Dear D,
Certainly I can appreciate your concern about Rev. Fisk’s use of the
word “Paradox” in his September 3, 2010 video entitled “Most
Magisterial Tulips.” (I include the specific reference to the video
in case any reader would like to find it in the archives and learn the
context of this discussion). However, Paradox is not always synonymous
with contradiction – and it fact that was not the original use of the
word. Most often paradox is synonymous with “dilemma” or “puzzle.”
Also, note that Rev. Fisk gives the definition of paradox with which
he is working for the purpose of the video. In his own words a
paradox is: “when reason doesn’t work; things don’t add up; two plus
two doesn’t equal four; like an oxymoron, only actual reality.” In
the way that Rev. Fisk is using it (which has valid precedent in both
the philosophical and theological disciplines) paradox is not
describing two or more contradictory things, but things that merely
SEEM contradictory to us according to logic or reason. There are
plenty of things of God and His Word in Christ which can be argued to
be paradoxical, or if you prefer, can simply be called logical
dilemmas. In other words they just don’t make sense or cannot be
perfectly described in terms of reason. The Scriptural teaching of
the nature of the Trinity might just be the granddaddy of them all.
Another issue that can be considered paradoxical, or a dilemma, is
this one that you raise: “How do you maintain A) God is omnipotent
with B) God desires the salvation of all and C) Only some will be
saved?” The answer is that WE cannot maintain such. At least not via
human logic/reason. Any attempt to do so will result in denying one
truth about God in favor of supporting another. This is part of what
Rev. Fisk was getting at in his critique of Calvinism. Calvin sought
to “solve” all the mysteries of God using human reason. But his
emphasis on God as sovereign (all powerful) led him to deny the idea
that God actually does not desire the death of the wicked (i.e.
Calvin’s teaching of double predestination).
One of Luther’s strengths as a theologian was in his simply letting
God be God and realizing that there were some aspects of God which
were hidden from us. As the creation, we are simply not capable of
understanding the Creator. Trusting God is not a matter of proof but
of faith. This is what I must constantly remind myself every time I
am confronted with a dilemma such as this one. We know that God is
all-powerful because we trust His Word. We know that God desires not
the death of the wicked, because His Word says so. We also know that
not all are saved because, again, His Word says so. The dilemma (or
paradox if you will) that this presents for us that, although God
gives us our reason and all our senses as among his good gifts of
creation, those gifts have their limitations (especially, if not
exclusively, due to our fallen nature). Our Lord reminds us through
the prophet Isaiah, in Chapter 55, verses 8 and 9:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts.” Our Lord then continues in verses 10 and 11 with words
which provide us great encouragement for trusting in His Word: “For as
the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there
but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to
the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out
from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall
accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for
which I sent it.”
In the Scriptures we are assured that God’s Word will accomplish God’s
purpose. But nowhere are we given a proof that stands up to logical
scrutiny. As already mentioned, many things of God are hidden from
us. What we know of God – what he has chosen to us about himself –
are all revealed in Christ Jesus. And the last verses of Isaiah
Chapter 55 (12-13) are among many which are part of the revelation of
God’s plan of salvation which would be fulfilled in Christ, “For you
shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the
hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of
the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up
the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it
shall make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign that shall not be
cut off.” Undoubtedly, the Israelites who were hearing these words
while suffering in the agony of exile were asking, “how can this be?”
The response is there in the words of the earlier verses – God’s Word
always accomplishes its purpose. And God makes clear that His purpose
is the salvation of His people.
I once believed that all of the “dilemmas” or “paradoxes” which
emanate from God’s “hiddeness” would be solved for us when we entered
into the fullness of God’s kingdom at the end of days. But I have
come to be convinced that even in the fullness of God’s Kingdom, these
“dilemmas” will remain. The only difference for us is that we will
not see them as dilemmas, but we will see them in the light of the
resurrected and glorified Christ, as wonderful mysteries which are
part of the God who redeemed and restored us to himself. Far from
being puzzled by such mysteries, we will marvel and rejoice in them
for all eternity.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Jeffrey Ries
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tacoma, WA
