
- That helper has come and He is the Holy Spirit. (John 16:12)
- Paul describes His dependence on the Holy Spirit in His study of Scripture. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) His inductive and deductive study of the Word provided Him with a message of truth that stood in contrast to the themes and beliefs of his world.
Sola Scriptura: “The Scriptures Alone”
A principle of the Protestant Reformation was this: “Use scripture to interpret scripture.” In other words, whether we are using inductive or deductive methods, we must not elevate any human source over the divinely inspired Bible. It is a supernatural book, subject only to supernatural, faith-based methods.
“Let scripture interpret scripture” is a common theme throughout Hermeneutics. It is the idea that we can use scripture to shed light on other passages within the Bible. This principle is based on the Reformation axiom “Scripture interprets Scripture.” By interpreting the Bible, we allow God to speak for Himself and let the author of Scripture interpret His own words. This is done by letting the context of the passages speak for themselves. [2]
This extremely useful method of study is inspired by Paul’s instruction to Timothy.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
More Definitions Required
Two Scripture passages combine to help us understand this strengthening faith. The writer to the Hebrews tells us what faith is, and Jude gives us an assignment—contend for the faith.
Hebrews 11:1-3 NKJV
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Jude 3-4 NKJV
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Greek word for faith in both verses is this:
- “pistis (pis’-tis); NT:4102 persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: KJV – assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.”
- The original word for contend is this: “epagonizomai (ep-ag-o-nid’-zom-ahee); NT:1864…to struggle for: KJV – earnestly contend” [3]
So, there is a faith to be believed, lived, and guarded by those who would follow Christ. All believers must hear, obey, and defend the faith we have found in Jesus.
Scriptures and Creeds
In the first centuries of the church heresies abounded. Faith in Christ spread throughout the Mediterranean world to many lands, languages, and cultures. Concise statements of faith were composed to be recited in public worship to express the essence of “the faith once delivered to the saints.” [4] The simplest of these is the Apostles Creed, which some scholars date from 180 A.D. Subsequently it has been revised from generation to generation without loss of the facts proclaimed in faith. For example:
The Apostles Creed
Book of Common Prayer, 1662
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried:
He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholic[5] Church;
The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins;
The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting.
Amen.
To this day, this remarkable confession brings Christ followers together from across doctrinal barriers that are wide and high and deep. These things define Christian orthodoxy—if anyone one phrase is lost, some new and weaker faith has emerged in its place.
Where does that bring us?
- We are equipped with the whole Bible, the Word of God, “profitable for doctrine and reproof and instruction in righteousness” with Sola Scriptura as our primary method.
- We have the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth and to quicken our earthly minds to embrace heavenly truth.[6]
- We have brains, computers such as man has never invented, to help us “reason together” with God. [7]
These factors bring all of us to a good place where the ground is level.[8]
“How Should We Read the Bible?”
This was my question to my mentor the late, Robert E. Webber. He was trying to explain to me that the Authority of Scripture was not harmed when we admitted that the Holy Book has been handed to us. He said, “There are fingerprints on your Bible, Steve.” This incredible statement began my understanding of hermeneutics—the varying ways believers approach the Bible in faith to appropriate its truth. My hermeneutic is a Pentecostal one.[9] While I was reeling from that right cross Bob followed with a left hook: “We should read the Bible as true.”
Yes. It is true. We must read it that way!
- When we don’t understand what is said, believe it anyway.
- When the math doesn’t add up, (as in Father-Son-Holy Spirit vs. There-is-one-God) believe it anyway—spiritual truths are not mathematical.
- When reason will not allow something clearly stated, let faith rise above reason and believe it anyway. God does not run Creation according to the limits of what we can understand. “Without faith it is impossible to please the Lord,”[10] not reason.
- When two statements contradict each other, develop the concept of paradox and believe both.
- When God makes a covenantal promise to those bound to Him, believe it is for us, too.
Deconstruction Zone
In my fellowship, the Assemblies of God, we hold to four cardinal beliefs:
- Jesus is our Savior.
- Jesus is our Healer.
- Jesus is our Baptizer.
- Jesus is our Soon Coming King.
