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lent
The Problem Of Lent For Confessional Reformed Christians
After all, Protestants don’t have a history of self-inflicted pain to merit spiritual rewards. If as the gospel allies would have it that Lent is to remind us of Christ, then we should also be reminded that nothing we do to attack . . . Continue reading →
Calvin On Lent
Then the superstitions observance of Lent had everywhere prevailed: for both the vulgar imagined that they thereby perform some excellent service to God, and pastors commended it as a holy imitation of Christ; though it is plain that Christ did not fast . . . Continue reading →
On Good Intentions, Spiritual Disciplines, and Christian Freedom
Carter Lindberg tells the story of how the Reformation began to break out in Zürich in 1522: During Lent of 1522, Zwingli was at the house of Christoph Froschauer, a printer, who was laboring over the preparation of the a new edition . . . Continue reading →
Directory Of Publick Worship: Holy Days Have No Warrant In The Word
THERE is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord’s day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called Holy-days, having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued. Nevertheless, . . . Continue reading →
Lent: Of Good Intentions, Spiritual Disciplines, and Christian Freedom
Carter Lindberg tells the story of how the Reformation began to break out in Zürich in 1522: During Lent of 1522, Zwingli was at the house of Christoph Froschauer, a printer, who was laboring over the preparation of the a new edition . . . Continue reading →
Of King Cakes And Christian Liberty
Lost amid the ashes and sausages, King cakes and shrove pancakes — can’t forget about the pancakes — is Zwingli’s deeper concern about the nature of Christian sanctification. As a cradle Catholic who’s done the ashes, and a former evangelical whose fasted . . . Continue reading →
Sacraments Versus Selective Piety
An appropriately rich Reformed sacramentalism also renders Ash Wednesday irrelevant. Infant baptism emphasizes better than anything else outside of the preached Word the priority of God’s grace and the helplessness of sinless humanity in the face of God. The Lord’s Supper, both . . . Continue reading →
Manton: Lent Is Just Another Phony Tradition
That they [Romanists] cry up a private, unproved, unwritten tradition of their own, as of equal authority with this safe and full rule, which is contained in this written Word of God. Their crime and fault may be considered, partly with respect . . . Continue reading →
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples On Lent
“There are men nowadays who teach a foolish godliness instead of Christ’s doctrine. What does it profit me to fast new Lents or to pay my tithes? Why trust myself to formulas of prayer of unknown authors and leave aside the prescriptions . . . Continue reading →
“Relevance” Leads Back To Rome
In the Western church calendar Lent began yesterday on “Ash Wednesday.” Lent did not exist in any form in church law until 325 where the word appears in Canon 5 of the canons of Nicea. Even then there is no detailed prescription . . . Continue reading →
The Westminster Divines On Holy Days
THERE is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord’s day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called Holy-days, having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued. Nevertheless, . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed Reject Lent In Basle In 1534
Article XI Concerning Things Commanded and Not Commanded Of self law (Autonomia) or power in the conscience, Relinquished to Christ alone in the church We confess that no one ought to command in any manner that which Christ has not commanded; also, . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed Defense Of Christian Liberty In 1530
When, therefore, we saw very evidently that the chief men in the Church Beyond the authority of Scripture assumed this authority so to enjoin fasts as to bind men’s consciences, We allowed consciences to be freed from these snares, but by the . . . Continue reading →
With The Reformed Pubcast On Lent And Sola Scriptura
According to the western church calendar this is the Lenten season (the 40 days from “Shrove Tuesday” to Easter) and it is being more widely observed within NAPARC. This is worth noting since, historically, most Reformed churches have not observed Lent and have . . . Continue reading →
Owen Contra Lent, Easter, And The Normative Principle Of Worship
The instances he gives from the church of the Jews, or that may be given, are either civil observances, as the feast of purim; or moral conveniencies directed by general rules, as the building of synagogues; or customary signs suited to the . . . Continue reading →
Richard Sibbes Contra Lent
Some make a mockery of the holy things of God. One part of the year they will be holy; a rotten, foolish affection of people that are popish. In Lent they will use a little austerity, oh! they will please God wondrously! . . . Continue reading →
Zwingli On Rejecting Lent And Protecting Christian Liberty From Man-Made Obligations
DEARLY Beloved in God, after you have heard so eagerly the Gospel and the teachings of the holy Apostles, now for the fourth year, teachings which Almighty God has been merciful enough to publish to you through my weak efforts, the majority . . . Continue reading →
William Whittaker Contra Lent
“But you tell us, why we do so much avoid the Fathers.” I had rather you would tell us why you do so carefully avoid the Scriptures. “For” (say you) “they that cannot away with set times of Fasting, must needs be . . . Continue reading →
Resources On Lent
“Reformed Christians and Lent,” First Things March 31, 2023 William Whittaker Contra Lent Richard Sibbes Contra Lent Owen Contra Lent, Easter, And The Normative Principle Of Worship With The Reformed Pubcast On Lent And Sola Scriptura The Reformed Defense Of Christian Liberty In . . . Continue reading →