My Dad Was A Cowboy

As you know, my dad passed away on September 10. At the memorial service, there was mention of his past as a cowboy, and I remembered this old post from the old blog. Originally there was a photo of my dad as a young boy dressed up like a cowboy, but that’s gone now, and I can find neither the photo nor the scan of the photo to upload to this repost, so I’ve had to make do without it.

When my sons were little, they wanted to be pirates or superheroes. When my dad was little, his dream was to be a cowboy. My boys dressed up as pirates and superheroes, but my dad dressed up as a cowboy. I have a photo of him as a boy dressed in chaps and a bandana, holding a lasso, looking pleased with himself.

My boys haven’t grown up to be pirates or superheroes, but my dad did live out the dream he had as a little boy living on a farm in western Kansas. After he served in the military, he worked on a ranch in Kit Carson, Colorado. He loved his work riding the range and he didn’t plan to ever be anything but a cowboy.

But sometimes other dreams take you by surprise. One day my cowboy dad was listening to the radio. I don’t remember the name of the program he was listening to, but it included a presentation of the gospel. The Spirit “blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes,” and that day the Spirit blew across the open range of Colorado and a cowboy was reborn.

Before long, the cowboy had a different dream, and he became a student at Bryan College in Dayton, Tennesee. Next he was a pastor of a little church in Belleview, Idaho; then a student again (this time at Wheaton College in Illinois); and after that a pastor and professor in northern Minnesota. He’s now retired from teaching, but he still lives in Minnesota, where he co-pastors a little country church.*

What happened to the cowboy dream? The interest didn’t die, at least not completely. My dad bought a horse in Minnesota, but once the horse was thoroughly trained, the fun went out of it for him. My family sometimes went to Idaho in the summer so my dad could help out on my uncle’s ranch, but though he really loved those breaks from his work and study, the cowboy life wasn’t his dream anymore. He had a new dream: to be a servant.

I wonder what the Spirit can make of former pirates and superheroes?

*He was still working in that little church up until a few weeks before he died, still living out his servant dream. You can read a few tributes to him here.

Round the Sphere Again: Justification

Just As If
“Covered in his seamless righteousness, Jesus’ perfect obedience becomes ours (Jared Wilson).” 

Not My Own
I spent part of today listening to this (Phil Johnson).

Have you ever thought about the question, “How was that publican justified?” Jesus specifically says, “He went down to his house justified.” What justified him? I’ll tell you. There’s only one possible answer. Her received a righteousness that was not his own. It was an alien righteousness. It came to him from an external source. Just like, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” That is the righteousness which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God which depends on faith. That is the only ground on which any of us can ever stand before God. We can’t engineer a sufficient righteousness of our own. If Saul of Tarsus couldn’t do it, you and I for sure can’t. And that is exactly what Scripture tells us over and over again. We must seek a righteousness that is not our own, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

It’s impossible to grow tired of hearing the good news of imputed righteousness. Really.

Theological Term of the Week

Athanasian Creed
An early statement of Christian doctrine affirming the triune nature of God and the dual nature of Christ, originally attributed to Athanasius but almost certainly not written by him. 

• Text of the Athanasian Creed: 

  Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.

  Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.

  Now this is the catholic faith:

      That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
      neither blending their persons
      nor dividing their essence.
          For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
          the person of the Son is another,
          and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
          But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
          their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

      What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has.
          The Father is uncreated,
          the Son is uncreated,
          the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

          The Father is immeasurable,
          the Son is immeasurable,
          the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.

          The Father is eternal,
          the Son is eternal,
          the Holy Spirit is eternal.

              And yet there are not three eternal beings;
              there is but one eternal being.
              So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings;
              there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being.

      Similarly, the Father is almighty,
          the Son is almighty,
          the Holy Spirit is almighty.
              Yet there are not three almighty beings;
              there is but one almighty being.

          Thus the Father is God,
          the Son is God,
          the Holy Spirit is God.
              Yet there are not three gods;
              there is but one God.

          Thus the Father is Lord,
          the Son is Lord,
          the Holy Spirit is Lord.
              Yet there are not three lords;
              there is but one Lord.

      Just as Christian truth compels us
      to confess each person individually
      as both God and Lord,
      so catholic religion forbids us
      to say that there are three gods or lords.

      The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.
      The Son was neither made nor created;
      he was begotten from the Father alone.
      The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten;
      he proceeds from the Father and the Son.

      Accordingly there is one Father, not three fathers;
      there is one Son, not three sons;
      there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

      Nothing in this trinity is before or after,
      nothing is greater or smaller;
      in their entirety the three persons
      are coeternal and coequal with each other.

      So in everything, as was said earlier,
      we must worship their trinity in their unity
      and their unity in their trinity.

  Anyone then who desires to be saved
  should think thus about the trinity.

  But it is necessary for eternal salvation
  that one also believe in the incarnation
  of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.

  Now this is the true faith:

      That we believe and confess
      that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son,
      is both God and human, equally.

       He is God from the essence of the Father,
      begotten before time;
      and he is human from the essence of his mother,
      born in time;
      completely God, completely human,
      with a rational soul and human flesh;
      equal to the Father as regards divinity,
      less than the Father as regards humanity.

      Although he is God and human,
      yet Christ is not two, but one.
      He is one, however,
      not by his divinity being turned into flesh,
      but by God’s taking humanity to himself.
      He is one,
      certainly not by the blending of his essence,
      but by the unity of his person.
      For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh,
      so too the one Christ is both God and human.

      He suffered for our salvation;
      he descended to hell;
      he arose from the dead;
      he ascended to heaven;
      he is seated at the Father’s right hand;
      from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
      At his coming all people will arise bodily
      and give an accounting of their own deeds.
      Those who have done good will enter eternal life,
      and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

  This is the catholic faith:
  one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully. 1

• From The Athanasian Creed by R. C. Sproul:

The Athanasian Creed reaffirms the distinctions found at Chalcedon, where in the Athanasian statement Christ is called, “perfect God and perfect man.” All three members of the Trinity are deemed to be uncreated and therefore co-eternal. Also following earlier affirmations, the Holy Spirit is declared to have proceeded both from the Father “and the Son,” affirming the so-called filioque concept that was so controversial with Eastern Orthodoxy. Eastern Orthodoxy to this day has not embraced the filioque idea. 

Finally, the Athanasian standards examined the incarnation of Jesus and affirmed that in the mystery of the incarnation the divine nature did not mutate or change into a human nature, but rather the immutable divine nature took upon itself a human nature. That is, in the incarnation there was an assumption by the divine nature of a human nature and not the mutation of the divine nature into a human nature. 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Athanasian Creed
2. GotQuestions.org: What is the Athanasian Creed?
3. Justin Holcomb: The Athanasian Creed
4. R. C. Sproul: The Athanasian Creed

Related terms:

• the Apostles’ Creed
• the Chalcedonian Definition
• Eutychianism
• Nestorianism
• the Nicene Creed

Filed under Creeds and Confessions.

1© 1987, CRC Publications, Grand Rapids MI. www.crcna.org.  

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