Theological Term of the Week: Accommodation

 

accommodation 
“God’s appropriation of humanly intelligible means to communicate real knowledge of himself.”1 God speaking to us in a form that is suited to our human capacity.

• From Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, 1.17.13:

Because our weakness cannot reach his height, any description which we receive of him must be lowered to our capacity in order to be intelligible. And the mode of lowering is to represent him not as he really is, but as we conceive of him.

• From None Greater by Matthew Barrett:

After forming humankind in his image, God then spoke. That’s right, the infinite, transcendent incomprehensible God used words, and these words revealed not only who he is but what duty God requires of humans. His word established a covenantal relationship between God and his people. 

Theologians have a word for this: “accomodation.” The parent talking to his two-year-old, speaking “inarticulately because of the child” since it is impossible for the parent to be understood by the child apart from “condescending to their mode of speech.” John Calvin compared God to a nurse caring for an infant. The nurse bends low to speak a language that the infant can understand.

Learn more:

1. Tom Ascol: The Biblical Doctrine of Divine Accommodation (audio)
2. Hans Madueme: Inerrance and Divine Accommodation
3. Vern S. Poythress: Rethinking Accomodation in Revelation

Related terms:

• anthropomorphism
• anthropopathism
• covenant
• general revelation
• special revelation

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

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Sunday's Hymn: He Leadeth Me

He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where’er I be,
Still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.

He leadeth me, he leadeth me;
By his own hand he leadeth me:
His faithful foll’wer I would be,
For by his hand he leadeth me.

Sometimes ‘mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters calm, o’er troubled sea,
Still ‘tis his hand that leadeth me.

Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine,
Nor ever murmur nor repine;
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since ‘tis my God that leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When, by thy grace, the vict’ry’s won,
E’en death’s cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

—Joseph H. Gilmore

 Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• My Jesus, I Love Thee at The Outspoken Tulip
• Hallelujah! Christ Is Risen at The Happy Wonderer
• The Lord shall be a light at Tried With Fire
• Lord’s Day 18, 2019 at The Thirsty Theologian

Selected Reading

I read or listened to these recently and recommend them to you.

Theology

Why Does Doctrine Matter Anyway?
Without it, we could not answer Jesus’s question to his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” 

The Canons of Dort and the Gift of Faith
This is Kevin DeYoung on the Canons of Dort again. This time, he’s discussing one point of doctrine affirmed in this historic church document. “Faith” according to the Canons, “is not something outside of us that we grab hold of. It is a work that God works in us, producing ‘both the will to believe and the belief itself’ (Art. 14).”

Church History

2000 Years of Christ’s Power
I read Volume 1 (The Age of the Early Church Fathers) of Nick Needham’s four volume history of Christianity last year. It took me a long time to finish it—six months or so—but I really enjoyed it. He makes church history interesting! For an accessible introduction to the story of the early church, you can’t do better than this.

I plan to buy the second volume, which is about Christianity in the miccle ages, to read this summer. 

Rowland Taylor
The story of one Protestant martyr.

Service

Gifted to Serve the Church 
“Here’s my encouragement to you and to us all: find a church that preaches the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Serve somewhere, anywhere. At my church we are always needing volunteers in the nursery and children’s ministry. Serving others in love is the first step, with joy soon to follow.”