As I was reading through these verses again the other day, a thought occurred to me that I don’t think that I had ever considered before.
It was not a special revelation from God, at least I don’t think so.
( Did you know that “thunked” is actually in the dictionary as a non-standard past tense of “think”? )
Although I didn’t spend a lot of time pursuing it, and I didn’t consult the other dozen theologies in my library, my hunch was initially confirmed.
Biblical theology is divided into many different parts.
We study Theology proper – we study Jehovah and the many attributes and aspects of God and His work.
We have doctrinal positions on Bibliology, Soteriology, Eschatology and Ecclesiology.
There are dozens and dozens of major divisions under general theology.
And somewhere under the study of salvation – Soteriology – there is a section on the nature of faith.
But my thought was this: shouldn’t we also have a section in our theology on the nature of UNBELIEF?
Isn’t unbelief, or shouldn’t unbelief, also be a part of our theology?
What I tried to find in that seven volume set of theology books, was a section or chapter on unbelief, but I couldn’t find it.
I have no doubt that the good Doctor dealt with the subject, but not as an actual, specific doctrine.
But unbelief is a doctrine which can be studied in the pages of the Word of God.
Even though it is not a point in the Philadelphia Confession of Faith, just as they have a position on the subject of faith, Baptists have a doctrinal position on unbelief.
We’ll come back to it in just a few minutes, but it basically boils down to this:
The natural man believeth not the things of the Spirit of God, because they are contrary to his sinful nature.
By nature there are none that doeth good, none that understandeth, there are none that seek after God.
They don’t seek after God, because they don’t believe God; they are unbelievers.
As I say, we’ll come back to this, but let’s begin with another related thought.
I know that we’ve looked at it before, but indulge me once again:
I see pastors despondent and depressed because they don’t have the same “success” as some others.
I see other ministers elated and proud for reasons which are not justified or approved by the Bible.
Let me show you what I mean?
Is baptism an important matter? Do Biblical Baptists think that it is important?
Baptism is our proverbial “middle name.”
But is baptism as important to us as it is to the Campbellite; one of those sects which believes that baptism is essential to salvation?
We could make a long list of such things as these.
Now, along comes a Baptist pastor, or maybe a whole fellowship or denomination of them.
Perhaps without intending to make a list or without a deliberate attempt to compare themselves with themselves, somehow they determine a denominational pecking order.
It is a natural and common thing to do.
In their fellowship meetings there are some who are more eloquent and emotionally moving than others, and for some people that carries them up in the denominational rankings.
Then there are those who have saved 5,000 souls in the previous 12 months and baptized 5,001.
Even in a single church, or in one man’s ministry, people use measures which perhaps they shouldn’t use.
On the other hand there may be nothing wrong with the measurement, but the emphasis or the emotion placed on that measurement is wrong.
The mismanagement of those measurements can break a pastor’s heart or fill him full of pride.
In either case it can ruin that man’s ongoing ministry.
Did Paul have a successful ministry in Corinth?
Despite what criticism some of the people in that church deserved, Paul’s eighteen months there was an astounding success.
So how many people did he baptize in Corinth?
There is no answer to the first question and the answer to the second is quite small.
“I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”
Or how about this: Did the Lord give us records of the financial giving of that church?
Despite knowing that dozens of churches gave, God withheld from us their respective totals, because that is not the measure of a church or a ministry, even though there is importance in it.
Do you suppose that Paul felt good about it when he awoke the next morning?
I can’t tell you for sure, but I would imagine that he awoke exhausted and feeling somewhat empty.
He had been preparing for days, if not years for that meeting, and what did he have to show for it on the morning after? Not much.
If nothing more, the excitement of anticipation was gone, and he didn’t have anything that big left on his calendar.
What constitutes a successful meeting or church service?
Was it the length of the meeting or the number of services?
To keep a bunch of lost people focused on the Truth of God for 8, 10 or 12 hours is almost miraculous.
Was it the quality or eloquence of the speaker?
But at the end of the day, he might have said to himself, “I wish that I had emphasized Psalm 22 more than I did.”
And yet, he probably felt reasonably good about the “job” that he did.
Was it the number of people who believed compared to the number of people who did not believe?
In other words, is success the percentage of believers to unbelievers?
Are the better preachers able to win a greater percentage of lost to Christ than poorer preachers?
Are there better soul winners than others and if so is it because of their skill?
