October 2017 Archive

With Janet Mefferd On Sola Scriptura

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 31, 2017 | 2 Comments

As early as the late 4th century, challenged by a variety of claims of religious authority, many of whom claimed to have an unwritten secret tradition or revelation, Basil the Great (c.330–79), one of the Cappadocian Fathers, rather than standing on the . . . Continue reading →

The Reformed Churches: The Judgment Is Good News For Believers And Bad News For Unbelievers

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 30, 2017

…Then “the books” (that is, the consciences) will be opened, and the dead will be judged according to the things they did in the world, whether good or evil. Indeed, all people will give account of all the idle words they have . . . Continue reading →

The Reformed Churches: The Judgment Is A Source Of Comfort To Believers

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 30, 2017

52. What comfort is it to you, that Christ “shall come to judge the living and the dead”? That in all my sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head, I look for the very same one, who before offered Himself for me to . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: Reading Scripture As Literature (With Joel Kim)

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 30, 2017

The Bible is a story book. When I say “story” you might think of stories that are not true, tall tales like Paul Bunyan or the classical myths. The stories of Scripture are exciting and thrilling and, unlike myths, they are true. . . . Continue reading →

Geneva Catechism (1545): The Judgment Is A Delight For Believers

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 29, 2017 | 4 Comments

Q. 83. Does it give any delight to our conscience that Christ will one day be the judge of the world? A. Indeed singular delight. For we know assuredly that he will come only for our salvation. Q. 84. We should not . . . Continue reading →

Calvin: The Judgment Is Good News For Believers

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 29, 2017 | 3 Comments

Hence arises a wonderful consolation: that we perceive judgment to be in the hands of him who has already destined us to share with him the honor of judging [cf. Matt. 19:28]! Far indeed is he from mounting his judgment seat to . . . Continue reading →

What Good Works Do: Show Thankfulness, Confirm Faith, Win Others To Christ

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 29, 2017 | 3 Comments

170 Q. You are not saying, then, that good works are useless? A. They do not serve to make us right with God, either wholly or in part, but they do serve this purpose: after we have been freely and graciously justified . . . Continue reading →

With Chris Gordon On What It Means To Be Born Again (Part 2)

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 27, 2017 | 5 Comments

It has often been a great temptation to set God’s sovereign, life-giving, grace against the divinely ordained means that he uses to bring about new life. It has been an equally great temptation so to identify that grace with those means as . . . Continue reading →

Video: Sola Scriptura

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 27, 2017 | 6 Comments

David Dickson On Romans 2:13

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 25, 2017

Vers. 13. (For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified.) Reas. 3. Especially intended against the Jews, who according to the rule of Righteousness, cannot be accounted for Righteous before . . . Continue reading →

Turretin: There Is No Future Justification By Grace And Works

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 25, 2017 | 8 Comments

II. However, we must premise here that God, the just Judge (dikaiokritēn), cannot pronounce anyone just and give him a right to life except on the ground of some perfect righteousness which has a necessary connection with life; but that righteousness is . . . Continue reading →

Thomas Cartwright Contra Rome On Romans 2:13

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 25, 2017 | 1 Comment

Verse. 13 For * ‖ not the hearers of the Law are just with God: but the doers of the Law ‖ shall be justified. RHEM. 5. [ 13. Not the hearers] This same sentence agreeable also to Christs words (Mat, 7. . . . Continue reading →

Leon Morris On Romans 2:13

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 25, 2017

13. For ties this in with the preceding and explains it. Those who hear the law reminds us of the circumstances of the day. People did not normally read for themselves (the scribe was a member of a skilled profession). They heard . . . Continue reading →

Cranfield On Why “Works Of The Law” Means More Than Mosaic Ceremonies

by

• Heidelblog

on October 25, 2017

We turn now at last to Romans. The first occurrence of ἔργα νόμου is in 3:20: διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας. Dunn explains ἔργα νόμου here as meaning quite specifically those observances . . . Continue reading →

Turretin Contra Two-Stage Justification

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 25, 2017 | 1 Comment

VIII. Although our justification will be fully declared on the last day (our good works also being brought forward as the sign and proof of its truth, Mt. 25:34–40), still falsely would anyone maintain from this a twofold gospel justification—one from faith . . . Continue reading →

WSC Student Housing Construction Update 24 October 2017

by R. Scott Clark on October 24, 2017

This gallery contains 4 photos.

Why We Remember The Reformation (Part 3)

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 23, 2017 | 15 Comments

“God’s verdict of not guilty and his imputing of his own righteousness to us at the beginning of the Christian life is by faith alone… that’s how we get started. James is answering the question ‘does the ongoing and final reckoning of . . . Continue reading →

Resources On The Controversy Over “Final Salvation Through Works”

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 22, 2017 | 6 Comments

For the last several years several writers identified with the broader Reformed movement have proposed that Christians are saved initially by grace alone, through faith alone but finally through faith and works. There are two claims here: 1)  salvation is in two . . . Continue reading →

With Chris Gordon On What It Means To Be Born Again (Part 1)

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 21, 2017 | 4 Comments

“I was saved in…” or “I was born again in…” are both sentiments regularly expressed by well-meaning evangelicals. They mean to testify to the power of the Lord to save and to the reality of salvation in our time. We should affirm . . . Continue reading →

Did Ursinus Teach Final Salvation Through Faith And Works?

by

• R. Scott Clark

on October 20, 2017 | 11 Comments

Zacharias Ursinus (1534–83) was the principal author of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563). He was responsible for perhaps as much as 70% of the catechism, though the two source documents that he created, from which much of the catechism was formed, drew from . . . Continue reading →