Listening to the Past: Peter A. Lillback shares wisdom from the life of George Washington

In the new issue of Credo Magazine, “Born Again: God’s Sovereign Grace in the Miracle of Regeneration,” Peter Lillback answers three questions concerning George Washington, the seminary and the local church, and a fantasy dinner with Washington and Calvin. Lillback is president of Westminster Theological Seminary, and author of George Washington’s Sacred Fire. Here is what Lillback had to say:

What lessons have you learned from George Washington?

Three aspects of Washington’s leadership are models for my leadership at Westminster: character, concern for the good of the whole institution, and self-denial. First, Washington’s life showed that character matters. Honesty, humility, perseverance, conviction for and adherence to core values were all aspects of his renowned leadership that emerged from his character. Those qualities are timeless for leaders and are aspirations that I long for in myself and my community. Second, Washington consistently asked what was best for the “good of the great whole” when making a difficult decision. As I’ve led Westminster, I’ve tried to consider not just what’s good for the professors, or the students or the staff, but what’s best for Westminster Seminary as a whole. Third, Washington’s self-denial is seen when he refused to become king, as he was urged to do by his officers. A leader who leads to serve others creates the healthiest and most stable institution humanly possible.

How do you see the seminary serving the local church?

The seminary is never an end in itself. Seminary narcissism is a death knell for the churches it serves and for the relevance of the seminary itself. The word “seminary” suggests a seed bed for growing young plants. If trees were never moved from the greenhouse, the trees and the greenhouse would suffer and eventually die. If attention is given only to the greenhouse, the seedlings may suffer from lack of nurture or perhaps not even be planted. But when the greenhouse and the seedlings are cared for together with recognition of their distinct and interdependent value, generations of life will result. When the seminary sees itself as a servant to advance the health of the church, it assures the survivability of both. Another way to express this is captured in the words, “What’s whispered in the seminary classroom in one generation will be shouted from the pulpits in the next.” The biblical truth or lack thereof in a seminary’s curriculum and instruction will be reproduced by the students that the seminary trains. The seminary serves the local church best when it assures that the church’s future pastors are taught to honor Christ, to proclaim his Word and to live by his life-saving gospel.

If you could host George Washington and John Calvin for dinner, what conversations do you imagine would transpire?

After getting over the amazement of their contemporaneous resurrection, and at being, of all places, at the home of a Presbyterian seminary president, I think the conversation would begin with a deep and common commitment to the absolute sovereignty of God’s providence. Providence, of course, was a core doctrine in Calvin’s theology. Moreover, Washington referred to providence more than 270 times in his writings, showing his reliance upon God’s sovereignty in every aspect of life.

They probably would also have a good discussion of how religious liberty should work its way out in a free nation. Calvin was shaped by the idea that the state should oversee the religious convictions of individuals, whereas Washington was convinced of the full religious liberty of conscience.

Finally, I think Washington would express his gratefulness to Calvin for all the Presbyterian support for the American Revolution. Many of Washington’s officers and soldiers were Presbyterians. After all, Presbyterians historically have tended to be a rather contentious group. Whether that’s true of Southern Baptists, I’ll leave to the reader to decide.

This interview is used with permission from Towers.

Read more interviews in the new issue of Credo Magazine:

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Born Again: God’s Sovereign Grace in the Miracle of Regeneration

While doctrines such as election, justification, and sanctification typically receive all of the attention in theological conversations, the doctrine of regeneration is often forgotten. Yet, it is this doctrine that undergirds the entire order of salvation. It is the initiatory change in regeneration that results in everything else, from faith and repentance to justification, sanctification, and perseverance. All of these other doctrines owe their existence to that first moment when God breaths new spiritual life into the sinner’s dead corpse.

Regeneration, or the new birth, was certainly important to Jesus. In John 3 Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless he is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God! Jesus goes on to highlight the sovereignty of the Spirit in the new birth as well, comparing him to the wind which blows wherever it pleases. This reminds us that since Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus there has been a long history of debate over exactly what it means to be “born again,” a debate that has preoccupied the best theological minds, including Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, the Synod of Dort, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, and many, many others. The key questions in this controversial matter are these: Does God work alone (monergism) to create new spiritual life in depraved sinners, or does God and man cooperate with one another (synergism), man having the final say in whether God’s grace will be accepted or rejected? Also, does regeneration precede and cause conversion (faith and repentance), or is the Spirit’s supernatural work in regeneration conditioned upon man’s will to believe? We believe Scripture overwhelmingly supports the former. Anything else would compromise the sovereignty of God and rob him of his glory in salvation.

Join us in this issue as we explore the doctrine of regeneration, a doctrine so important that Jesus himself felt it was the first thing he needed to address on that dark night when Nicodemus approached him with the most piercing of spiritual questions.

Contributors include Matthew Barrett, Thomas Nettles, Jonathan Leeman, Douglas Sweeney, Leonardo De Chirico, Andy Naselli, and Tom Ascol.

Matthew Barrett, Executive Editor