The second point is, what is waited for? Paul says the revelation of “righteousness” and eternal salvation. Here I observe that there is no justification by the observation of the law. And I prove it thus. The righteousness whereby a sinner is . . . Continue reading →
Christian Life
South Of Carmel-By-The-Sea
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The Holy Catholic Church Or A Holy Catholic Church?
Recently I received a query about which English translation of the 9th article of the Apostles’ Creed is correct: “a holy catholic church” or the holy catholic church”? As far as I can tell the evidence is overwhelmingly on the side of . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg Catechism 120–21: Christians Have A Father In Heaven (Updated)
Recently I watched a film about the extension of the telegraph from Omaha to California. It was the original Twitter. Telegrams were short, stylized forms of communication but they were immensely powerful. Like the extension of the railroads, the telegraph helped to . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 103: The Christian Sabbath (2)
There are three parts to the Christian faith: theology, piety, and practice. Theology is what we confess and teach the Scriptures to reveal. Piety is our relation to God and practice is the practical outworking of those things. There is a Reformed . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 92: What Is The Law Of God? (3)
There is a way of life, i.e., there is a way that believers live. There is a way of salvation, a path that believers walk toward eternal life, in the grace of Christ, in union with Christ. It is essential to distinguish, however, between is and through or because. The moralist wants to turn is into through or because. We are not saved through obedience. That is Romanism. We are not saved because of our obedience. That is sheer Pelagianism. Nevertheless, it is the case that those to whom God has sovereignly given new life, to whom he has given the grace of faith and through it union with Christ, will and shall seek to live, sola gratia, sola fide according to God’s moral law. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 92: What Is The Law Of God? (2)
The law was a covenant of works, not a covenant of grace. The “commandment of life” was “the day you eat thereof you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17). It was a commandment of life because, if Adam kept the commandment he would have entered into eternal life (see also Heidelberg 6, 9; Rev 22:14). The condition of the covenant was, to use the words of Christ, “do this and live” (Luke 10:28). His status before God was conditioned upon his obedience to God’s holy law. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 92: What Is The Law Of God?
God’s Word teaches us to have the highest, most reverent view of God’s law generally. The Psalmist declares “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” (v. 97; ESV). To be sure, in Psalm 119 the noun . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (2)
The source, fountain of good works is true faith. By using this expression, the catechism deliberately takes us back to Heidelberg 21, where true faith is defined and to Heidelberg 60 which are among the several places where true faith is said to be the sole instrument (sola fide) of justification and salvation. True faith is also the instrument of union and communion with Christ and it is the headwaters of the believer’s new, Spirit-wrought life in Christ. In other words, true faith is essential to good works. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 91: What Are Good Works? (1)
he objectively, clearly revealed moral law as the baseline for Christian ethics is essential to Christian living and Christian liberty. James calls it “the law of liberty” (James 1:25) because it frees us from the tyranny of human opinion. It does not answer every question (it does not intend or claim to answer every question) but it is an essential starting place. What must a Christian do in response to God’s grace and in union with Christ? Love God with all his faculties and his neighbor as himself. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 90: The Making Alive Of The New Man
n what is a corpse interested? In nothing. Corpses do what they do: nothing. They just decay. They have nothing to do with the living world. They are literally inanimate. Spiritually, before God made us alive, we were spiritually inanimate. We were dead. We had no interest in Christ nor had we interest in his moral will. Now, by his grace, having been made alive we do. That’s a miracle. We have a new stance, a new disposition toward Christ and his moral will for us because we have new life. It’s imperative that we not reverse that order. We are not sanctified and we are certainly not justified or saved because we have a new disposition. That is Romanism. We have a new disposition and we are developing new habits of godliness because we are alive, because we are no longer spiritual corpses dead to Christ, his gospel, and his law. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 89: What Is The Dying Of The Old Man?
Imagine that you were indebted to your neighbor. You lost your job and your neighbor loaned you enough money to get by but he did so at interest. You got a new job but the principal was large and the interest continued to accrue even as you worked to repay him. You work hard but you can never get caught up because the interest grows faster than you can repay. You are a slave. In this world (which really existed) there is no “do over,” there is no bankruptcy court. How will you escape your bondage? Death. Only in death are you free from your slavery to your debt and to your neighbor. This is what Paul is thinking as he describes our liberation from the bondage and dominion of sin. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 88: The Two Parts of the Christian Life
The doctrine of the Christian life is remarkably simple. There are two parts: death and life. The practice of the Christian life, however, is quite another thing. The practice of the Christian life, the living out of our life in Christ, by . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 86: Why Good Works? (3)
Sanctification has another function in the Christian life: to bolster assurance. This doctrine has also been controversial in some circles. There is a view that says that sanctification can play no role whatsoever in assurance. There is also an approach that says that, in seeking assurance, the first place a believer looks is to his sanctification. Continue reading →
Heidelberg 86: Why Good Works? (2)
We should also reject soundly and unreservedly that teaching that will not say that believers, who are united to Christ by the Spirit, through faith alone, who are justified freely (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), have no moral obligation to be conformed to Christ and thus to do good works. That is antinomianism. No, the Spirit is conforming us to Christ’s image. Those who have been given new life (regenerated) will do good works. They want to do good works out of thankfulness. Gratitude is not, as some say, a second blessing any more than oranges are a second blessing on an orange tree (see Belgic Confession art. 24) Continue reading →
Heidelberg 86: Why Good Works? (1)
The Heidelberg Catechism is in three parts: Law, Gospel, and Sanctification or Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. This is not an artificial interpretation of the Catechism nor is it an artificial arrangement of the Christian faith. Question 2 outlines the Catechism for us: . . . Continue reading →
The Gospel Is Not Social
Between Monasticism And Transformation
Like Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) before him, Rauschenbusch’s Pietism had not equipped him to address the challenges before him. Like Schleiermacher, Rauschenbusch turned to the liberals for answers. He synthesized his Pietist theology with Albrecht Ritschl’s theology of the Kingdom of God. The Social Gospel movement wanted to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. Their optimistic eschatology (doctrine of last things) told them that they could do it. They were inspired by the Modern idea of the universal brotherhood of humanity and the universal fatherhood of God. As many others before them had done the Social Gospel movement harassed the Christian faith to their social agenda. Continue reading →
Heidelberg Catechism 76: Embracing, Communing With, And United To Christ
One of the great tragedies of the debates about the nature of the sacraments is that they force us to look at the sacraments instead of looking at him whom they signify, Christ, and that which they promise: the gospel. Thus far we’ve spent a good bit of time doing what it is necessary to come to a clear understanding of what sacraments are, how they are that (sacraments) and not the thing signified but true and real signs and seals of the covenant of grace. The Supper is a real, mysterious, Holy Spiritual communion in the true body and blood of Christ Continue reading →
A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall
My Favorite WWII Aircraft: The Corsair