Does the Bible use the same standards that most Baptists use today to evaluate their ministries?
Does the Bible give us ANY standards at all for that evaluation?
I am not sure that it does.
Again, that does not mean that whether people repent and trust Christ or not is not important.
It is extremely important to those people themselves – at least some day they will think so.
And I’m not saying that whether people are baptized or not is not important.
But the Bible doesn’t establish these things as standards of judgment upon a man or a church’s ministry.
What should Paul have felt good about the morning after the big meeting?
He should have looked back over the last three years and said,
“Lord look what you have done and where you have brought me.
Yesterday you gave me the opportunity to present my Saviour to some of my countrymen.
I have tried to be faithful to your commission, to your providential leadership and to your Word.
I don’t know what sort of ministry that you will have for me tomorrow, but I have done what I could do yesterday.
May you be pleased and glorified.”
“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
Paul was faithful to the promise and the providence of God in opening that ministry up to him.
He faithfully testified and attempted to persuade those lost Jews of the Saviour and their sinfulness.
And he was faithful to the Word of God in expounding it as best he could.
Aren’t these the real Biblical measurements of a Gospel ministry?
Clearly, we must not use the number of repenting believers as our standard, because there were even a number of people who left Paul’s presence as unbelievers.
And besides the faith or lack of faith in someone is not something which we can control.
Aren’t there more than one kind of unbelief?
How many people are there in our world, who know that they should believe the Bible, and they do believe.
How many people are there who have been taught that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and they believe that He is?
How many are there who believe that Jesus is the Saviour, and that through repentance and faith in Christ, His sacrifice will provide them with atonement for their sins?
How many people believe in repentance and faith in Christ who never actually believe on Christ or who never actually repent of their sins?
Aren’t there lots of people who believe the right things, and yet they are not trusting Christ?
Would you be angry with me, if I told you that there is no scriptural evidence that any of the people who spent all day with Paul were actually saved when they left that evening?
Listen to the words of this scripture very carefully:
“And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.
And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed…”
What was it that Paul had been telling them?
That Jesus was the Christ, the Saviour, the King.
He was probably telling them that they needed to repent and to trust Christ Jesus.
The Bible says that some of them believed “the things which were spoken.”
Does the Bible say that they believed on Christ Jesus, or just that they believed what Paul said?
And when they left, we are told that they agreed not among themselves, but we aren’t told that they agreed with Paul or that they agreed with God.
Where in these few words do we find them repenting of their former unbelief and hatred of Jesus?
Where do we read of their surrender to God and the submission of their allegiance to Christ?
I am not saying that there weren’t some who were truly saved; I’m saying that we haven’t been given that testimony.
In other words there are several different kinds of unbelief, and even certain kinds of belief can still be unbelief as far as actually trusting Christ is concerned.
Unbelief ought to be a part of our theology, because it is an obviously important subject.
It ought to be a part of every theology book, because it is prophesied, just as a great many other important subjects are prophesied.
Unbelief is declared and illustrated, and it is given to us as historical facts as here in Acts 28.
Unbelief ought to be a subject properly taught in Bible school, because there are a lot of young preachers who will be demoralized when they find that their ministries are not filled with true believers.
They should be taught that believers are the exception to the rule, not the rule itself.
“The God of this hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
That people actually and truly believe on Christ is one of the mysteries – and miracles – of God.
Paul was one of the greatest preachers of Christ to have ever represented the Name of the Lord, and yet when that man preached only some believed, while most refused.
At times Paul preached with boldness; at other times he preached with pathos; but neither could guarantee the results.
At times Paul preached with confidence, and at other times it was with fear and trembling.
But he had no control over the results of his ministry.
In Luke 22 we read of part of Jesus’ trial before the Jewish priests.
“And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,
And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go.
Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.
Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am.
And they said, What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his own mouth.”
He replied by saying that they would seen him sitting at the right had of God.
That was all that they needed to then condemn Him to die.
As He said, they did not believe Him.
It doesn’t require omniscience to know that sinners are unbelievers by nature.
It shouldn’t require our faith to know that those unbelievers will believe only by the grace of God.
The Bible teaches that faith the a gift of God.
The theology of unbelief is that we are all unbelievers, and we will all die in that condition.
But then there is the grace of God.
Praise God for grace!
Praise God that He has granted and given faith to a few sinners like us.