Justification and Literature and Modernity and Philosophy and Preaching and Reading Scripture and Reformed practice and Theology and Theology Proper and biblical theology and ecclesiology and gospel and modern church
gospel, reformed theology, How not to do..., reformed churches, Quotation, Knowledge of God, Systematic Theology, Preaching, Nature of True Faith, solus Christus, Christian Living, Karl Barth, Anselm, Hartshorne, word of Christ Timothy
1:57 pm
In his work on Anselm, Barth writes approvingly of the Medieval theologian when considering the topic of faith. He states:
Faith is revealed to the ‘Word of Christ’ and is not faith if it is not conceived, that is acknowledged and affirmed by the Word of Christ. And the Word of Christ is identical with the ‘Word of those who preach Christ’; that means it is legitimately represented by particular human words.
This Barth contrasts with the natural theology and religion of men like Hartshorne who begin with an a priori of Divine reality and merely elucidate their beliefs from this preconceived notion. Karl Barth’s endeavor is based on a given contrast to men like Hartshorne’s panentheism and monism.
Colin Gunton comments on this saying:
Barth’s given is not innate intellectual equipment so much as the gift of God in Christ. This, too, he finds in Anselm. (From Becoming and Being, pp 118-19)
And
Theology as a legitimate rational pursuit is made possible by the incarnation.(ibid., 119)
While not agreeing with Barth en toto, his remarks are commendable and true in that the Word of Christ is what creates faith and legitimatizes theological endeavor; in reality, it is the legitimization for Christianity and the Christian life. When theology is devoid of speaking of Christ in the first major sections of systematics, something is wrong. Faith is not strengthened by this endeavor; rather, it is harmed and made a tool for philosophical speculation and natural religion.
Christian theology and ‘thinking’ cannot be done outside the context of the church in general and outside the periphery of preaching Christ crucified in specific. This shapes from beginning to end the endeavors of Christian belief and practice. Without the preached Word and the Sacraments, theology is no longer even Christian but falls into Hartshorne’s irreducible a prioris and given where men pontificate about the God they perceive.
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Blogging and Books and Grace and Justification and Literature and Soteriology and Theology of Glory and Theology of the Cross and White Horse Inn and ecclesiology and gospel and modern church
blogosphere, book reviews, confessionalism, false gospel, gospel, Justification, Marks of a True Church, Michael Horton, Missiology, modern Evangelicalism, N. T. Wright, Nature of the Church, pdf, reformed theology, Spirituality of the church, the gospel, Two Kingdoms Theology, White Horse Inn Timothy
5:20 pm
The White Horse Inn blog has compiled all of Dr. Horton’s responses to N. T. Wright from the previous weeks into a pdf file. They also have put together a similar file on Two Kingdoms theology and responses to questions on the subject matter. Lastly, the good doctor has begun a series of comments on the nature, marks, and mission of the Church.
Here’s the introduction to this first article:
In The Courage to be Protestant, David Wells observes that parachurch ministries are increasingly replacing the church itself. The question is whether evangelicalism itself has become a threat to actual churches. Many Christians today believe that going to a Christian concert, evangelistic event, or conference is equivalent to the corporate gathering of the covenant community each Lord’s Day. As George Barna argues in The Revolutionaries (Tyndale, 2005), most Christians will soon (he hopes) receive their spiritual resources on-line and not even find it necessary to attend, much less join, a local church. Stunned by the revelation that many of those most involved were the most dissatisfied with their spiritual growth, Willow Creek Community Church’s self-study, published as Reveal, concluded that believers outgrow the church. Although the respondents actually said that they thought the weak diet was responsible for their poor spiritual health, the leadership concluded that they need to work harder to make people fend for themselves as “self-feeders” and be less dependent on the ministry of the church.
