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 →
Witsius
Witsius On The Distinction Between Christ’s Resurrection And His Glorification
X. While Christ remained on the earth, however, his body was not advanced to that full perfection of glory, which it has possessed ever since its exaltation above the heavens. From condescension to the weakness of the disciples, he suffered it to . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: Sinai Was A Repetition Of The Covenant Of Works
A Repetition of the Law of the Covenant of Works. In the ministry of Moses, there was a repetition of the doctrine concerning the law of the covenant of works. The Mosaic Covenant, then, seems to be a sort of republication of . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: The Sinai Law Is Substantially The Law Of Nature
And there were several kinds of laws given them, of which there are principally three mentioned by divines. The moral, or the decalogue, the ceremonial, and the political, or forensic. The people of Israel may doubtless be considered three ways. 1st, As . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: Don’t Confuse The Covenant Of Works With The Covenant Of Grace
XXV. Such a perfect observance of the laws of the covenant, up to the period which God had fixed for probation, had given man a right to the reward. Not from any intrinsic proportion of the work to the reward, as the . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: Christ Condignly Merited A Reward By Fulfilling The Covenant Of Works
XXXIII. And the thing speaks for itself, For, as there is a covenant between the Father and the Son; “when thou shalt make his soul (if the soul of the Son shall devote himself) an offering for sin,” Is. 53:10, upon performing . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: Works Are Necessary Effects And Evidences Of Salvation
For because Paul had taught, that a man is justified by faith without works, hence some inferred, that in whatever manner a man live, it, equally suffices, that he persuade himself that Christ is his Saviour. Which they could have inferred with . . . Continue reading →
On The Necessity And Efficacy Of Good Works In Salvation
Introduction There is no question among orthodox, i.e., confessional, Reformed folk whether good works are necessary as a consequence, evidence, and a fruit of justification and sanctification by grace alone, through faith alone. There is no question whether God’s moral law, whether summarized in . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: The Law Of Works And The Law Of Faith Are Antecedent And Consequent Conditions
Disputing in his Panstrat. vol. iii. book xv. chap. iii. against Bellarmine, [Chamier] teaches that the true and determinate difference between the law of works and that of faith, is the condition of works and of faith; that is, that the law . . . Continue reading →
Witsius On What “I Will Be Your God” Means
That expression, to be God to any, in its full import, includes life eternal, For, when God becomes the sinner’s God, he then becomes to him what he is to himself. But, what is he to himself? Doubtless, the fountain of eternal . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: In Leviticus 18:5 Moses Repeated The Covenant Of Works
The same doctrine Moses repeated in his ministry. For he also inculcated the same precepts upon which the covenant of works had been built: he both repeated the same solemn saying, He who doeth these things shall live in them, Lev. 18:5 . . . Continue reading →
Zanchi: The Decalogue Binds Christians Insofar As It Agrees With Natural Law
Hieronymus Zanchius (Operum, Tom. iv. lib. i. c. 11), Maintains at large, and by several arguments, that we Christians have nothing to do with the moral precepts, as they were given to the Israelites by Moses; but only in so far as . . . Continue reading →
Witsius: Christians Have Been Liberated From the Mosaic Judicial Laws
XIX. That liberty, therefore, which is peculiar to the New Testament is, 1st. A discharge from the bondage of the elements of the world, or of the ancient ceremonies, from whose religious obligation, as of things necessary, the consciences of men were . . . Continue reading →