The law [as a covenant of works] regards us as creatures originally formed with sufficient ability to yield perfect obedience to it; and accordingly, it requires us to retain and exert that ability in performing perfectly all the duties that we owe . . . Continue reading →
Author Archives: Tony Phelps
Calvin: Our Union With Christ Is A Source Of Comfort
It avails not, indeed, a little to increase our confidence, that we are united to the Son of God by a bond so close, that we can find in our nature that holiness of which we are in want; for he not . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: We Are Wired For Works
The children of fallen Adam are so bent on working for life that they will on no account cease from it till the Holy Spirit so convinces them of their sin and misery as to show them that Mount Sinai is wholly . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: Republication Revealed Self-Righteousness
One reason, therefore, why the Lord displayed the law as a covenant of works* on Sinai was that self-righteous Israelites and all pharisaic professors to the end of time might see that as they have sinned and so have not performed perfect . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: Sinai As A Covenant Of Works Was Subservient To The Covenant Of Grace
God therefore displayed on Mount Sinai the law of the Ten Commandments as a covenant of works in subservience to the covenant of grace. He displayed it in that form in order that the people might, by contemplating it, see what kind . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: We Are Clothed With Christ Now
…though we be clothed with Christ in baptism, yet we must further desire to be clothed upon (2 Cor. 5:4). In this life we are clad with the [righteousness] of Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). This is one garment. In the life to . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: The Mercy Seat Pointed To The Covenant Of Redemption
Moreover, the tables of the law in the ark were covered and hid by the mercy seat, or propitiatory cover. This prefigured that the violated law should be so covered by the divine Surety, who was to fulfill all the righteousness of . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: The Last Days Begin With The First Advent
Another way New Testament writers linked the coming Redeemer with the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy was by referring to the new messianic age as the “last days.” In fact, the phrase “latter days” appears twenty-seven times in the New Testament. In . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: We Come To God In Christ Even Though We Sin
…there is a great temptation arising upon the consideration of our own indignity. For when our sins come to our remembrance, they drive us from the presence of God and make us that we dare not pray. Now the remedy is this. . . . Continue reading →
Luther On The Difference Between Hagar’s Children And Sarah
Therefore the Law or the old covenant contains only physical promises, to which some such condition as this is always attached: “If you will hear My voice” (Ps. 95:7); “If you will keep My covenant” (Ex. 19:5); “If you walk in My . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: Moses Was A Mixed Administration
The Ten Commandments, accordingly, were published from Sinai in the form of a covenant, or federal, transaction. The Sinai transaction was a mixed dispensation. In it, the covenant of grace was repeated and published; the covenant of works was awfully displayed in . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: We Must Receive Christ Where He Is Offered
Of our receiving of Christ given by God, two things must be observed. One is that we must there receive Christ where God offers and gives Him, that is, in the word and sacraments. The second is that faith is our hand . . . Continue reading →
Luther: The Law And The Gospel Make Promise On Different Conditions
For the Law did not have promises added to it about Christ and His blessings, about deliverance from the curse of the Law, sin, and death, and about the free gift of the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, and eternal life. But the . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: The Covenant Of Works Was Displayed On Sinai
That the law as a covenant of works was displayed on Mount Sinai appears also from this: the Ten Commandments, written on tables of stone and so given to Moses on Sinai are called, by the apostle Paul, “the ministration of death, . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: Christ Fulfilled Prophecy In Detail
It is clear from the Gospel accounts that many details of Jesus’s life and messianic mission fulfilled otherwise obscure Old Testament prophecies in stunning and exacting detail. Notice the way New Testament writers spoke of the finished work of Christ in providing . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: The Whole Christ Is Given To Us
. . . how are all believers made one with Christ? Answer. By a donation on God’s part whereby Christ is given unto us and by a receiving on our part. The donation is whereby Christ is made ours for right, so . . . Continue reading →
Luther: A Christian Expects To Be Shamed By The World
See here: a Christian must not think or undertake to arrange his affairs so that he is praised and blessed by the people of this world. No, it is already decided that he must expect shame and cursing, and submit to it . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: The Unregenerate Are Under The Covenant Of Works
As an evidence that all unregenerate persons are under the dominion of the law as a covenant of works, the natural bent of their hearts in all their views respecting the means of salvation is to the way of that covenant [of . . . Continue reading →
Riddlebarger: Three Elements Of New Testament Eschatology
There are three basic elements of New Testament eschatology. The first of these is that the Old Testament promise of a coming Redeemer was realized in Jesus Christ. This was a prominent theme throughout the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of . . . Continue reading →
Luther: If You Are Under The Law You Are A Slave
Now it should be noted that the Holy Spirit insults the people of the Law and of works here by calling them “sons of the slave woman.” It is as though He were to say: “Why do you boast about the righteousness . . . Continue reading →