Vers. 13. (For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified.) Reas. 3. Especially intended against the Jews, who according to the rule of Righteousness, cannot be accounted for Righteous before . . . Continue reading →
II. However, we must premise here that God, the just Judge (dikaiokritēn), cannot pronounce anyone just and give him a right to life except on the ground of some perfect righteousness which has a necessary connection with life; but that righteousness is . . . Continue reading →
Verse. 13 For * ‖ not the hearers of the Law are just with God: but the doers of the Law ‖ shall be justified. RHEM. 5. [ 13. Not the hearers] This same sentence agreeable also to Christs words (Mat, 7. . . . Continue reading →
13. For ties this in with the preceding and explains it. Those who hear the law reminds us of the circumstances of the day. People did not normally read for themselves (the scribe was a member of a skilled profession). They heard . . . Continue reading →
We turn now at last to Romans. The first occurrence of ἔργα νόμου is in 3:20: διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, διὰ γὰρ νόμου ἐπίγνωσις ἁμαρτίας. Dunn explains ἔργα νόμου here as meaning quite specifically those observances . . . Continue reading →
VIII. Although our justification will be fully declared on the last day (our good works also being brought forward as the sign and proof of its truth, Mt. 25:34–40), still falsely would anyone maintain from this a twofold gospel justification—one from faith . . . Continue reading →
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“God’s verdict of not guilty and his imputing of his own righteousness to us at the beginning of the Christian life is by faith alone… that’s how we get started. James is answering the question ‘does the ongoing and final reckoning of . . . Continue reading →
For the last several years several writers identified with the broader Reformed movement have proposed that Christians are saved initially by grace alone, through faith alone but finally through faith and works. There are two claims here: 1) salvation is in two . . . Continue reading →
“I was saved in…” or “I was born again in…” are both sentiments regularly expressed by well-meaning evangelicals. They mean to testify to the power of the Lord to save and to the reality of salvation in our time. We should affirm . . . Continue reading →
Zacharias Ursinus (1534–83) was the principal author of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563). He was responsible for perhaps as much as 70% of the catechism, though the two source documents that he created, from which much of the catechism was formed, drew from . . . Continue reading →
In 1980, Daniel P. Fuller published Gospel and Law: Contrast or Continuum seeking to lay siege to both the Dispensational tradition in which he had been raised and covenant theology as he understood it. This work provoked strong responses from some within . . . Continue reading →
It is ironic that, as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the Reformed-ish wing of evangelicalism is having a controversy over salvation. It has been proposed by a leading evangelical pastor that we are initially justified by grace alone, through . . . Continue reading →
8. For by grace are ye saved. This is an inference from the former statements. Having treated of election and of effectual calling, he arrives at this general conclusion, that they had obtained salvation by faith alone. First, he asserts, that the . . . Continue reading →
It is October 2017. 500 years ago this month Martin Luther wrote 95 theses against the abuse of indulgences in the Western church. We have traced the Reformation to this date for a long time but as you and I have discussed . . . Continue reading →
2:9 οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων (ouk ex ergōn), “not from works.” There are two important elements to v. 9. The first is the another abrupt statement: “not from works” (also Rom 9:12 and Titus 3:5; cf. Rom 11:6). This shows the fundamental Pauline . . . Continue reading →
2:8 Τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως (Tē gar chariti este sesōsmenoi dia pisteōs), “for by grace you are saved through faith.” Paul resumes the line previewed in v. 5 with the addition of explanatory γάρ (gar), “[F]or by grace you . . . Continue reading →