At the end of Gary DeMar’s recent interview with Michael Horton, Gary says that the church is “out of practice” regarding our engagement with culture. He quotes Heb. 5.12, which reads, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.”
I liked much of what Gary said in that interview, including his comment at the end.
Here’s the irony, though. Heb. 6 goes on to list for us some of those “basic principles.” If you’re not familiar with Hebrews 6, take a wild guess - in light of Gary’s recent controversy - what one of those basic principles is:
“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”
See that? “Resurrection of the dead.”
I’m a bit baffled how someone who has been considered an authority on eschatology for decades is still confused about an “elementary doctrine” and then, to make matters worse, attempts to portray those who challenge him for abandoning this most “basic principle” as caring more about arguing “last days issues” on Facebook than they are about engaging the culture.
The reality is that the reformed church has been settled on this most “basic principle” for quite a while now.
Apostle’s Creed: “I believe…The resurrection of the body”
Nicene Creed: “and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”
Athanasian Creed: “He sits on the right hand of the Father, God, Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; and shall give account of their own works”
WCF 22.2. "At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up with the self-same bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls for ever. 3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonour; the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honour, and be made conformable to his own glorious body."
Belgic Article 37: “…all men will personally appear before this great Judge, both men and women and children, that have been from the beginning of the world to the end thereof, being summoned by the voice of the archangel, and by the sound of the trump of God. For all the dead shall be raised out of the earth, and their souls joined and united with their proper bodies in which they formerly lived.”
Heidelberg Catechism, Question 57: "What comfort does the “resurrection of the body” afford thee? That not only my soul after this life shall be immediately taken up to Christ its head; but also, that this my body, being raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul, and made like unto the glorious body of Christ."
Second Helvetic Confession: “THE SECTS: We therefore condemn all who deny a real resurrection of the flesh (II Tim. 2:18), or who with John of Jerusalem, against whom Jerome wrote, do not have a correct view of the glorification of bodies.”...“THE BURIAL OF BODIES. As the bodies of the faithful are the temples of the Holy Spirit which we truly believe will rise again at the Last Day, Scriptures command that they be honorably and without superstition committed to the earth, and also that honorable mention be made of those saints who have fallen asleep in the Lord, and that all duties of familial piety be shown to those left behind, their widows and orphans.”
Need I go on?
The reality is that there was no issue here until DeMar made it an issue. And the other reality is that defending this most “basic principle” did not and does not preclude anyone from engaging the culture. Defending this “elementary doctrine” didn’t seem to hamper our fathers' cultural reformation.
Some of us can actually walk and chew gum at the same time.
If DeMar wants to remain confused after 30+ years of expertise and wants to hang out with hyper-preterists and undo much of the “practice” and “maturity” that has been reached, so be it. That doesn’t mean the rest of us have to join him.