Through the advent, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the forgiveness of God and justification of sinners has come to those who repent and believe the gospel.
That brings me to continue my summary of Calvin’s doctrine of justification by faith. Christ was born so we would be put right with God. Amazing is it not? God himself in his self-giving in his Son put us right with him so he could be our Father.
1. Andreas Osiander (1498-1552), a German guy thought and wrote about justification, but Calvin thougth it was wrong so he took him on. Basically Osiander taught that the sinner is justified by Christ by becoming essentially one with him ontologically; having Christ’s essence mixed, co-mingled with the sinner.
Calvin defines the idea this way, “He (Osiander) pretends that we are substantially righteous in God by the infusion both of his essence and of his quality... Then he throws in a mixture of substances by which God ‘transfusing himself into us, as it were,’ makes us part of himself” (Pg., 730,731).
2. Now it is very true that the justified sinner partakes of Christ’s nature, possesses the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, is a member of Christ and has Christ as his Head; in short he is in union with Christ. But a distinction must be made. By faith we receive the righteousness of Christ’s Person, not His very essence.
3. Osiander also asserted that if the sinner does not receive the essence of Christ, a sinner’s nature will remain corrupt and sinful vices will grow. Osiander was mistaken and many still are on this point. Why, by failing to realize that righteousness and sanctification are “jointly inseparable” (Pg., 732).
For Calvin, the goal of justification was sanctification. Calvin is very clear that there is no justification without sanctification. Karl Barth explains that for Calvin, "It is certainly not in virtue of our holiness that we enter into fellowship with God. We have to stand in this already if, engulfed by His holiness, we are to follow where He calls. But it belongs to His glory that this should take place, for there can be no consortium between Him and our iniquity. We cannot, therefore, glory in God without—and this is for Calvin the basic act of penitence and the new life—renouncing all self-glorying and thus beginning to live to God’s glory. Thus the righteousness of God calls for symmetry, a consensus, which must be actualized in the obedience of the believer. It calls for a confirmation of our adoption to divine sonship. For this reason the one grace of God is necessarily sanctifying grace as well." Church Dogmatics Vol.4. Pt.2. Pg 506.
Calvin when on to say too, that there is no sanctification without justification. After all as Calvin said, "Repentance cannot exist without true faith." For how can a man truly repent before God if he does not know he belongs to God, and how can he know he belongs to God until has been grasped by God's grace? “Whomever, therefore, God receives into grace, on them he at the same time bestows the spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15), by whose power he remakes them to his own image” (Pg., 732).
4. What about faith itself? Does it of itself possess the power to justify? No. Why? “For if faith justified of itself or through some intrinsic power, so to speak, as it is always weak and imperfect it would effect this only in part; thus the righteousness that conferred a fragment of salvation upon us would be defective” (Pg., 733).
5. Properly speaking it is God through Christ who justifies and faith is “a kind of vessel” (Pg., 733); the instrumental cause of justification.
6. Now about union with Jesus Christ. This justification which is wrought by God, through the Person and work of Christ brings with it a mystical union with Christ, but not a union with him in his essence. Calvin explains this union in these words. “Christ, having been made ours, makes us sharers with him in the gifts with which he has been endowed...because we put on Christ and are engrafted into his body, because he deigns to make us one with him. For this reason, we glory that we have fellowship of righteousness with him” (Pg., 737). We rejoice, not that we are him (we are not united to him in his essence), but that we are his brothers, his joint heirs, his servants, God’s sons, and part of the Temple of God in Christ.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Jesus is Lord even at Christmas.
Hope all of you had a fun and refreshing time over the holidays. In talking about Christmas with my kids the big question was… “What is it? Is it a tradition about having a certain “spirit,” buying gifts and spending time with the family, or is it a Christian holiday?”
For the majority in Canada it is the former. The stores, the buyers, the gift-givers consciously refrain from speaking about the birth of Jesus, and if there is a nativity scene, or wise men and so on, it is mostly for Christmas decorations; not a symbol of the gift of Israel’s God to the world. Then there is the god many want at this time of year, namely the god of good-will, of sentimental memories where we want the Christmas spirit, as Faith Hill sings to, “never go away.” She asks, “Why have you gone away Christmas, I’m changing does that mean you’re changing too?” Add to this the other religions which also use this season as a time of celebration, and the predominance of Christ in Christmas shrinks even more. The Hindu’s have Sakranti, the Jews Hanukah, and the Muslims Al-Hijira.
