Those attributes which God accounts his greatest riches and greatest glory, Rom. 9:23, even his mercy and free grace, which he intends most to exalt, never saw light till now; the doctrine of salvation by Christ being the stage, wherein only it . . . Continue reading →
salvation
The Geography Of Sin
Researchers at Kansas State University have created a map of the prevalence of the Seven Deadly Sins (envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath) across the USA through statistical analysis (HT: John Bales). A writer from the Las Vegas Sun gives . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: The Unmerited Love Of God Is The Source Of Our Salvation
16. For God so loved the world. Christ opens up the first cause, and, as it were, the source of our salvation, and he does so, that no doubt may remain; for our minds cannot find calm repose, until we arrive at . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 70: Nomism And Antinomianism (9)
The issue before this week is this: The nomist (i.e., the legalist) will frequently deny that he is a legalist. We can even get the nomist to profess orthodox things about the doctrine of justification but here’s an acid test—by the way . . . Continue reading →
Calvin: The Offer Is Common But Faith Is Not
Let us remember, on the other hand, that while life is promised universally to all who believe in Christ, still faith is not common to all. For Christ is made known and held out to the view of all, but the elect . . . Continue reading →
Worthy Of The Gospel
In our proper desire to see Christians grow in sanctity (holiness) Christians have often succombed to the temptation to encourage sanctity by making justification or deliverance from the judgment to come contingent upon our degree of sanctity. The great difficulty with this scheme, . . . Continue reading →
Turretin: Christ Has Saved Us And Is Keeping Us
The method of our salvation; it was not sufficient to obtain salvation once, unless it could be perpetually preserved and applied. Christ obtained the former by his satisfaction, but the ladder he should procure by his intercession. By the former, he obtained . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 29: No Other Name (2): Do We Need Salvation?
In part 1 we looked at the problem created by Jesus’ declaration and the Apostolic teaching that the is the only way to the Father. In this part we need to consider another problem: salvation itself. In the Modern(ist) world it is . . . Continue reading →
Christ’s Intercession As Our Surety
This intercession consists of various acts. (1) The appearing of Christ for us by which he places himself before God the father as the only satisfier for our sins, representing the blood once shall (i.e., The merit of his death) and asking . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 29–30: No Other Name (3): All Or Nothing
Since the garden humans have faced the temptation to listen to an authority claiming to compete with God’s authority. Since the beginning voices have questioned, “has God really said?” Since the beginning voices have raised doubts about whether there is really one . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 31 And 32: He Is The Savior And We Are The Saved
Introduction I first encountered the Reformed theology, piety, and practice (c. 1980) in St John’s Reformed Church, in Lincoln, Neb. There were a couple of fairly recent seminary graduates, who had both studied at the Reformed Episcopal seminary in Philadelphia in the . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 33: God’s Eternally And Only Begotten Son And His Adopted Sons (4)
In some quarters of the patristic church and widely in the medieval church the line between God as the Creator and humans as the created became blurred. One of the more important but often overlooked accomplishments of the Reformation was to recover . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 34: Our Lord Because He Redeems
The Lordship controversy, which began years ago, continues and it lies in the background of some of the contemporary discussions about justification and sanctification. Some evangelicals speak of “making Christ Lord” and others reject that Christ is really, actually ruling over all things. They . . . Continue reading →
Witsius On The Relations Between The Covenants Works And Grace
XV. In Scripture, we find two covenants of God with man: the Covenant of Works, otherwise called, the Covenant of Nature, or the Legal and the Covenant of Grace. The apostle teacheth us this distinction, Rom. 3:27, where he mentions the law . . . Continue reading →
Ames: Redemption Is The Execution Of The Sentence
Redemption is a real deliverance from the evils of punishment, which is actually nothing but the carrying out of the sentence of justification. For in justification we are pronounced just and awarded the judgement of life. In glorification the life that results . . . Continue reading →
What Is The Gift In Ephesians 2:8?
Τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God (ESV) In response to the . . . Continue reading →
Hodge: Salvation Is Entirely Of Grace
Vs. 8, 9. These verses confirm the preceding declaration. The manifestation of the grace of God is the great end of redemption. This is plain, for salvation is entirely of grace. Ye are saved by grace; ye are saved by faith and . . . Continue reading →
Machen: Jesus’ Religion And Ours
In the first place, it will be said, are we not failing to do justice to the true humanity of Jesus, which is affirmed by the creeds of the Church as well as by the modern theologians? When we say that Jesus . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 38: Why Did Christ Suffer Under Pontius Pilate? (1)
When we read the Gospel accounts we can be tempted to disconnect them from the historical context in which the life of Christ occurred. One of the several functions of this line in the Apostles’ Creed, “suffered under Pontius Pilate” is to . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 40: Why Did Jesus Have To Die? (3)
In part 2 we looked at what it means to speak about God being just and about justice. In this last installment we need to consider what it means to speak of truth and the truth of God. During his interrogation of our . . . Continue reading →