Rendering “sheol”: Beza and Acts 2:27. Beza, for example, worried textually and linguistically over the problem of the citation of Psalm 16:8–11 in Acts 2:25–28. Specifically, verse 10 of the Psalm (Acts 2:27) had been used in the church as one of the . . . Continue reading →
History of Reformed Theology
Benedict Pictet Contra The Limbus Patrum
We must observe, also, that the soul, after this life, goes either into heaven or into hell, and into no other place; for the scripture mentions no other, neither purgatory, nor limbus, nor subterranean caverns, nor Lethean streams; whatever is asserted in . . . Continue reading →
New Insight Into Olevianus And Ursinus On The Imputation Of Active Obedience
The publication of this new research, completed only in the last month, may surprise some readers, disappoint others, and delight still others but it is important research that changes what we know about the origins and development of the controversy over the . . . Continue reading →
Bavinck On The Limbus Patrum
Moreover, all have their own task and place. Roman Catholics assume that after death Old Testament believers waited in the limbo of the fathers and were not released until Christ freed them at his descent into hell; and they also believe that . . . Continue reading →
Vos On The Limbus Patrum
What is the limbus patrum of Roman Catholics? The limbus patrum (limbo of the fathers) is the place where the believing fathers of the Old Testament had to stay in a state of expectation before the coming of the Messiah. After His death on the cross, . . . Continue reading →
Calvin Contra The Limbus Patrum
Others interpret it differently: that Christ descended to the souls of the patriarchs who had died under the law, to announce redemption as accomplished and to free them from the prison where they were confined. To back up this interpretation, they wrongly adduce . . . Continue reading →
Berkhof On The Limbus Patrum
The Limbus Patrum. The Latin word limbus (fringe) was used in the Middle Ages to denote two places on the fringe or outskirts of hell, namely, the Limbus Patrum and the Limbus Infantum. The former is the place where, according to the teachings of Rome, the souls . . . Continue reading →
Review: Forgotten Reformer: Myles Coverdale And The First Forty Years Of The English Reformation By G. F. Main
Myles Coverdale (1488–1569) was a champion of the Word of God in sixteenth-century Europe, especially in England. He translated the Word, preached it, embraced new insights into its meaning vis-à-vis justification by faith alone, rejection of Christ’s physical presence in the Lord’s . . . Continue reading →
The Irish Articles Condemn The Limbus Patrum
102. The doctrine of the Church of Rome, concerning limbus patrum [The limbus of the fathers], limbus puerorum [the limbus of infants], purgatory, prayer for the dead, pardons, adoration of images and relics, and also invocation of saints, is vainly invented, without all warrant of Holy Scripture, yea, and . . . Continue reading →
Turretin Contra The Limbus Patrum (4)
X. What is said of “the sepulcher” and “death” (Gen. 37:35; 42:38)—that Jacob was about to go down with sadness (lsh’vl) (“into the grave”) is falsely drawn to limbo. Sh’vl or hadēs is the grave into which men descend after death. XI. “The pit wherein is . . . Continue reading →
Turretin Contra The Limbus Patrum (3)
VII. Third, the thief is admitted into paradise before the ascension of Christ according to his promise, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk. 23:43). Nor should it be said here that “today” must be construed with the preceding verb . . . Continue reading →
Turretin Contra The Limbus Patrum (2)
The reasons are: (1) the formula of the covenant of grace under which the fathers lived does not suffer them to be hurled into a limbo, but demands that they should be admitted into heaven. For since God promised that he would . . . Continue reading →
Baillie Versus Tombes (5): How The Particular Baptists Appeared To Early Presbyterians
The most applauded Tenets of our modern Anabaptists, are the self-same with what the old Anabaptists did invent The errors of the Anabaptists and their divisions amongst themselves are so many, that to set them down distinctly in any good order, is . . . Continue reading →
Turretin Contra The Limbus Patrum
This question lies between us and the papists who (the more easily to defend their hypothesis concerning the imperfection of the Old Testament) maintain that the fathers who lived under it were not immediately admitted into heaven, but were detained in limbo . . . Continue reading →
Baillie Versus Tombes (4): How The Particular Baptists Appeared To Early Presbyterians
For all this so strong was the delusion, the blinded people did not open their eyes. Becold and Knipperdolling did daily preach new visions, Becold lying in a trance three days. When he awakened he appeared to be mute, but by writing . . . Continue reading →
Baillie Versus Tombes (3): How The Particular Baptists Appeared To Early Presbyterians
This great execution upon them together with the diligence of Luther and other Divines to inform their minds did for some time much compesce [to restrain] that evil spirit and so much fright him out of all the bounds of upper Germany, . . . Continue reading →
Baillie Versus Tombes (2): How The Particular Baptists Appeared To Early Presbyterians
When the light of the Gospel from the Lamp of Luther did begin to shine in all the corners of Germany high and low, the aforementioned unhappy men Stock and Müntzer, did begin also to breath out a pestiferous vapor for to . . . Continue reading →
Baillie Versus Tombes (1): How The Particular Baptists Appeared To Early Presbyterians
The late patrons of Anabaptism among us would make the world believe that this Sect had for its Author the famous Berengarius, and for its fomenters four hundred years ago, the old predecessors of Protestants, commonly called Albigenses: but who will be . . . Continue reading →
Regensburg And Regensburg II: Trying To Reconcile Irreconcilable Differences On Justification
Introduction When in 1618 the Reformed theologian J. H. Alsted (1588–1638) declared that the Protestant doctrine of justification is that “article of faith by which the church stands or falls” (articulus stantis et candentis ecclesiae), he was only repeating what all Protestants . . . Continue reading →
Luther On Bound Choice: Celebrating The Recovery Of The Doctrine Of Sola Gratia (Part 1)
In 1580, when the Lutherans and the Reformed met at Montbeilard, when the topic turned to predestination, Theodore Beza (1519–1605) rose, lifted his copy of Luther’s Concerning Bound Choice (De servo arbitrio), and said, “We stand with Luther.”1 The Lutheran representatives suggested . . . Continue reading →