And one of the more important statements for my theology is that about the ones who have refused to love the truth. There are many who claim they have the truth and love the truth, but yet don't have the truth in them. And one of the signs of this is shutting people up when they ask questions about the 'proclaimed truth' or 'received truth'.
And whenever one is unable to ask questions or told which questions are proper, then there's good reason to question whether what is being taught is the truth. I've seen this adoration of what is received in many fashions. Whether it is in the distortion of the word objective by saying 'we have the most objective source on the planet since our scripture was written by God and so is from a completely outside source." or "If one thin in the Bible is proved false, then I can't believe any of the Bible and can no longer be a Christian." or a multitude of other formulations that come down to, 'if it isn't the way I think it should be, then I'm going to stop playing and go home.'
The lawless one is not the one who asks questions, but the one who wants things their own way. The lawless one is not the one who wants to discuss the questions, but the one who wants to dictate the answers. The lawless one wants things there very own way.
But seeking the truth and following God is about wanting to give up our own way and searching for where God is guiding. The emptying of self is not to fill with one doctrine, but to open self to hearing the Word of God.
A couple of thousand years after this letter to Thessalonica we still are waiting for the day of the Lord that is already here. We are called to live as though it is in the next minute and ass though it may be another thousand years. Scripture may say we don't know the day or the hour and some groups have used this to proclaim the month or the year. That sense of Scripture is that we are in the now and not yet of waiting. We are in the koinonia, but don't know the chronos.
Many of the people who set themselves up as those to be worshipped, don't necessarily say that's what they're doing. They may not even realize that they're setting themselves up in place of God. But whenever someone says, 'this is the way that God wants us to act and don't question me about it', then they are setting themselves up in place of God. They've forgotten to look to make sure that what they are saying is the truth and set themselves up to be lawless even as they are very stringent in how they act and what they say. But what they say and how they act is not according to God's design. Not when they stop the testing and avoid the questions.
This linking of doubt, questions and faith is nothing new. " It is namely through doubt that we come to engage in research [and] through research that we come upon the truth." comes from -- Abelard, _Sic et Non_, 1349. It's from Scripture and saint that we learn to do God's will. But even the saint can be questioned on scripture and faith as we follow scripture to test the spirit (find passage)
The lawless aren't revealed in wild behavior, but in behavior that does not love the truth. The lawless are revealed as they deceive themselves and others. Dobson of Focus on the Family reveals this sort of lawlessness when he cites the work of others and doesn't admit that those who made those reports believe that he is misusing and falsifying what they say. Carol Gilligan, Kyle Pruett, and Angela Phillips have said that Dobson is misstating their work, yet Dobson continues use the work in ways the authors/ researchers say is wrong. That's the attitude of one who is lawless; who believes that he is worth more than another; the one who believes that his opinion is correct no matter what others think.
And it's not entirely wrong to be willing to stand against the crowd. We who are Christian are called at times to stand against what is popular. But there's a difference between standing up to the crowd and refusing to acknowledge that the researchers of a particular work disagree with you as to what it means. One is righteous and the other is self-righteous. And in this case while Dobson is standing against some people it is also true that he has a great many supporters who buy into what he says and who believe that he is authoritative on these matters.
It's not just enough to say that one stands against popular culture. One must actually do so. Or, rather, one who is of Christ is called to stand not against popular culture but for the truth. And when one stands for the truth one ignores the meanderings of culture or received wisdom or long-held truths. One stands for truth by asking for evidence, for proof, for how the view is supported, for can it be shown. It is not which pundit says it or which religious figure approves, but whether they are willing to listen to questions and admit when they've made a mistake.
Tertullian talks of the rule of faith or regula fidei near the end of the 2nd century. He says: "Provided the essence of the rule is not disturbed, you may seek to discuss as much as you like. You may give full reign to your itching curiosity where any point seems unsettled and ambiguous or dark and obscure." (Tertullian, Prescriptions Against Heretics, in Early Latin Theology, S. L. Greenslade, ed. and trans. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956) 14, p. 40.) This is the way of law. We can examine for truth; we can examine for meaning; we can examine for consequences. We can and should ask questions. The rule of faith in Tertullian and his predecessors is broad and open rather than closed.