Across the board—from more traditional churches to megachurches and emerging churches, there seems to be a lot of confusion about the nature, marks, and mission of the church. This brief article can’t address all of the issues that I treated in People and Place. However, I’ll mention a few here. Before I do, I should say at the outset that I don’t believe that any of the points below (which I regard as misunderstandings) are new. They all have a long history in evangelicalism.
Too read the rest click the link above… Great content and criticism of what is being pawned off as Christianity in modern Evangelicalism.
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Catechisis and Grace and Literature and Reading Scripture and Reformed Confessions and Reformed practice and Theology and Theology Proper and ecclesiology and gospel
Caspar Olevianus, Catechisis, churches, confessionalism, Doctrine of God, gospel, Heidelberg Catechism, Knowledge of God, Quotation, Reading of God's Word, reformed churches, reformed theology, The Apostles' Creed, The Holy Trinity, Trinitarian Theology, Trinity, Zacharius Ursinus Timothy
11:48 pm
Heidelberg Catechism Qs 24-25
Question 24 Q. How are these articles divided?
A. Into three parts: the first is about God the Father and our creation; the second about God the Son and our redemption; the third about God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.
Question 25 Q. Since there is only one God,[1] why do you speak of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
A. Because God has so revealed Himself in His Word[2] that these three distinct persons are the one, true, eternal God.
[1] Deu 6:4; Isa 44:6; Isa 45:5; 1Co 8:4-6. [2] Gen 1:2-3; Isa 61:1; Isa 63:8-10; Mat 3:16-17; Mat 28:18-19; Luk 4:18; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; 2Co 13:14; Gal 4:6; Tit 3:5-6.
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Catechisis and Literature and Reading Scripture and Reformed Confessions and Reformed practice and Sanctification and Soteriology and Theology of the Cross
Catechisis, churches, confessionalism, Inability, Law of God, Original Sin, Reading of God's Word, reformed churches, reformed theology, Thomas Watson, Total Depravity, Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Shorter Catechism Timothy
4:12 pm
Thomas Watson on the Westminster Shorter Catechism question…
No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but does daily break them, in thought, word, and deed.
‘In many things we offend all.’ James 3:2. Man in his primitive state of innocence, was endowed with ability to keep the whole moral law. He had rectitude of mind, sanctity of will, and perfection of power. He had the copy of God’s law written on his heart; no sooner did God command but he obeyed. As the key is suited to all the wards in the lock, and can open them, so Adam had a power suited to all God’s commands, and could obey them. Adam’s obedience ran parallel with the moral law, as a well made dial goes exactly with the sun. Man in innocence was like a well tuned organ, he was sweetly in tune to the will of God; he was adorned with holiness as the angels, but not confirmed in holiness as the angels. He was holy, but mutable; he fell from his purity, and we with him. Sin cut the lock of original righteousness where our strength lay; it brought a languor and faintness into our souls; and has so weakened us, that we shall never recover our full strength till we put on immortality. What I am now to demonstrate, is, that we cannot yield perfect obedience to the moral law.
I. The case of an unregenerate man is such, that he cannot perfectly obey all God’s commands. He may as well touch the stars, or span the ocean, as yield exact obedience to the law. A person unregenerate cannot act spiritually, he cannot pray in the Holy Ghost, he cannot live by faith, he cannot do duty out of love to duty; and if he cannot do duty spiritually, much less perfectly. Now, that a natural man cannot yield perfect obedience to the moral law, is evident. (1) Because he is spiritually dead. Eph 2:1. How can he, being dead, keep the commandments of God perfectly? A dead man is not fit for action. A sinner has the symptoms of death upon him. He has no sense; he has no sense of the evil of sin, of God’s holiness and veracity; therefore he is said to be without feeling. Eph 4:19. He has no strength. Rom 5:6. What strength has a dead man? A natural man has no strength to deny himself, or to resist temptation; he is dead; and can a dead man fulfil the moral law? (2) A natural man cannot perfectly keep all God’s commandments, because he is born in sin, and lives in sin. Psa 51:5. ‘He drinketh iniquity like water.’ Job 15:16. All the imaginations of his thoughts are evil, and only evil. Gen 6:5. The least evil thought is a breach of the royal law; and if there be defection, there cannot be perfection. As a natural man has no power to keep the moral law, so he has no will. He is not only dead, but worse than dead. A dead man does no hurt, but there is a life of resistance against God that accompanies the death of sin. A natural man not only cannot keep the law through weakness, but he breaks it through wilfulness. ‘We will do whatsoever goes out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven.’ Jer 44:17.
