General Han Solo(Robert Rowe) has made another blunder in quoting the Belgic confession in support of his Neo-orthodox view that it supports the idea that God’s word is not the ultimate authority and rather the sentient universe is the true ultimate authority for Christians that binds our conscious(and somehow this ties into theosis). The problem is he is misusing the scriptures and the Confessions. Robert also was defending that the entire world has heard the Gospel.
He brought up Romans 10:18:
‘But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:
“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”
He thinks this is not about human agency bringing the Gospel to men, but rather the universe revealing the Gospel to us. Why does Robert think that? Because it quotes Psalm 19:4. Which is speaking about the “heavens” declaring the glory of God.
i) The problem with that is we know the Psalms are not a text uncommon for using poetic language. Stars and planets do not actually talk and believe it or not they remain silent still today.
ii) It’s speaking of general revelation and not special revelation (which are in verses 7-14). King David was not thinking of the Gospel when writing that.
Natural revelation is without words and is universal, being unrestricted by the division of languages. It transcends human communication without the use of speech, words, and sounds (cf. NIV text note, v. 3). To those who are inclined to hear, revelation comes with no regard for linguistic or geographical barriers, even to the ends of the world (v. 4). Calvin, 1: 308-9, observes, “When a man, from beholding and contemplating the heavens, has been brought to acknowledge God, he will learn also to reflect upon and to admire his wisdom and power as displayed on the face of the earth, not only in general, but even in the minutest plants.”
VanGemeren, Willem A.. Psalms (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 8156-8160). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Think of it as a world without the high towers, without modern lighting, and the pollution we have. Sometimes they had flat treeless ground to stare up at the heavens. That the whole Sky was open and all around you in that desert sky was millions of Bright Stars. A wondrous sight and it shows the beauty and power of God. It’s a metaphor to explain how the heavens show his power and goodness.
iii) The point of Romans 10:18 is Paul affirming that the Jews had certainly heard the Gospel and the proof is that the Gospel is being heard and even is being accepted by the Gentiles. Which would entail Israel heard it first. If the Gentiles have been presented the gospel, then the Prophesy that God’s kingdom would encompass the whole world Which is a fulfillment of OT prophecies(such as Isaiah 52:7). Which scholars like Thomas Schreiner and C.E.B. Cranfield agree with. Clearly, if Paul thought the whole world knew the Gospel, then he would have no reason to continue his missionary journey ( Romans 15:24). Since Paul’s missionary work isn’t over and still is needed Rowe’s eisegesis should be rejected.
First, what is Paul’s purpose in using a passage that extols God’s revelation in nature (as Ps. 19: 1– 6 does) in this context? The implied object of the verb “heard” in Paul’s question must be “the word of Christ”; “their voice” and “their words” in the Psalm verse must then refer to the voices and words of Christian preachers (see vv. 14– 16). Paul is not, then, simply using the text according to its original meaning. 34 His application probably rests on a general analogy: as God’s word of general revelation has been proclaimed all over the earth, so God’s word of special revelation, in the gospel, has been spread all over the earth. 35 His intention is not to interpret the verse of the Psalm, but to use its language, with the “echoes” of God’s revelation that it awakes, to assert the universal preaching of the gospel.
Moo, Douglas J.. The Epistle to the Romans (The New International Commentary on the New Testament) (pp. 666-667). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
A better solution is to say that Paul uses Ps. 19:4, which in its original context refers to natural revelation, to portray the dissemination of the gospel message to the ends of the earth (so Murray 1965: 61; Aageson 1987: 60; cf. Fitzmyer 1993c: 599). He does not restrict himself to the historical meaning of the text. One should observe, however, that Ps. 19 refers to both general revelation (vv. 1–6) and special revelation (vv. 7–14). Paul perceives that the progress and the course of the gospel is such that it now extends over the whole earth, so that the proclamation of the gospel is now comparable to the all-encompassing reach of general revelation. One of the remarkable features of the new age inaugurated by Christ is that the saving message is no longer restricted to Israel but encompasses the whole world. One should not press Paul’s words inordinately here. The purpose is not to say that all missionary work has been accomplished, for as Rom. 15:24 demonstrates Paul had plans to evangelize Spain (Cranfield 1979: 537).[21] What these words indicate is that the mission was now extended to include Gentiles (cf. Col. 1:23). God’s general revelation thus functions as a type and anticipation of the gospel message that extends to all peoples.
Schreiner, Thomas R.. Romans (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 11175-11184). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
iii) Even if the interpretation Robert was providing was true, this text hardly would show that the universe is our ultimate authority.
Robert Rowe appealed to the Belgic confession to justify his assertions as historical and to proclaim that the “book of nature” is an authority over man. Article 2 states:
We know God by two means:
First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: God’s eternal power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.
All these things are enough to convict humans and to leave them without excuse.
Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for God’s glory and for our salvation.
i) The issue is that this confession holds to the classical Calvinist view that nature provides only a general revelation and isn’t even close to viewing these things as the “Gospel in the stars” and that the universe is our ultimate authority.
ii) The confession uses it as a metaphor and not as an actual doctrine. It is used to explain the way we see God’s glory through the creation.
iii) It still isn’t even addressing the issue of ultimate authority. Especially, when we get article 6 proclaiming this:
We receive all these books and these only as holy and canonical, for the regulating, founding, and establishing of our faith. And we believe without a doubt all things contained in them.
iv) We also need not take each confession as authoritative. Even if we did that doesn’t entail we subscribe to every tenet in that confession.
v) In what way is nature like a book? In the sense that it can tell you things about the author. He is skillful, powerful, and good. He stresses the metaphor of nature being like a book in extreme fashion. Rowe thinks that the metaphor is really about the book of science. The Book of Science is a book where the writer uses the characters of the book of nature and sometimes invents others to help his story. Man and his presuppositions write the story. The issue is everyone has their own personal book of science because each of us is its own authors.
Robert Rowe also thinks that numbers are sentient creatures. That is obviously ridiculous. Numbers are either abstract objects or abstract concepts. What metaphysics does Rowe think is the case? Do we reside in a universal mind? Are we then divine concepts? Is he defending objective idealism? Is he going to explain how on his view numbers are eternal sentient creatures with God? How does he get around John 1:1? He presents a bizarre view with a strange hermeneutic. He also needs to unpack his metaphysical views on theosis.
The Council 