As scripture says in 'test the spirit'; Tertullian in 'give full reign to your itching curiosity'; or Abelard in 'engage in research'; we are to engage our minds. Those who say, 'trust my authority' are the lawless of whom we have to be wary. Those who say 'I know better than you' are the ones of whom we should be leery. Those who want to give us the answers rather than help us work out the answers are those we should fear. For those are the answers of rule rather than of law.
And those who want to make rules that can't be questioned are those who ultimately don't follow the law. The law can be studied and understood. Rules and regulations may or may not follow the law, but should be subject to the law. And those who proclaim that they cannot or should not be questioned are makers of rules, rather than followers of the law.
The day of the Lord is in our midst. It is not a day that is met with unquestioning obedience, but one that calls for opening our eyes and unstopping our ears. It is a day that calls for growth in understanding by questioning the received truths of the past in preparing to meet the glories of God.
The rule of faith that Tertullian and other down through the centuries mention is not as simple as the five fundamentals (in either version). It is a compendium of what we've learned from scripture and faith. But it is always regulated by a return to scripture and faith. That is so, even though scripture as in the Greek and Hebrew Testaments wasn't formed until after the idea of regula fidei had been expressed. Yet the rule of faith is an idea to which we need to return.
The Nicene Creed is one example of putting down the rule of faith. It is certainly not the only example, there are prayers and creeds in the Greek and Hebrew Testaments or statements such as this is the first commandment and the second is like to it given in the gospels. We who are Christian (and before us those who were/are Jewish) have set down guides to our faith and struggled with what is the essence for millennia.
And as we've done so there have also been those who would set down their version of what scripture means above all other ideas. Augustine writes in The Literal Meaning of Genesis" even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world…. Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books."
There's a difference between the rule of faith, which speaks of God and is not contradictory to fact, and making rules while telling people not to question those rules. Doubt and questions are not opposed to faith. For faith is belief in what cannot be seen or touched (to paraphrase Hebrews 12:18,19) and for those who want certainty that is something that they cannot stand. Faith that is built on being certain is a frail reed that will break as soon as one part is shown to be in error.
We are to be prepared for the coming of our Lord. We are to work so as to not be taken in by those who deceive and bear false witness. We are to work not just for rules, but also for rules that follow the law of God. And that law comes from truth and openness, not from secrecy and closing off questions.
Martin Luther once said "A theologian is born by living, dying, and being damned ----- by thinking, reading, and speculating." Someone who is willing to risk their life for the sake of curiosity is lawful. Someone who wants to avoid the hard question is lawless. It is the wanting quick and easy solutions that makes the one lawless and the willingness to work to find the truth that makes one lawful.
Or one could also quote Romans "Anything that is not based on faith is sin." (14:23) Faith does not avoid what is disturbing or unruly in the questions and doesn't worry about doubt. Faith can abide in the midst of turmoil and trouble. Faith is willing to go forth without the answers knowing that we are those who pass through what is untouchable and a sounding trumpet or a roaring fire (paraphrase of Hebrew 12:18ff); while the lawless is willing to settle for the dictatorship of quick solutions, no questions, and a momentary peace.
The life of faith in the God of Scripture, the God of Abraham and Sarah, of Isaac and Rebecca, and of Jacob, Leah and Rachel; of saints present, past and future is one where we pack our belongings and go on a journey when we cannot see the end. The coming is at hand and yet far away. The coming is something we long for and find in the scattered moments of God's breaking in and yet unimaginably delayed in coming.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
[1] As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, [2] not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. [3] Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. [4] He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. [5] Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? [6] And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes. [7] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. [8] And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the brea!
th of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. [9] The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, [10] and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. [11] For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, [12] so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.
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