II. As the unregenerate cannot keep the moral law perfectly, so neither can the regenerate. (more…)
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Books and Grace and Justification and Literature and Philosophy and Soteriology and Theology of the Cross and White Horse Inn and gospel and modern church
Apologetics, audio lecture, Law and Gospel, Law/Gospel Distinction, Michael Horton, the gospel, The Reason for God, Tim Keller, White Horse Inn Timothy
6:38 pm
on the White Horse Inn. Tim Keller joins the panel with a very interesting and edifying discussion. Here’s the blurb from the website:
The Reason for God
How can we believe in God when there is so much evil and suffering in the world? Isn’t it arrogant to insist that Christianity is the only true religion? These questions and more will be addressed on this edition of the White Horse Inn as Tim Keller joins the panel to discuss his New York Times bestselling book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism.
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Grace and Justification and New Covenant and Preaching and Reading Scripture and Reformed Confessions and Reformed practice and Sanctification and Soteriology and Theology of the Cross and biblical theology and ecclesiology and gospel
gospel, reformed theology, confessionalism, the gospel, false gospel, Reading of God's Word, reformed churches, Justification, Quotation, Spirituality of the church, Knowledge of God, Doctrines of Grace, Righteousness of faith, Means of Grace, Canons of Dort, Assurance, Perseverance of the Saints, Christian Living, Holiness Perfectionism Timothy
8:48 pm
Continuing in my personal reading through the Canons of Dort as discussed this past week, I have come upon another section dealing with the assurance of the believer in relation to their perseverance. Notice how the Canons discuss the implicit difference between how one subjectively feels and how things actually are before God in His temple court. Although tied to the very posture of faith, assurance is not something that remains at a steady high. We often fail in the Christian life, and we never reach a state of sinless perfection.
I was once told by a Weslyean perfectionist that she had come to the point in her life where she could no longer fall from Grace, while we students could. This idea is poison to the Christian mind for it not only purports the idea of falling from Grace but puts the possibility of Perseverance into the hands of the individual believer. This doctrine is a pestilent myth that was created by the devil in order to deceive us and cause us to fall into sin. In all sincerity this teacher of mine thought she was creating a stimulant for good works, but in reality she was causing sloth and despair. The sin-riddled conscience cannot bear the load of this new law but needs to be freed by the New Covenant in Christ’s blood and body as we partake in the Holy Supper.
This high pedestal can only be achieved by “life-long re-commitments” and “ecstatic experiences” where sincerity becomes the highest form of good. I cannot think of anything more devastating to the sinner, who like the people in Samuel’s day in Bethshemesh, asked “Who can come before a holy God like the LORD?” The people just looked at the ark of the covenant after it had returned (proceeding their declaration of “Ichabod”) and the LORD struck them down, dead. How can we ever think of coming before such a holy God, even as believers?
“But God!”
But God, with the great love with which He loved us sent His Son, born of the Virgin, to die the hell-filled death we still deserve. We can only look to the one who wears Righteousness as His belt and faithfulness around His waist for Redemption from our guilt before God and mercy in our miserable state as offenders of His love and justice and goodness.
The Canons of Dort come to us and do not push upon us a New Sinai to obey, an impossible feat to behold. We would truly be foolish after the long of redemptive history to say “All these things we shall do!” No, the Reformed at Dordrecht come as under shepherds and hear the great drama of redemption and hear the pulse of the sinners heart as it cries to God for mercy even as we believe. When we sin against God, He is not the god of the perfectionist who lets us alone to our misery after once claiming us. In the great love by which He loved us in the Beloved, He comes and gives grace so we do not harden our hearts.
