For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins (2 Pet 1:8–9; ESV). Continue reading →
By nature we desire to stand upright and righteous before God by some good thing in ourselves; as the rich man in the gospel, he demands of Christ, ‘What good thing shall I do to be saved?’ [Matthew 19:16]. Again, it is . . . Continue reading →
Few Christians doctrines have been as controverted, in the modern period, as the atonement. For whom did Christ die? What did he accomplish in his death? Should we say that Christ died for all? These are just some of the questions addressed . . . Continue reading →
Dear Fathers and Brothers in Christ: On November 24, 2002 our pastor Rev. BBB preached a sermon entitled “The Lion Won’t Bite the Innocent.” In this sermon he taught both the doctrine of justification on the ground of Christ’s imputed righteousness and . . . Continue reading →
That there is a Reformed doctrine of salvation is clear from the confessions and catechisms of the confessional Presbyterian and Reformed churches. We are saved by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), in Christ alone. God’s Word says: “For . . . Continue reading →
Bob Godfrey preached the evening sermons last night. His text was in Luke 8:40–56. It is a challenging passage, as he observed, but I was struck by one verse in particular and by the difference between the Greek text and the ESV. I was reading the former while Bob was reading, as he should, from the latter from the pulpit. As he read v. 48 we heard, “And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.’” What I was reading, however, …‘Daughter, your faith has saved you…’” (ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέν). Continue reading →
Although the Protestant movement gained political legitimacy with the Religious Peace of Augsburg in 1555, Luther’s reformation had not yet been won. Rome still sought to regain the Palatinate and, by the middle of the 16th century, controversies had already divided the . . . Continue reading →
Others rely upon a mixed kind of righteousness: they will freely own, that their duties and performances will never exalt them into favour and acceptance with God; but, O, say they, it is Christ and our duties, Christ and our prayers, He . . . Continue reading →
“And here let it be remembered that we are not patrons of licentiousness and enemies of good works. For though we exclude them from the act of our justification and salvation, yet we maintain a profitable and necessary use of them in . . . Continue reading →
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 of God whereby he credits (imputes) to sinners the perfect, active and suffering righteousness of Christ so that it is as if those sinners to whom Christ’s righteousness has been so imputed are considered to have themselves accomplished personally all the Christ did for them as their substitute. Further, we say that this benefit is received through faith alone (sola fide) defined as trusting, resting in, and receiving Christ and his righteousness. We confess that both the imputation of Christ’s righteousness and faith as the receiving instrument are nothing but God’s free gifts. Hence we attribute all of this to God’s favor (grace) alone. The slogan for this is sola gratia, by grace alone. Continue reading →
The Heidelberg Catechism is in three parts: Law, Gospel, and Sanctification or Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude. This is not an artificial interpretation of the Catechism nor is it an artificial arrangement of the Christian faith. Question 2 outlines the Catechism for us: 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 many sources (including Luther), so the source criticism of the catechism is challenging. For more on the background of the catechism see Lyle Bierma et al ed., An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism: Sources, History, and Theology (2005) and J. I. Good, Good, The Heidelberg Catechism in Its Newest Light ( Philadelphia, PA: Publication and Sunday School Board of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1914). Continue reading →
I answer, not only in the beginning of our conversion, but also in the continuance and final accomplishment thereof. For here Paul desires in the day of judgment to stand before God only by the justice of faith without his own justice . . . Continue reading →
Does John Piper teach a two-stage doctrine of salvation wherein the initial stage is said to be justification by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ but in which final salvation . . . Continue reading →
157 Q. Now that we have discussed the various articles and parts of articles of the confession of our Christian faith, I would like to hear from you whether we shall be fully saved through such true faith in Christ? A. There . . . Continue reading →
Objection 2. Christ by His death, merited that our works should merit life everlasting. Answer. That is false. All we find in Scripture is that Christ, by His merit procured pardon of sin, imputation of righteousness, and life everlasting. And it is . . . Continue reading →
[I]t is a privilege to be endued with all kinds of learning, of arts and tongues, but alas, all is nothing; for if a man had all wit, wisdom, and learning, and could speak in all matters with the tongue of men . . . Continue reading →