AGR: The Christian’s Continual Struggle with Sin (Part 1)

by R. Scott Clark on February 24, 2018

It was my pleasure to fill-in for Chris Gordon on Abounding Grace Radio this week. On Monday we broadcast a sermon on Romans 13. In that message I tried to help the congregation read Romans 13 against the social-political background of the . . . Continue reading →

The Whole Reason For Writing Romans

by R. Scott Clark on November 13, 2014

The sum and whole cause of the writing of this epistle is to prove that a man is justified by faith only; which proposition whoso denieth, to him is not only this epistle and all that Paul writeth, but also the whole . . . Continue reading →

R. C. Sproul On Romans 8:4–5

by R. Scott Clark on July 1, 2014

Why? in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit (verse 4). Christ did not only come to set us free from . . . Continue reading →

Calvin On Romans 8:4

by R. Scott Clark on June 24, 2014

verse 4. That the justification of the law might be fulfilled, etc. They who understand that the renewed, by the Spirit of Christ, fulfil the law, introduce a gloss wholly alien to the meaning of Paul; for the faithful, while they sojourn . . . Continue reading →

Charles Hodge On Romans 8:4

by R. Scott Clark on June 23, 2014

Verse 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, &c. This verse expresses the design of God in sending his Son, and in condemning sin the flesh. He did thus condemn it, ἵνα, in order that the righteousness . . . Continue reading →

Augustine On Romans 2:13

by R. Scott Clark on June 8, 2014

Now he could not mean to contradict himself in saying, “The doers of the law shall be justified,” as if their justification came through their works, and not through grace; since he declares that a man is justified freely by His grace . . . Continue reading →

Calvin On Romans 2:13 In His Institutes

by R. Scott Clark on June 7, 2014

That they indeed quote Paul in the same sense does them very little good: “The doers of the law, not the hearers, are justified” [Rom. 2:13 p.]. I do not intend to evade the question through Ambrose’s solution: that this was said . . . Continue reading →

Charles Hodge On Romans 2:13

by R. Scott Clark on June 6, 2014

VERSE 13. For not the hearers of the law. This verse is connected with the last clause of the preceding, and assigns the reason why the Jews shall be judged or punished according to the law; the mere possession or knowledge of . . . Continue reading →

Free: Cranfield On Romans And Other NT Essays (UPDATED)

by R. Scott Clark on June 5, 2014

I’m just getting beginning to use and getting to know Logos. They are offering a free copy of C. E. B. Cranfield’s On Romans And Other New Testament Essays. This is a valuable resource. Cranfield’s 1975 ICC commentary remains a standard reference . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (4)

by R. Scott Clark on June 3, 2014

In part 3 we began looking at a document, from 1978, which proposed a two-stage doctrine of justification. It recognized that there is some risk, some difficulty, in speaking of a present justification and a future justification. Nevertheless, the document contends that . . . Continue reading →

Calvin’s Commentary On Romans 2:13

by R. Scott Clark on May 30, 2014

…they gloried in the mere knowledge of it: to obviate this mistake, he declares that the hearing of the law or any knowledge of it is of no such consequence, that any one should on that account lay claim to righteousness, but . . . Continue reading →

Luther’s First Lecture On Romans 2:13 (1515–16)

by R. Scott Clark on May 29, 2014

13. But the doers of the Law will be justified. This passage is interpreted in a twofold way by blessed Augustine in chapter 26 of On the Spirit and the Letter. First in this way:The doers of the Law will be justified means that through . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (3)

by R. Scott Clark on May 29, 2014

In part 2 we considered Romans 2:13 in its own context (Romans 1:18–3:20) and the impulse to distinguish between an initial stage of justification sola gratia, sola fide, on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed, and a final stage of justification in . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (2)

by R. Scott Clark on May 28, 2014

In part 1 we began looking at a neglected aspect of the current controversy over justification and sanctification. What has been neglected is a 1978 proposal that, at the judgment, “faithful disciples” will be justified before God through their faithfulness. The current controversy . . . Continue reading →

Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness?

by R. Scott Clark on May 27, 2014

As I mentioned in an earlier post in Romans 2:13 Paul writes, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (ESV).1 The chapter begins with matter of . . . Continue reading →

Olevianus On Romans 2:13

by R. Scott Clark on May 26, 2014

In 1529, one of Luther’s principal opponents, Johannes Eck (1486–1541) published the first edition his Enchiridion Against Luther and Other Enemies of the Church a refutation of the Protestant errors. Under the heading, “De fide et operibus” he proposed thesis that “faith . . . Continue reading →

Christian Liberty In Romans 14

by R. Scott Clark on February 18, 2014

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, . . . Continue reading →

Office Hours: Sanctification, Perfectionism, And Romans 7

by R. Scott Clark on December 16, 2013

There are many ways to err in the doctrine and practice of sanctification. One of the most egregious errors the church has faced, which continues to afflict believers, is the teaching that believers can and should reach “entire sanctification” in this life. . . . Continue reading →

The Sum And The Whole Cause Of Romans

by Heidelblog on October 23, 2013

Romans 2:13 and the Covenant of Works

by R. Scott Clark on March 9, 2010

It has been suggested in recent years that the true sense of Rom 2:13 is that it intends to say that there are two stages to justification, an initial justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and an alleged . . . Continue reading →