We also see that God uses Means. He uses the Words of Law and Gospel. He declares objective righteousness and peace with God; after slaying us by Sinai, we are raised to festal-gathering in Zion. He uses the Sacraments as visible signs of this reality. They point us to the fact that we now are no longer bound to the power of sin and devil but are free and alive in Christ our Covenant Surety and Head. It is only in freedom that the law of Christ can shine forth as a fulfillment of ‘love the LORD your God and your neighbor as yourself.’ In Baptism God gives us His Triune Name and shows forth to the world how He raises sinners from the dead and in the Lord’s Supper feeds the Slain Lamb to His people for their salvation, body and soul, so they might be raised to Glory at His return. “Now, on to the show!”
Fifth Head of Doctrine – The Perseverance of the Saints
Article 11 – This Assurance Not Always Felt
Scripture meanwhile testifies that believers in this life have to struggle with various doubts of the flesh and, placed under severe temptation, do not always feel this full assurance of faith and certainty of persevering. But God, the Father of all comfort, will not let them be tempted beyond their strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape (1Co 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit will again revive in them the certainty of persevering. (more…)
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Covenant Theology and Lectures and Modern Science and Reformed practice and Theology of the Cross and Two Kingdoms Theology
gospel, confessionalism, audio lecture, churches, reformed churches, Two Kingdoms Theology, Spirituality of the church, Jason Stellman, Podcasts, Covenant Radio, Dual Citizens Timothy
3:15 pm
Covenant Radio interviews Rev. Jason Stellman on how eschatology, life in between the Advents of Christ, affects how we see everything. In other words Eschatology is not neutral but influences how we see the Christian’s worship, life, and practice. This excellent interview helps flesh out what is popularly called “Two Kingdoms Theology.” These topics are discussed in Rev. Stellman’s new book Dual Citizens: Worship and Life between the Already and the Not Yet. This important topic is often overlooked but often reveals how one actually views the Gospel, preaching, Christ and Culture, and how one ‘does’ church.
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Lectures and modern church
audio lecture, Dr. Steve Baugh, Greek Professor, New Testament Scholarship, Office Hours, Westminster Seminary CA Timothy
2:04 pm
W/Dr. Steve Baugh from Westminster Seminary California. The topic is “Confessing the Reformed Faith and NT Scholarship.” I am looking forward to listening to this podcast.
I have not taken any classes with Dr. Baugh yet, but I have been able to sit in on quite a few Greek II classes. I will be taking Greek III with him (I believe) in the Winter Term. I can tell you though that his love for the Gospel and the New Testament text is something that one does not find in ample supply in the scholarly realm today. Enjoy!
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Grace and Justification and Reading Scripture and Reformed Confessions and Reformed practice and Sanctification and Soteriology and Theology of the Cross and ecclesiology and gospel
gospel, reformed theology, confessionalism, the gospel, Reading of God's Word, reformed churches, Justification, Quotation, Spirituality of the church, Knowledge of God, Heidelberg Catechism, Nature of True Faith, Zacharius Ursinus, Caspar Olevianus, The Apostles' Creed, Content of Faith Timothy
11:38 pm
Heidelberg Catechism Qs 20-23
Question 20 Q. Are all men, then, saved by Christ just as they perished through Adam?
A. No. Only those are saved who by a true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all His benefits.[1]
[1] Mat 7:14; Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16-18; Joh 3:36; Rom 11:16-21.
Question 21 Q. What is true faith?
A. True faith is a sure knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word.[1] At the same time it is a firm confidence[2] that not only to others, but also to me,[3] God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation,[4] out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.[5] This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel.[6]
[1] Joh 17:3; Joh 17:17; Heb 11:1-3; Jam 2:19. [2] Rom 4:18-21; Rom 5:1; Rom 10:10; Heb 4:16. [3] Gal 2:20. [4] Rom 1:17; Heb 10:10. [5] Rom 1:1-26; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-10. [6] Act 16:14; Rom 1:16; Rom 10:17; 1Co 1:21.
