In this way only we attain to what is not to say difficult but altogether against nature, to love those that hate us, render good for evil, and blessing for cursing, remembering that we are not to reflect on the wickedness of . . . Continue reading →
2014 Archive
Lewis: Living In A Society Of Possible Gods
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, and to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you . . . Continue reading →
Law, Gospel, Law
I think, not only the content of preaching, but the order of the content is important; indispensable even. J. Gresham Machen, in Christianity and Liberalism, wrote, The consciousness of sin was formerly the starting-point of all preaching, but today it is gone… . . . Continue reading →
Every Day Is Father’s Day For Christians
Q. 26. What do you believe you when thou say, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”? That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who of nothing made heaven and earth with all that in . . . Continue reading →
Law And Gospel In A Pastoral Context
DATHENUS: Just as this is very comforting, so it also is certain and true. For this is what Paul is teaching us with these similar words, namely, that “by the deeds of the law no flesh shall justified in his sight: for . . . Continue reading →
Are We All Really Abraham’s Children?
Something I heard recently led to me think about the claim that is frequently made about the three great Western religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We are all frequently said to be “people of the book” and just as frequently said to . . . Continue reading →
Olevianus On Christ As Mediator Of The Covenant Of Grace
[T]he Son of God, having been constituted by the Father as Mediator of the covenant, the guarantor on two counts: 1) He shall satisfy for the sins of all those whom the Father has given him (John 17) and he decreed from . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: The Law Given At Sinai Was A Repetition Of The Covenant Of Works
XLVIII. Secondly, we more especially remark, that when the law was given from Mount Sinai or Horeb there was a repetition of the covenant of works. For those tremendous signs of thunders and lightnings, of an earthquake, a thick smoke and black . . . Continue reading →
Hodge On Letter And Spirit
For the letter (i.e. the law) killeth, but the spirit (i.e. the gospel) giveth life. This is the reason why God hath made Paul the minister of the spirit. ‘God had made us able ministers not of the law but of the . . . Continue reading →
Ambivalence About Student Evaluations
Student ratings continue to be the source of information most widely used to assess teaching. The use of written, formal student ratings increased from 88.1 to 94.2 percent over the ten-year period. A dean in Texas wrote, “Students are the most accurate . . . Continue reading →
Good’s Brutal Assessment Of Two Delegates To Dort
Basle ought to have sent [Wollebius] to that synod [of Dort] instead of the two mediocre delegates she sent, as he would have ranked up close to Diodati in ability. —James I. Good, History of the Swiss Reformed Church Since the Reformation . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Sanctification And Virtue
One aspect of our new life in Christ to which modern evangelical and Reformed Christians have not always paid a great deal of attention is the matter of virtue. There are some good reasons for this. The medieval church came to think . . . Continue reading →
Taking Notes By Hand Works Best
Pop quizzes, of course, are not the best measure of learning, which is an iterative and reflective process. Recent Princeton University and University of California studies took this into account while investigating the differences between note-taking on a laptop and note-taking by . . . Continue reading →
The Shield Of Works? Faith, Spiritual Warfare, And Salvation
The preacher this morning read from Ephesians 6 and Paul’s expression in 6:16 struck me relative to the current discussion about works and salvation. There is no question whether believers will do good works or whether those good works are evidence of . . . Continue reading →
Augustine On Romans 2:13
Now he could not mean to contradict himself in saying, “The doers of the law shall be justified,” as if their justification came through their works, and not through grace; since he declares that a man is justified freely by His grace . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On Romans 2:13 In His Institutes
That they indeed quote Paul in the same sense does them very little good: “The doers of the law, not the hearers, are justified” [Rom. 2:13 p.]. I do not intend to evade the question through Ambrose’s solution: that this was said . . . Continue reading →
20th Anniversary Of Exiles From Eden
Readers and others sometimes ask which books have influenced the way I look at this or that. Sometimes I can answer, sometimes I can’t. One influential book that I read early in my academic career, while I was a graduate student, was . . . Continue reading →
Witsius And Turretin On The Necessity And Efficacy Of Good Works In Salvation
Introduction There is no question among orthodox, i.e., confessional, Reformed folk whether good works are necessary as a consequence, evidence, and a fruit of justification and sanctification by grace alone, through faith alone. There is no question whether God’s moral law, whether summarized in . . . Continue reading →
Charles Hodge On Romans 2:13
VERSE 13. For not the hearers of the law. This verse is connected with the last clause of the preceding, and assigns the reason why the Jews shall be judged or punished according to the law; the mere possession or knowledge of . . . Continue reading →
Free: Cranfield On Romans And Other NT Essays (UPDATED)
I’m just getting beginning to use and getting to know Logos. They are offering a free copy of C. E. B. Cranfield’s On Romans And Other New Testament Essays. This is a valuable resource. Cranfield’s 1975 ICC commentary remains a standard reference . . . Continue reading →