{"id":359,"date":"2012-06-24T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-24T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2012\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-exceptionalism\/"},"modified":"2012-06-24T07:45:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-24T12:45:00","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-exceptionalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/2012\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-exceptionalism\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about exceptionalism?"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"biblequote\">\n<p class=\"noindent\">But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God\u2014and righteousness and sanctification and redemption\u2014that, as it is written, &quot;He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.&quot; <cite class=\"biblequote\">(1&nbsp;Corinthians&nbsp;1:30&ndash;31&mdash;NKJV)<\/cite> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"noindent\">Exceptionalism is a rare gift in this world. It is often only recognized after a lifetime of labor&mdash;driving into the headwinds of mediocrity to bring distinction and elevation above the rest of mankind. Exceptionalism is generally recognized in an individual rather than a class of individuals. It is for this fact that many today deny the very idea of \u201cAmerican Exceptionalism.\u201d There is, quite frankly, no reason for an American to think of himself as the exception to the rule of basic humanity. All men are created equal in this regard&mdash;as a creation of God, as a fallen human being bearing the marred image of the Creator. <\/p>\n<p>What enables general exceptionalism in otherwise unexceptional people is freedom. Exceptionalism is made possible by freedom from superstition (both ancient and modern), from fear of tyrannical evil, and from meddling by aristocracy (1&nbsp;Corinthians&nbsp;1:26). The accountability of both the governed and the government to the laws of the Creator promotes exceptionalism. Any society, people, culture, family, and individual will become exceptional when granted to live freely in allegiance to Christ. This has been the general exceptionalism of western civilization since Christianity, and the root of American exceptionalism to this point in history. Just as Americans have found exceptionalism in freedom, so believers find exceptionalism in Jesus Christ. There is no place for a boastful heart in either case, because exceptionalism is granted by something mightier than the individual&mdash;the Savior. <\/p>\n<p>Our text is quite plain. Those in Christ are the privileged recipients of Heaven\u2019s largess. Three times in verses&nbsp;26 to&nbsp;28 the phrase \u201cGod has chosen\u201d appears in order to remind us of God\u2019s gracious, deliberate choice in calling out for Himself genuine believers. His choice is not primarily the wise (according to man\u2019s reckoning of wisdom), or mainly of the mighty (with ability and power), nor largely of the aristocratic nobles (well-born). Instead, God overwhelmingly chooses out for Himself the \u201cfoolish, the weak, the base and despised\u201d (verses&nbsp;27&ndash;28) to confound the arrogant, self-sated, independent power brokers of this world. The end of verse&nbsp;28 says it all: \u201cthe things which are not (naught&mdash;the \u201cnobodies\u201d), to bring to nothing (null, idle, abolish, make inefficient) the things that are.\u201d The \u201cexceptional\u201d in this world are brought to shame (their wisdom discovers its foolishness, their might proves powerless, and their earthly high birth cannot compare to heavenly citizenship) because the unexceptional are made exceptional through the freedoms in Christ, so that no flesh may have self-glory in God\u2019s presence (verse&nbsp;30). <\/p>\n<p>Believers are made free from the superstitions, the misguided presuppositions, blinding prejudices of the God-unaided and God-forsaken mind (Romans&nbsp;1:18&ndash;32). The scales and shackles drop from a believer\u2019s mind as the glorious Gospel enlightens the heart, biblical truth animates original thought, and embraced Christian virtues are acted upon. Fools are no longer fools when they recognize God\u2019s wisdom. God\u2019s wisdom is the key to the righteous wielding of strength. This is God-granted exceptionalism. <\/p>\n<p>The freedoms found in Christ are further described as: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Receiving His righteousness<\/b>. The believer is declared righteous through the shed blood of the innocent Son of God. Therefore the believer loves the righteous standards of God. <\/li>\n<li><b>Receiving sanctification<\/b> (being set apart for the Lord\u2019s use). Hooker states that righteousness in the believer is \u201cperfect, not inherent\u201d and that sanctification is \u201cinherent, not perfect.\u201d We are to grow in our being set apart for God\u2019s glory. <\/li>\n<li><b>Receiving redemption<\/b>. This is the capstone of the description of the unexceptional being made exceptional in the freedom found in Christ. The Greek word means \u201crelease.\u201d <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"noindent\">Your exceptionalism, if you are born again, is living in the freedom found in Christ. Are you making your boast in the Lord (verse&nbsp;31)? Are you excelling in your Christian pursuits? Trust and obey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God\u2014and righteousness and sanctification and redemption\u2014that, as it is written, &quot;He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.&quot; (1&nbsp;Corinthians&nbsp;1:30&ndash;31&mdash;NKJV) Exceptionalism is a rare gift in this world. It is often only recognized after a lifetime of labor&mdash;driving into the headwinds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}