Question 22 Q. What, then, must a Christian believe?
A. All that is promised us in the gospel,[1] which the articles of our catholic and undoubted Christian faith teach us in a summary.
[1] Mat 28:19; Joh 20:30-31.
Question 23 Q. What are these articles?
A. 1. I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
3. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary;
4. suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell;
5. On the third day He arose from the dead;
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
7. from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit;
9. I believe a holy catholic Christian church, the communion of saints;
10. the forgiveness of sins;
11. the resurrection of the body;
12. and the life everlasting.
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Grace and Justification and Liturgy and Reading Scripture and Reformed Confessions and Reformed practice and Sanctification and Soteriology and Theology and Theology of the Cross and ecclesiology and gospel
Assurance, Canons of Dort, church history, confessionalism, Conversion, Doctrines of Grace, gospel, Justification, Knowledge of God, Liturgy, Nature of True Faith, Perseverance of the Saints, Priority on the Forensic, Promises, Quotation, Reading of God's Word, reformed churches, reformed theology, Repentance and Contrition for Sin, Sanctification, Spirituality of the church, Synod of Dort, the gospel Timothy
2:13 pm
Many people neglect such weighty doctrines but the importance of these things cannot be overlooked. The Christian life is one of turmoil and yet of peace, of suffering and yet of joy. One of the many questions people ask deals with this very topic. Christians of all ages and stripes struggle with their assurance and how to know if they are a Christian or not. For some the idea of backsliding is detrimental to their faith and they think God cannot accept them because of things they have done after their conversion.
This issue has plagued the Church for hundreds of years and is nothing new. The Synod of Dort eloquently dealt with this issue in refuting the Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism of their day. These words are as needed today as they were in the 17th century. With the growing ecumenicism between Catholics and Evangelicals and the appropriation of Roman dogma in the Federal Vision and the New Perspective on Paul, these words of Grace are essential to true Christian piety and practice. We ought not ever separate Christ from His benefits. Neither should we see this outside of the Churchly context where the Word is rightly preached (and divided in Law and Gospel), where the Sacraments are rightly administered, and where the holiness of God is taken seriously in Church discipline. The Church is THE place where God comes down and serves us Himself as a means of giving grace and assurance. When we cut the pipe-line, we cut-off the cause of assurance and perseverance.
Notice how the Reformed churches place the emphasis of Assurance upon the promises of God and perseverance upon the Grace of the Triune. We only look to the fruits of repentance and contrition for sin AFTER we see how God strengthens us and gives grace to believe and repent. Only after seeing Christ’s definite atonement and His active and passive obedience can we see how the Christ For Us becomes the Christ we are in Union with. When the troubled conscience is weighed down by subjective guilt, only the promises of God’s dealing objectively with Guilt can we be freed once again from what we thought was a new despotism. The Forensic, Legal gives way organically to the relational and transformative but only in that order.
Fifth Head of Doctrine – The Perseverance of the Saints
Article 6 – God Will Not Permit His Elect to Be Lost
But God, who is rich in mercy, according to the unchangeable purpose of His election, does not completely withdraw His Holy Spirit from His own even in their deplorable fall. Neither does He permit them to sink so deep that they fall away from the grace of adoption and the state of justification, or commit the sin unto death or the sin against the Holy Spirit and, totally deserted by Him, plunge themselves into eternal ruin.
Article 7 – God Will Again Renew His Elect to Repentance
For in the first place, in their fall, He preserves in them His imperishable seed of regeneration, so that it does not perish and is not cast out. Further, through His Word and Spirit He effectually renews them to repentance. (more…)
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Culture and Miscellaneous
Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, Classical Music, Culture, Music, Sale Timothy
9:50 pm
For those who love classical music and are willing to listen to MP3s which are of less quality then other forms of recording Amazon.com has a phenomenal deal on 99 songs by Antonio Vivaldi for only $2.99. Good stuff!