With this timeless and powerful story our people have taken the Gospel around the world in just over a century.
Today some leaders doubt two of these beliefs:
- They do not believe in Spirit Baptism with initial physical evidence of a personal prayer language as seen in the NT.
- They do not believe in the Rapture of the Church, embracing post-tribulation eschatology or even the ancient idea of amillennialism in which they believe the Church Age is the Millennial Reign of Christ.
These departures have been arrived at sincerely in private study and in community.
Also, these positions deconstruct Pentecostalism. It becomes something else, something less.
- One must read the Scriptures with doubt to arrive at these conclusions: “The Bible does not mean what it clearly says.” We must then find a human being to help us edit the Word of God.
- In this way deconstructionists arrive at their positions on marriage and sexuality and may soon come to accept the infanticide of abortion as a biblical position.
Once deconstruction begins, anything in the fallen heart of man can be justified by Scripture if it is done in the name of compassion. The result is an intrusion. Too many human beings come between us and our Savior: scholars, ancient and contemporary, and influencers whose methods are not faith-based but stand on the shifting sands of culture.
The Primary Source
Years ago, when I began my graduate studies in music at The Wichita State University, the very first class presented me with the concept of primary and secondary sources. Undergraduate students could use secondary sources as in encyclopedias, etc. but graduate work depended on primary sources, the ones used by the authors of the secondary sources. I was just beginning my personal study of worship and the realization that the Bible was my primary source was like a light coming on in a dark room. To learn about worship, I must look to the Bible! This moment of revelation has shaped my life ever since.
Biblical scholarship is a vital ministry. Writers on Christian spirituality abound—I aspire to be one. But we are secondary sources. Each of us has the privilege of consulting The Primary Source—with Author Himself whispering in our souls and the Spirit writing the Word into our hearts![11] We must read the Book as if it were true. We must not let our place of study become so crowded with the words of others that we lose track of Jesus and can no longer hear His voice. The Secret Place of prayer and study should never be crowded.
Contending for the Faith—The Three “R’s
Our way forward is not the deconstruction of our faith but
- the Renewal of our spirituality,
- the biblical Reformation of our worship and
- the breaking of our hearts in intercession as we seek the Lord for Revival.
When the Lord pours out of His Spirit on all flesh it will be the outpouring of the “faith once delivered to the saints.” This is my mission—advocating for these processes. We all know that only God can send revival, so we pray, and we wait for it to happen. But those other two “Rs” spell out what we can do—what we must do![12] It is time to prepare![13]
The Bridge to the Future God Has Planned for Us
This is spiritual steel no demolitionist or deconstructionist can bring down. Why? Because Jesus is building his Church. These truths have even resisted the pull of time’s gravity, remaining strong and unshaken since Moses ascended Mt. Sinai and Jesus ascended Mt. Calvary. Why? Because Jesus is building his Church. Written in His book and inscribed by the Spirit of God into our hearts, His Word stands.
Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer
Scriptures Referred to in this Essay
Isaiah 1:18-20 NKJV
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Psalm 26:12 NKJV
One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.
John 16:12-15 NKJV
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16 NKJV
However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Psalm 26:12 NIV
My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the Lord .
James 1:5-8 NKJV
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Roger Stronstad, Trends in Pentecostal Hermeneutics Part One in a Pentecostal Hermeneutics series of guest lectures given at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Springfield, Missouri http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/top/month_holyspirit.cfm
[1] http://whatis.techtarget.com.)
[2] https://tinyurl.com/42j8vt7n
[3] Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
[4] Jude 3 KJV Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
[5] The word “catholic” means “universal.”
[6] John 16:13 NKJV However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
[7] Isaiah 1:18
[8] Psalm 26:12 NKJV My foot stands in an even place; In the congregations I will bless the Lord.
[9] Roger Stronstad, Trends in Pentecostal Hermeneutics Part One in a Pentecostal Hermeneutics series of guest lectures given at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, Springfield, Missouri
http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/top/month_holyspirit.cfm
[10] Hebrews 11:6
[11] Hebrews 8:10
[12] The Justice of My Cause – Steve Phifer
[13] Matthew 3:3 NKJV ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.'”
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