Encountering the Transformative Holiness of God
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R.C. Sproul: I would say that my interest in the holiness of God, Chris, goes back over 50 years, about 54 years actually, to the first two weeks of my Christian experience. I had grown up in a church that was quite a liberal church, and there was not much Bible teaching. Our interest in the church was chiefly social. [00:00:18]
And my first interest in the holiness of God came out of that two weeks. My virgin reading of the Old Testament particularly exposed me to a God, of whom I really had never heard. At that time in my life, I had never heard, for example, of Abraham or of Isaac or of Jacob. [00:01:14]
And I vividly recall walking the halls of my freshman dormitory at 3 o’clock in the morning. The place was totally silent. The halls were made out of tile, and so my feet on the floor would echo through the halls. And I just paced up and down like a caged lion in that hall wrestling like Jacob at Peniel with this God. [00:03:12]
And being an impulsive person and so moved by that, that I left that class and went downstairs to the Registrar’s desk and changed my major to philosophy. And I still took every course in Bible that I could take, but I had to go… I mean, my whole pursuit of philosophy was driven – and I was a driven man at that point. [00:08:48]
And you know, I used to teach in the seminary. I used to teach what’s called theology proper, and I know there are lots of theologians that teach improper theology, but what theology proper means is focusing on the doctrine of God, the Father. And actually in the subdivisions of systematic theology, though I love Christology and I love soteriology, nothing was more meaningful to me than the segments on the study of theology proper. [00:11:41]
And our doctrine of God informs our doctrine of Christ. It informs our doctrine of the atonement. It informs our doctrine of salvation. It informs our doctrine of sin. It informs every aspect of our theology. And so it is… it is the control mechanism for all of our Christian thought, is who… how we understand who God is. [00:14:48]
If we have a low view of God, we’ll have a low view of the church. If we have a low view of God, we’ll have a low view of worship. If we have a high view of God, then we will have a high view of reverence and adoration. Worship will never, ever be casual when we understand who God is. [00:18:33]
Luther was not able to deceive himself and put up these rationalizations as a shield to protect himself from the penetrating conviction of the character of God. If ever a man knew that he was a sinner, it was Martin Luther. And he on one occasion was asked the question, do you love God? And he said, “Love God, sometimes I hate Him.” [00:20:18]
And my natural tendency as a sinner is the same as anybody else’s, is to try to bring God’s standard down as low as I possibly can, so it will get closer to where I am. I want to exaggerate my own achievements and diminish God’s glory, so that they can come closer together. [00:23:20]
And he said while our eyes are fixed on this world, we look at ourselves in that perspective and flatter ourselves and consider ourselves as slightly less than demigods, but once we turn our gaze to heaven and consider what kind of a being God is, all of those conceptions are destroyed. [00:24:35]
And Edwards, of course, I believe as the Encyclopedia Britannica said that he was America’s greatest intellectual and greatest philosopher theologian ever. And he was brilliant at the level of an Augustine. He was far more brilliant than Luther or Calvin. He was up there with Aquinas and Augustine, and excuse me, but Francis Turretin as well. [00:29:10]
And of course, I’ve been trying to give a heavy dose of that to broad evangelicalism all these years. I’m not at all happy where so-called evangelicalism is today. It’s so bad that I don’t like to even call myself an evangelical anymore because the currency of that word has so been devalued over the last few decades. [00:38:00]
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And my first interest in the holiness of God came out of that two weeks. My virgin reading of the Old Testament particularly exposed me to a God, of whom I really had never heard. At that time in my life, I had never heard, for example, of Abraham or of Isaac or of Jacob. [00:01:14]
And I vividly recall walking the halls of my freshman dormitory at 3 o’clock in the morning. The place was totally silent. The halls were made out of tile, and so my feet on the floor would echo through the halls. And I just paced up and down like a caged lion in that hall wrestling like Jacob at Peniel with this God. [00:03:12]
And being an impulsive person and so moved by that, that I left that class and went downstairs to the Registrar’s desk and changed my major to philosophy. And I still took every course in Bible that I could take, but I had to go… I mean, my whole pursuit of philosophy was driven – and I was a driven man at that point. [00:08:48]
And you know, I used to teach in the seminary. I used to teach what’s called theology proper, and I know there are lots of theologians that teach improper theology, but what theology proper means is focusing on the doctrine of God, the Father. And actually in the subdivisions of systematic theology, though I love Christology and I love soteriology, nothing was more meaningful to me than the segments on the study of theology proper. [00:11:41]
And our doctrine of God informs our doctrine of Christ. It informs our doctrine of the atonement. It informs our doctrine of salvation. It informs our doctrine of sin. It informs every aspect of our theology. And so it is… it is the control mechanism for all of our Christian thought, is who… how we understand who God is. [00:14:48]
If we have a low view of God, we’ll have a low view of the church. If we have a low view of God, we’ll have a low view of worship. If we have a high view of God, then we will have a high view of reverence and adoration. Worship will never, ever be casual when we understand who God is. [00:18:33]
Luther was not able to deceive himself and put up these rationalizations as a shield to protect himself from the penetrating conviction of the character of God. If ever a man knew that he was a sinner, it was Martin Luther. And he on one occasion was asked the question, do you love God? And he said, “Love God, sometimes I hate Him.” [00:20:18]
And my natural tendency as a sinner is the same as anybody else’s, is to try to bring God’s standard down as low as I possibly can, so it will get closer to where I am. I want to exaggerate my own achievements and diminish God’s glory, so that they can come closer together. [00:23:20]
And he said while our eyes are fixed on this world, we look at ourselves in that perspective and flatter ourselves and consider ourselves as slightly less than demigods, but once we turn our gaze to heaven and consider what kind of a being God is, all of those conceptions are destroyed. [00:24:35]
And Edwards, of course, I believe as the Encyclopedia Britannica said that he was America’s greatest intellectual and greatest philosopher theologian ever. And he was brilliant at the level of an Augustine. He was far more brilliant than Luther or Calvin. He was up there with Aquinas and Augustine, and excuse me, but Francis Turretin as well. [00:29:10]
And of course, I’ve been trying to give a heavy dose of that to broad evangelicalism all these years. I’m not at all happy where so-called evangelicalism is today. It’s so bad that I don’t like to even call myself an evangelical anymore because the currency of that word has so been devalued over the last few decades. [00:38:00]
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