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Blogging and Covenant Theology and Grace and Justification and New Covenant and Reformed Confessions and Reformed practice and Soteriology and Theology of Glory and Theology of the Cross and biblical theology and ecclesiology and gospel and modern church
gospel, blogosphere, reformed theology, confessionalism, the gospel, churches, christless christianity, false gospel, Reading of God's Word, reformed churches, Justification, New Perspective on Paul, Monocovenantalism, Pilgrim People Timothy
1:01 pm
It seems the emphasis of the Reformation are still needed today. Pastor Michael Brown discusses how the New Perspective road leads to Rome after all. The Reformation churches need a robust soteriology and covenant theology in order to remain faithful to the Gospel within the context of robust Churches. The Reformation of Word and Sacrament is still in need throughout the world, even in so-called Reformed churches.
(Update: Just saw this other post by Dr. Clark at the Heidelblog concerning this very thing)
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“…love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Thursday, Nov 12 2009
Grace and Justification and Literature and Reading Scripture and Reformed practice and Sanctification and Soteriology and Theology and Theology of the Cross and ecclesiology and gospel gospel, reformed theology, the gospel, false gospel, Reading of God's Word, Justification, Quotation, Knowledge of God, John Calvin, Doctrines of Grace, Calvin's Commentaries, The Apostle Paul, Preaching, Priority on the Forensic, Law/Gospel Distinction, Means of Grace, sola Scriptura, Law of God, sola fide, I Timothy, Pure Conscience Timothy 5:39 pm
Such is the goal, τελος, of the Apostolic charge/command according to Paul in his first letter to Timothy. How strange do the questions and ridicules of his opponents sound in light of this. The reason Paul stresses the centrality and purity of the Gospel is because it alone can produce pure love, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. I am dumbfounded in how we naturally want to get away from the objective work of Christ and bring the basis of faith within. Paul labors to say that endless speculations and myths cannot produce faith which brings forth as a spring its fruit in love.
I was fascinated as I was reading Calvin on this passage and how the opponents of Paul’s day and Calvin’s who oppose justification before God on the sole meritorious cause of the alien righteousness of Christ to hear how Calvin was responding to Rome and Paul the Ephesians ‘teachers of the law.’ The responses and answers are the same being given to those who think justification is formally caused by preexisting sanctity, union by the Spirit, extant law-keeping, or that justification is some strange paradox that we cannot articulate.
Why belabor this point? Why hem and haw over the details of the Gospel of Grace? Because as Paul says its τελος is our love; its τελος is a pure heart; its τελος is a good conscience; its τελος is a sincere faith. These things are inextricable. Love cannot issue from a pure heart without a good conscience; a conscience cannot be undefiled without a sincere faith; faith cannot be produced without the preaching the Holy Gospel. It is the Word of Christ that He is the end of the Law for all who believe which produces Spirit-wrought faith. Without the preaching of the Word of God this faith is seriously distorted and prevented. When we speculate before the people of God, or reproduce myths, we kill faith. We do not merely prevent it but we harm the faith of believers. We need the Gospel in order to be right with God; we need the Gospel to assure our faith weekly; we need the Gospel in order to have a good conscience; we need the Gospel of the Christ FOR US on the Cross and at the right hand of the majesty on high in order to have a pure heart that overflows with the love of Christ. This is what brings us into conformity to the image of Christ, what calls us out of our navel-gazing selves, what cuts off speculation at the pass, what destroys pride and arrogance, what causes the desert land to spring forth into the New Heavens and Earth. This Gospel alone brings forth the fulfillment of God’s Law in which He delights.
Listen as Calvin relays some important issues that are central to Paul’s first epistle to Timothy:
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