Fallen, sinful man stands in need of the utmost encouragement that divine condescension can extend unto, to prevail with him to receive and lay hold of the promise of grace and mercy by Jesus Christ. There is nothing that we are so . . . Continue reading →
Sola Fide
Perkins: God Finds In Our Good Works More To Damn Than To Save
Q: How is he accepted righteous before God? A: By the righteousness of Christ imputed to him [2 Col 5:21]. Q: What profit comes by being thus justified? A: Hereby and by no other means in the world, the believer shall be . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 134: A Federal Vision Primer
I am interrupting the series on the doctrine of God to talk a little bit more about the Federal Vision. I have received many comments from those who tell me that they do not understand the Federal Vision. What is it? From . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: By Nature We Seek To Contribute To Our Salvation But The Gospel….
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 →
Heidelcast 138: With Darryl Hart On Why You Should Not Convert To Rome
Darryl Hart is Distinguished Associate Professor of History at Hillsdale College. He holds degrees from Temple, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins and has taught in numerous schools, including Westminster Seminary California where we will colleagues for a few years. He is one of . . . Continue reading →
Your Faith Has Saved You
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 →
Perkins: Two-Stage Justification Is Not Protestant
Turretin: The Reformation Was Not A Cold, Academic Debate
Perkins: The Doctrine Of A Two-Stage Justification Is A “Popish Device”
“That popish device of a second justification is a satanical delusion for the Word of God does acknowledge no more but one justification at all, and that absolute and complete of itself. There is but one justice, but one satisfaction of God . . . Continue reading →
The Most Heavenly Thought Of The Most Heavenly Man Does Not Deserve Heaven
The most holy and heavenly man that ever breathed, durst not adventure the salvation of his soul upon the most heavenly thought that ever he conceived. Our impressions of this will help to keep your hearts right in point of righteousness; so . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page On The Reformation Solas
The Reformation was, at its core, the recovery of the biblical doctrine that Scripture is the only final authority (sola Scriptura) for the Christian faith and the Christian life, that salvation is by divine favor alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola . . . Continue reading →
Saved Through Good Works?
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 Reasons Christians Do Good Works
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 →
Did Ursinus Teach Final Salvation Through Works?
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 →
Heidelcast 149: Q & A On How Pray, When To Drop The H Bomb, What Did OT Believers Know, And Why Final Justification Through Good Works Is Bad News
Now sanitized for your listening safety, the Heidelcast is back with episode 149 in which we take questions from Lancaster, PA, Houston, TX, Cork, Ireland, and Belfast, UK. The Heidelcast is a global podcast. As always we had some good and challenging . . . Continue reading →
Boston: Sanctification Through Faith Alone Is A Gospel Mystery
The gospel method of sanctification, as well as of justification, lies so far out of the ken of natural reason, that if all the rationalists in the world, philosophers and divines, had consulted together…” Thomas Boston, Preface to The Marrow of Modern . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: There Is Only One Justification And That By Faith Alone
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 →
The Reformed Brotherhood: Overcoming Confirmation Bias On Piper And Final Salvation Through Works
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 →
Piper’s Rejection Of The Gratitude Ethic Is A Rejection Of The Reformation
The magisterial Protestant Churches, i.e., the Lutherans and the Reformed, agreed that salvation (justification, sanctification, and glorification) is by divine favor alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), in Christ alone. These convictions were essential to the Reformation but those convictions . . . Continue reading →
Olevianus: Salvation Is Through Faith Alone Because Christ Is A Complete Savior
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 →