Is the law of the Lord perfect, and does it require that our obedience be perfect in its principles, parts, degrees, and continuance? It is impossible, then, that sincere obedience can entitle a sinner to eternal life. A man’s faith may be . . . Continue reading →
HeidelQuotes
Gillespie Against Theonomy
43. Yet the civil power and the ecclesiastical ought not by any means to be confounded and mixed together: both powers are indeed from God, and ordained for his glory and both to be guided by his word, and both are comprehended . . . Continue reading →
Boston: The Mosaic Covenant Was An Administration Of The Covenants Of Grace And Works
Wherefore I conceive the two covenants to have been both delivered on Mount Sinai to the Israelites. First, The covenant of grace made with Abraham, contained in the preface, repeated and promulgate there unto Israel, to be believed and embraced by faith, . . . Continue reading →
Fesko: Arminius Was A Synergist
The alpha point of Arminius’s synergistic conception of salvation is marked by his use of the facientibus—the sinner who is always ready to embrace the grace of God because of universal prevenient grace—and the omega point is marked by his understanding of . . . Continue reading →
Luther: Salvation Through Law Keeping Leads Not To Greater Holiness
Those who seek to be justified through the works of the Law not only fail to crucify their flesh but even increase its lusts—so far are they from being able to be justified. For the Law is the strength of sin (1 . . . Continue reading →
Kuyper Contra Christian Nationalism
It teaches that in a Christian nation, that is, in a nation not without God, government as a servant of God is duty-bound to glorify his name and accordingly ought to (a) remove from administration and legislation anything that impedes the free . . . Continue reading →
Machen: It Is Not Enough To Know That Jesus Is Great And Good
It is not enough for us to know that Jesus is great and good; it is not enough for us to know that He was instrumental in the creation of the world and that He is now seated on the throne of . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: Sinai Considered As Covenant Of Works
The law that was given from Mount Sinai by the ministry of Moses, considered as the matter of the covenant of works, was a ministry of rigor and of terror in opposition to the gospel dispensation, which is called grace; it was . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: Christ Brings Only To the Father Those Given To Him By The Father
Christ brings none to the Father, but those given him by the Father; and this donation, we know, depends on eternal election; for those whom the Father has destined to life, he delivers to the keeping of his Son, that he may . . . Continue reading →
Erskine: The Order Of Assurance Matters Because Grace And Works Are Two Distinct Things
Before we proceed to the more particular consideration of the words, it is very much worthy of our notice, to observe the apostle’s order and method of doctrine, and how he knits the believer’s privilege and duty together. He would have the . . . Continue reading →
Luther: The Power Of The Gospel Leads Us To Love The Law
Behold, this is the doctrine and the power of the Gospel and the treasure by which we are saved, which brings us to the point that we also begin to fulfill the Law. For where the great unfathomable love and favor of . . . Continue reading →
Boston: In The Covenant Of Grace We Are Not Sent Back To The Covenant Of Works
For Adam, by his sin, being become the child of wrath, and both in body and in soul subject to the curse, and seeing nothing due to him but the wrath and vengeance of God, was “afraid, and sought to hide himself . . . Continue reading →
Machen: Faith Is Not A Meritorious Work
Faith is not a meritorious work; the New Testament never says that a man is saved on account of his faith, but always that he is saved through his faith. Faith is the means which the Holy Spirit uses to apply to . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: Ignorance Of The Distinction Between Law And Gospel Fuels Self Righteousness
Ignorance of the difference between the law and the gospel promotes also, in a great degree, the strength and influence of a self-righteous temper. When a man is driven to acts of obedience by the dread of God’s wrath revealed in the . . . Continue reading →
Gamble On Wolfe’s Christian Nationalism
Judging from the attention given to Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism, one could be excused for thinking it is a significant work of scholarship. But Wolfe’s book matters more for the stir it has created than for any weight it carries. One . . . Continue reading →
Machen: Justification Sola Fide Is Liberating
[Justification by faith alone] has been a liberating doctrine; to it is due most of the freedom that we possess today, and if it is abandoned freedom will soon depart. If we are interested in what God thinks of us, we shall . . . Continue reading →
The Cass Report: Evidence In This Field “Remarkably Weak”
This is an area of remarkably weak evidence, and yet results of studies are exaggerated or misrepresented by people on all sides of the debate to support their viewpoint. The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes . . . Continue reading →
Calvin Versus The Baptists
But, to insist still more stoutly upon this point, they add that baptism is a sacrament of repentance and of faith. Accordingly, since neither of these can come about in tender infancy, we must guard against admitting infants into the fellowship of . . . Continue reading →
Boston: Faith Establishes The Law
Object. “Do we then make void the law,” (Rom. 3:31.) leaving an imputation of dishonour upon it, as a disregarded path, by pretending to return another way? Answ. Sinners, being united to Christ by faith, return, being carried back the same way . . . Continue reading →
Colquhoun: New Converts Need To Be Taught The Distinction Between Law And Gospel
If awakened sinners are ignorant of the leading points of difference between the law and the gospel, this will discourage them much from attempting to come to Christ for salvation. If they cannot distinguish aright between the law and the gospel, they . . . Continue reading →