Every now and then a word or a verse will get lodged in my mind for a time. It's different depending on the season, but whatever it is, I find myself returning to it often, turning it over and over, and examining it from every angle.
A Good Word
Substantive. That's the word I'm mulling over now. Up to this point in my life, it's not been a regular part of my vocabulary. I even discovered I was pronouncing it wrong, and it took me some practice to get it right (SUHB-stuhn-tiv).
I’m not even entirely sure how I came upon it. It seems to have coalesced from of a couple of different thoughts I’ve been pondering.
I’m not even entirely sure how I came upon it. It seems to have coalesced from of a couple of different thoughts I’ve been pondering.
Solid or Shifty?
It all started as I was reflecting on what God's Word says about doctrine. There is a doctrine that is solid, and there is a doctrine that is shifty.
Paul makes clear that this latter doctrine is as unstable as the waves and as fickle as the wind. This is the doctrine of human cunning, deceitful schemes, and demons (Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 4:1). Ultimately, these doctrines are insubstantial:
1 Timothy 6:3-4:
Paul makes clear that this latter doctrine is as unstable as the waves and as fickle as the wind. This is the doctrine of human cunning, deceitful schemes, and demons (Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 4:1). Ultimately, these doctrines are insubstantial:
1 Timothy 6:3-4:
[3] If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, [4] he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.
This should give us pause. To understand nothing is not to be desired. Neither is being tossed about. Instead, the LORD wants us to grow to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13). He wants us to know what we’re about—or, rather, what He’s about. When we do, we can walk against the wind and wade through the waves.
We are helped along in this by the men God gifted to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers (Eph. 4:11-12). But there’s nothing innate about these men that enables them to equip the saints. Instead, it’s what they wield: the Word of God.
2 Timothy 3:16-17:
[16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
If we want true understanding and real steadfastness, we need sound doctrine: the faithful teaching of Scripture, the whole counsel of God, the wisdom of His Word.
Like Nails Firmly Fixed
My one-verse wonder, Ecclesiastes 12:11, provides an image of what sound doctrine does: “The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.”
There are three things that this verse teaches us about the wisdom of God’s Word: It prods (like goads), it secures (like nails), and it has an ultimate source (God).
It is that securing aspect that I am most interested in for the topic at hand. Whatever our doctrine, we will be like it. Instead of shifting about, we—like sound doctrine—are to be firmly fixed.
This is why we read God's word. This is why we study sound doctrine. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3), and when we build on that Rock, our house will not fall (Ps. 62:6; Mt. 7:24-27; 1 Cor. 3:10-15).
There are three things that this verse teaches us about the wisdom of God’s Word: It prods (like goads), it secures (like nails), and it has an ultimate source (God).
It is that securing aspect that I am most interested in for the topic at hand. Whatever our doctrine, we will be like it. Instead of shifting about, we—like sound doctrine—are to be firmly fixed.
This is why we read God's word. This is why we study sound doctrine. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3), and when we build on that Rock, our house will not fall (Ps. 62:6; Mt. 7:24-27; 1 Cor. 3:10-15).
A Man of Substance
But we are not to just build on Christ; we are also to become more like Him. The goal of our sanctification is not merely to be more spiritual. The goal of our sanctification is that we may become more substantive—having an ever firmer standing in reality.
We see just how substantial the firstborn from the dead is as He goes about in His resurrection body. As Douglas Wilson points out, when Christ passed through the wall into the upper room, it wasn’t that His resurrection body was ghostly—it was that the wall was. It’s not a question of how a ghostly body could eat a fish; it’s a question of how a ghostly fish could satisfy a true man.
C. S. Lewis makes this a prominent theme in The Great Divorce. The ghosts visiting heaven are so insubstantial that they can’t even walk on the grass without crying in pain. They can’t stand the realness of Heaven. Few decide to stay, but for those that do, their transformation is stunning. These shades are given glorious substance, and they race away into the mountains of that heavenly country with nothing to hold them back.
There is an aspect of this that won’t be complete until glory, but we are mistaken if we think that we should not strive toward it now, as much as we are able, with God’s help. As Lewis said elsewhere, “Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither.”
We see just how substantial the firstborn from the dead is as He goes about in His resurrection body. As Douglas Wilson points out, when Christ passed through the wall into the upper room, it wasn’t that His resurrection body was ghostly—it was that the wall was. It’s not a question of how a ghostly body could eat a fish; it’s a question of how a ghostly fish could satisfy a true man.
C. S. Lewis makes this a prominent theme in The Great Divorce. The ghosts visiting heaven are so insubstantial that they can’t even walk on the grass without crying in pain. They can’t stand the realness of Heaven. Few decide to stay, but for those that do, their transformation is stunning. These shades are given glorious substance, and they race away into the mountains of that heavenly country with nothing to hold them back.
There is an aspect of this that won’t be complete until glory, but we are mistaken if we think that we should not strive toward it now, as much as we are able, with God’s help. As Lewis said elsewhere, “Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth 'thrown in': aim at Earth and you will get neither.”
I want to be a man of substance. I want to be a man who is firmly fixed because I’m pinned in place by God's Word. I want to be a man so steeped in true reality that I laugh at the temporal times around me. I want to be a man who doesn't just take a stand but always stands on the Solid Rock. I want to be a man who doesn’t just know what hills to die on but, like my Savior, is willing to die on one.
Substantive. There’s a word for the year.
Photo Credit: Connecticut Country Antiques