Should Christians lament this? We should mournful over the sin involved, but not because somehow our concept of Christmas has been spoiled! The fact is Christians and the church too often participates gladly in the "spirit" of Christmas, the stuff, and the sentamentalism. So actually, now even in the face of Christmas we can live and speak the good news of Christ. We can say he is Lord, not the “spirit” of Christmas etc.
Instead of Christians being concerned that the Christmas holiday is going bad and getting worse we should remember and by faith declare that the birth of Jesus Christ is a great work of God which calls us to worship him.
For the majority in Canada it is the former. The stores, the buyers, the gift-givers consciously refrain from speaking about the birth of Jesus, and if there is a nativity scene, or wise men and so on, it is mostly for Christmas decorations; not a symbol of the gift of Israel’s God to the world. Then there is the god many want at this time of year, namely the god of good-will, of sentimental memories where we want the Christmas spirit, as Faith Hill sings to, “never go away.” She asks, “Why have you gone away Christmas, I’m changing does that mean you’re changing too?” Add to this the other religions which also use this season as a time of celebration, and the predominance of Christ in Christmas shrinks even more. The Hindu’s have Sakranti, the Jews Hanukah, and the Muslims Al-Hijira.
Should Christians lament this? We should mournful over the sin involved, but not because somehow our concept of Christmas has been spoiled! The fact is Christians and the church too often participates gladly in the "spirit" of Christmas, the stuff, and the sentamentalism. So actually, now even in the face of Christmas we can live and speak the good news of Christ. We can say he is Lord, not the “spirit” of Christmas etc.
Instead of Christians being concerned that the Christmas holiday is going bad and getting worse we should remember and by faith declare that the birth of Jesus Christ is a great work of God which calls us to worship him.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Doctrine of Justification Pt.1
Chapter 11 of Book 3 starts the big section of justification by faith. It goes all the way to chapter 18. This was a big subject for Calvin, and all the Reformers. It’s still a big subject today. Just google justification by faith and you’ll step into a huge discussion. From N.T Wright to John Piper to Guy Waters to Pope Benedict XVI this issue is examined, reasserted, some would say being redefined.
I want to simply review what Calvin in his Institutes. I will make four posts on Chapter 11.
1. Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls and the article upon which the sinner stands or falls. This was both Luther and Calvin’s position.
2. The sinner partakes of Christ, not by any merit of his own, but by faith which is itself a gift of God’s grace. As Calvin writes, “Christ was given to us by God’s generosity, to be grasped and possessed by us in faith” (Pg., 725).
3. If the sinner is given grace to embrace Christ by faith alone, he receives a double grace, as Calvin says, “By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace: first, that being reconciled to God through Christ’s blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge an gracious Father…and secondly, that sanctified by Christ’s spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life” (Pg., 725).
4. To understand this doctrine, two terms must be understood.
First. What does it mean to be justified in God’s sight? Calvin gives the meaning. “He is said to be justified in God’s sight who is both reckoned righteous in God’s judgment and has been accepted on account of his righteousness” (Pg., 726). However, man is a sinner, guilty before God. God cannot accept him as righteousness simply because he is not righteous. The wrath of God is what he deserves. But if God reckons him as righteous by giving him righteousness, that sinner will stand before God, while all the others will justly fall before God. That righteousness is Christ’s righteousness imputed to the elect sinner, and is received by faith alone.
Second. Is a person justified by faith or works? It cannot be by works because a sinner cannot “meet and satisfy God’s judgment” (Pg., 726). “Justified by faith is he who, excluded from the righteousness of works, grasps the righteousness of Christ through faith, and clothed in it, appears in God’s sight not as a sinner but as a righteous man” (Pg., 726). All “in Christ.”
5. Calvin clearly sums up justification this way: “We explain justification simply as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men. And we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness” (Pg., 727). This is what the Bible teaches. (Gal. 3:8,26; Rom. 8:33-34; Ps. 32:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; Rom. 5:19; 4; 3:20-25)
6. In conclusion, “to justify means nothing else than to acquit of guilt him who was accused, as if his innocence were confirmed...he absolves us not by the confirmation of our own innocence but by the imputation of righteousness, so that we who are not righteous in ourselves may be reckoned as such in Christ” (Pg., 728).
I want to simply review what Calvin in his Institutes. I will make four posts on Chapter 11.
1. Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls and the article upon which the sinner stands or falls. This was both Luther and Calvin’s position.
2. The sinner partakes of Christ, not by any merit of his own, but by faith which is itself a gift of God’s grace. As Calvin writes, “Christ was given to us by God’s generosity, to be grasped and possessed by us in faith” (Pg., 725).
