He rose the same person, the same Jesus Christ, very God and very man, which had died; he rose according to the nature in which he had suffered, which was his human nature, his true human nature, the very same which it . . . Continue reading →
Eschatology
Chiliasm And Soul Sleep
Our study began with Irenaeus’ contention that the belief in an immediate removal of the soul to the presence of God and Christ at death was a stumbling block to orthodox acceptance of chiliasm, and with his counter proposal that the chiliastic . . . Continue reading →
Two Points On Left Behind And The Secret Rapture
I’m not certain how many “Left Behind” films there have been so far but since the 1970s there have been several evangelical thrillers—beginning with “Thief In The Night”—based on the eschatology of John Nelson Darby (1800–82) et al that anticipate a “secret . . . Continue reading →
Augustine On Romans 2:13
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
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
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 →
Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (4)
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
…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 →
Romans 2:13—Justified Through Our Faithfulness? (3)
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)
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?
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
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 the thesis that . . . Continue reading →
Berkhof On The Standard Of Final Judgment
The standard by which saints and sinners are judged will evidently be the revealed will of God. This is not the same for all. Some have been privileged above others, and this naturally adds to their responsibility, Matt 11:21–24; Rom. 2:12–16. This . . . Continue reading →
Our Sins Won’t Be Revealed
XVII. Further, if it is asked here whether the sins of the pious equally as well as of the wicked will be revealed, we answer that the negative seems more probable to us. (1) On account of the judge, who since he . . . Continue reading →
Saturday And The Silence Of The Lamb
During this season, which many Christians call “Holy Week,” I am perversely drawn to Saturday. Perhaps it is because the Saturday between “Good” Friday and Resurrection Day is, for others a sort of relief. For them it is a day off from . . . Continue reading →
Of Blood Moons, Lunatics, and Snark
John Hagee, the controversial leader of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio (anointed by none other than W. A. Criswell) has announced that the series of lunar eclipses (tetrads) that began about 2:00 AM today, which will be repeated in October 2014, April . . . Continue reading →
The Ten Points Of Marxism
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. . . . Continue reading →
The Utopia Of Leisure
in communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wished, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to . . . Continue reading →
Has The Church Replaced Israel?
It is a common canard among Dispensationalists that Reformed theology must teach that the church “replaces” Israel. They call this “Replacement Theology.” That must is what is known as an a priori, something that someone “knows” before they’ve actually looked at the . . . Continue reading →
We Condemn Jewish Dreams Of A Golden Age
THE SECTS. We therefore condemn all who deny a real resurrection of the flesh (II Tim. 2:18), or who with John of Jerusalem, against whom Jerome wrote, do not have a correct view of the glorification of bodies. We also condemn those . . . Continue reading →