Nominal Atheists
Psalm 53: 1-6
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
We may well understand that with very few particulars, this psalm is a slightly edited version of Psalm Fourteen. The essential difference between the two is to be found in the ending of the twin psalms. In psalm fourteen the ending focus of verse five is upon the preservation of the righteous, but in psalm fifty-three the focus is upon the rejection of the worldly. Spurgeon urges us to consider the duality of this psalm carefully. After all, if God's revelation speaks to us twice on the same theme, we ought to listen the second time more carefully! In the first, there was a hint of salvation from some fools, but here there is a promise of rejection, as the Hebrew has it, for the worldly. Well may we appreciate the audacity of direct contempt shown to God by the foolish atheist who would demand a sanitized American culture where there is no reminder that God is God.
There is a notorious professor in an area college who regularly represents the organization of atheists in Ohio on the radio circuit. He and his kind will have no rest until the memory of God is erased completely. To hear him argue with believers must certainly cause people to ponder anew the reality of God. Of course, he would have a harder time if there were adequate debaters in our area and a less sympathetic media. Most people, with any common sense and a base American commitment to the notion that there is a God, can sense the sheer nonsense of his irrationality.
However, his views are more pervasive than most people think. Indeed, atheists, who number less than five per cent of the population have succeeded in driving the Name of God and the study of His word almost completely from the public sector. We may even have a sense that even the closet Christians who dearly love our Lord Jesus Christ may in time be persecuted even in this fair land. No, fools such as active atheists ought not to be any real danger in any time or place. What our psalmist puts his finger on in this psalm is a vastly more profound problem than most people would want to admit. And that problem was written about a generation ago by C.S. Lewis.
In his popular fictional account The Screwtape Letters, Lewis compared the audacious antics of such professional atheists with the far larger crowd of nominal atheists. You have probably heard the term nominal more often applied to the word Christian haven't you? These are people who when surveyed admit that there is a God, that He created the universe and that He even came to earth in Jesus Christ. But, their nominality is expressed in their regular misbehavior when they live day in and day out as if there really were not any God in Christ because they have never listened to Him!
Now, I ask you where is their nominality really? Wouldn't it be far better to use the term nominal atheist instead of nominal Christian? This proper identification would seem to be more in line with the teachings of this particular psalm. Especially may we appreciate this line of thought when we look at the context of verses two and three. Is there any wonder that we feel compelled to teach the total depravity of mankind when we read verses like these. The Apostle Paul picks up these verses in Romans 2: 9-20 to argue that just as no one may be declared righteous through observance of the law, than it stands to reason that through the law we might become conscious of sin.
But, this is not the way of the world. No, nominal atheists, while they may not knowingly put their own hands to any great evil, certainly allow very much evil to be accomplished in their midst. Kidner argues that the essential failure of these nominal atheists is that their very nature is corrupt or as the Hebrew allows "rotten to the core". The psalmist says "they never learn" both those who devour God's people and those who call not on God the Lord.
In our time we may unfortunately know how many unborn are devoured in abortion factories. Just as equally sinful are all of those who do not call upon the Name of God!
All of these active and nominal atheists alike share a common fear as our psalmist reveals it. There is a nameless common dread shared by all unrepentant mankind. And that dread is exposed by the duality of this particular psalm. That dread is well expressed by C.S. Lewis in his article The Weight of Glory where he says: "In the end that Face which is the delight or the terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us ..., either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised." If the fools of this world are right, there ought not be any worry at all when it comes to dying! Isn't it interesting that the worldly fear what they ought not to fear, while those who take God at His word and learn to trust in Him, they can pass on the glory with peace of mind.
Yes, there are some complexities here in verse five and many translations have endeavored to get it right. But the utter truth is the fact that fools who do not believe in God are as the Hebrew says: rejected by Him. In the last verse we who belong to Christ may see revealed the heartfelt prayer of the psalmist. "Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!" In other words, as we have learned in earlier verses that everyone is nominally atheist, then the only hope is for God to provide salvation from Zion's holy hill. From that hill where the sacrifices for sin and moral stupidity were regularly made, help must come or every person would eventually be lost.
The restoration desired by the psalmist must be given freely by God in heaven. Providentially we live in a time when we know that the psalmist's hope was accomplished. We may know through God's spiritual revelation that Christ has indeed come to Zion, was rejected by the nominal atheists of His time, and even devoured by those who called not upon our God. That restoration of lost righteousness through His blood is indeed a cause for rejoicing. May we, like Israel who were also invited, be glad.
Salvation has indeed come out of Zion in the person and place of Jesus Christ. Only a fool will reject the "folly" of God who has made foolish the nominal atheism of mankind. May we, like the psalmist rejoice in the restoration of Adam's lost righteousness through the atonement of the second Adam: Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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Kidner, Derek. |
Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Psalms. | |
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Lewis, C.S. |
The Weight of Glory. | |
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Spurgeon, C.H. |
The Treasury of David. | |
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The Holy
Bible, New King James
Version. | ||
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053a |
03 January 93 & 02 January 00 | |