Whether good or bad. That is, whether he did good or evil. Each person will receive according to his deeds, whether good or bad. It is from passages such as this that some American theologians have inferred that the only benefit the . . . Continue reading →
Salvation
The Consensus Of The Divines, Legalism, And The Covenant Of Works
The charge of legalism against the covenant of works is one of those allegations that seems persuasive at first because we all know that legalism is bad and that grace is good. It is almost instinctive to react to the charge by asserting the graciousness of the covenant of works. That is a trap, however, into which we ought not step. Continue reading →
Why Should I Love God?
The first commandment of God’s holy moral law is unequivocal: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 2o:3). In the ground (כִּ֣י) of the second commandment Yahweh Elohim declares, “I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the . . . Continue reading →
There Is Only One Stage Of Justification
In recent years, however, within ostensibly confessional Protestant circles, some have been advocating versions of a two-stage doctrine of justification. One version of this proposal is that we may be said to be justified initially by grace alone, through faith alone but only finally justified on the basis of our sanctification. Some give the whole basis of our final justification to our inherent sanctification and righteousness and others only part of the basis. Continue reading →
Perkins: Faith Is The Instrument Of Salvation
Objection 8. In respect of God, who is truth itself, we are to believe the promise in particular: yet if we respect our own unworthiness and indisposition, we are to fear and in some part to doubt. For the promise of remission . . . Continue reading →
The Synod Of Dort On Election, Conditions Of Salvation, And Fruit (2)
Does The Doctrine Of Perseverance Turn The Covenant Of Grace Into A Covenant of Works?
Here the true nature of the Remonstrant doctrine of perseverance emerges: God helps those who help themselves by cooperating with his “assisting grace.” This is quite another picture of salvation. Here God has not parted the Red Sea and led us through, by the hand, as it were (Jer 31:32; Ex 14:16). Rather, according to the Remonstrants, God has covenanted to co-act with those who do what lies within them (facientibus quod in se est, Deus non denegat gratiam). Continue reading →
Perkins: Grace Admits No Partner Or Fellow
[The Galatians] joined the works of the law with Christ and his grace in the cause of their justification and salvation. Here it must be observed that they which make a union of grace and works in the cause of justification are . . . Continue reading →
An Important Distinction Between Kinds And Functions Of Conditions
When we use the word “condition,” the first sense that probably comes to mind, in English usage, is the first definition offered by the Oxford English Dictionary: “convention, stipulation, proviso.” There is another sense to the word, however, as it was used . . . Continue reading →
The Synod Of Dort On Election, Conditions Of Salvation, And Fruit (1)
The Reformed churches have endured discussions and disagreements about salvation (justification, sanctification, and deliverance from the wrath to come) before. Beginning in the late 16th century a Reformed minister in Amsterdam began offering significant revisions of the Reformed understanding of Scripture. Early . . . Continue reading →
Vermigli On The Causal Relations Among Predestination, Vocation, Justification, And Good Works
It is possible if the effects of predestination are considered together with one another, that one may be the cause of another. But they cannot be the causes of the divine purpose. For calling, which is the effect of predestination, is the . . . Continue reading →
Turretin: We Do Good Works Because We Live By The Gospel
XV. Although we acknowledge the necessity of good works against the Epicureans, we do not on this account confound the law and the gospel and interfere with gratuitous justification by faith alone. Good works are required not for living according to the . . . Continue reading →
Strangers And Aliens (6): Like Newborn Infants (1 Peter 2:1–3)
The word “therefore” is more important in Scripture than we probably realize. It signals a relationship between what is being said now to what was just said. Remember, the chapter divisions we have in Scripture are not original. They were introduced into . . . Continue reading →
Through Good Works? (2)
In order to understand properly what Calvin wrote we need to put these passages in context. Chapter 21 is about the relations between justification and sanctification, which he called the “progress” of justification. In other words, for Calvin, the definitive act of God in declaring sinners righteous, on the basis of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, which is received through faith alone, results in the gradual sanctification of the Christian. Continue reading →
Through Good Works? (1)
Introduction In Reformed theology the noun salvation is typically used in two ways. Sometimes it is used as a synonym for justification. When used this way it does not include sanctification since, according to the Reformed confession, justification is a declarative act . . . Continue reading →
Caspar Olevianus On The State Of Believers In The Judgment
First of all, the reason for His coming to judge is a comfort to believers. The main purpose of Christ’s coming to judge is the glorification of the church. That means that when sin and death have been fully abolished, and the . . . Continue reading →
Hodge: Christ Fulfilled The Conditions Of The Covenant Of Works For Believers
The second consequence attributed to the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, is a title to eternal life. This in the older writers is often expressed by the words “adoption and heirship.” Being made the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 98: Salvation, Good Works, And Conditions
We in the Reformed world are in the midst of another controversy over sanctification, salvation, good works, and conditions in the covenant of grace. Are we justified by grace alone through faith alone but saved by grace, through faith and works? Is . . . Continue reading →
Why Do Christians Do Good Works?
86. Since then we are redeemed from our misery by grace through Christ, without any merit of ours, why should we do good works? Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit after His own . . . Continue reading →
What The Heidelberg Liturgy Teaches Us About Grace, Faith, And Sanctification
The medievals had a saying: the law of praying is the law of believing (lex orandi, lex credendi). By it they meant to say that what we do in worship affects our theology. If you want to change the theology of the future . . . Continue reading →
Strangers And Aliens (3): The Good News Of The Salvation Has Now Been Announced (1 Peter 1:10–12)
What is the central unifying narrative thread in the history of redemption? For many American evangelicals the default answer to this question is: national Israel. For them it is a mark of faithfulness to Scripture to assume that the central, unifying thread . . . Continue reading →