3. If the sinner is given grace to embrace Christ by faith alone, he receives a double grace, as Calvin says, “By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace: first, that being reconciled to God through Christ’s blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge an gracious Father…and secondly, that sanctified by Christ’s spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life” (Pg., 725).
4. To understand this doctrine, two terms must be understood.
First. What does it mean to be justified in God’s sight? Calvin gives the meaning. “He is said to be justified in God’s sight who is both reckoned righteous in God’s judgment and has been accepted on account of his righteousness” (Pg., 726). However, man is a sinner, guilty before God. God cannot accept him as righteousness simply because he is not righteous. The wrath of God is what he deserves. But if God reckons him as righteous by giving him righteousness, that sinner will stand before God, while all the others will justly fall before God. That righteousness is Christ’s righteousness imputed to the elect sinner, and is received by faith alone.
Second. Is a person justified by faith or works? It cannot be by works because a sinner cannot “meet and satisfy God’s judgment” (Pg., 726). “Justified by faith is he who, excluded from the righteousness of works, grasps the righteousness of Christ through faith, and clothed in it, appears in God’s sight not as a sinner but as a righteous man” (Pg., 726). All “in Christ.”
5. Calvin clearly sums up justification this way: “We explain justification simply as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men. And we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness” (Pg., 727). This is what the Bible teaches. (Gal. 3:8,26; Rom. 8:33-34; Ps. 32:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; Rom. 5:19; 4; 3:20-25)
6. In conclusion, “to justify means nothing else than to acquit of guilt him who was accused, as if his innocence were confirmed...he absolves us not by the confirmation of our own innocence but by the imputation of righteousness, so that we who are not righteous in ourselves may be reckoned as such in Christ” (Pg., 728).
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: We can enjoy this life.
My entry last Friday indicated I was summarizing Book 3, chapter 8. Wrong. It was chapter 9. So this summary summarizes Book 3, chapter 10 of the Institutes. Its title is, How we Must Use the Present Life and Its Helps.
Here Calvin is down to earth giving us good advice about how we can live our Christian life here and now. In the last entry I mentioned Calvin’s eschatology does not consistently lean toward the blessing and power of the resurrection and the age of the Spirit. In this chapter he is leaning more than he did in the last chapter. There is a good worldview here.
1. God’s children are pilgrims travelling to the Heavenly Kingdom (Lev. 25:23; 1 Chr 29:15; Ps. 39:13; 119:19; Heb. 11:8-10, 13-16; 13:14; 1 Peter 2:11). But another thing is certain as well. “If we must simply pass through this world, there is no doubt we ought to use its good things in so far as they help rather than hinder our course” (Pg., 719).
2. Because of the human propensity to self indulgence, we must be careful to maintain a proper balance in the use of the good things God has given. Persons can slide into the area of intemperance and covetousness, or they can slide into severe asceticism and not rejoice in those good things God has given them to enjoy.
3. Calvin says the principle to remember is “that the use of God’s gifts is not wrongly directed when it is referred to that end to which the Author himself created and destined them for us, since he created them for our good, not for our ruin. Accordingly, no one will hold to a straighter path than he who diligently looks to this end” (Pg., 720).
4. Though men and women at times overflow in asceticism, intemperance and the lust of the flesh is they easier sin to fall into. “Unless they are kept in order, they overflow without measure” (Pg., 721). No person can recognize God, and be grateful to him, if his mind is filled with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Remember Paul’s verse in Rom. 13:14; “if we yield too much to these (desires), they boil up without measure or control” (Pg., 722).
Here the medieval mysticism and devotio mederna come out again. Self-discipline was the key to a godly life. Obviously, there is some truth to this. Proverbs makes it clear that a man who can control himself is better than a general with all the tactical acumen and strength who can take a city (Prov 16:23).
5. To control wrong cravings, pride, substances, and other passions Calvin writes that we should first put on the bridle of recognizing that all things are created for us, for the express purpose of revealing God as Creator and rendering thanksgiving in our hearts for his kindnesses to us. As we look for Christ the king and that eternal city whose builder and maker is God, we can use the good things in this life with temperance and to the glory of God.
6. Well, the question comes up, “How do we handle what we can enjoy?”
First, humility. Remember the flesh, meaning our wishes or our passions, is never satisfied. Calvin writes that the Christian should “indulge oneself as little as possible; but on the contrary, with unflagging effort of mind to insist upon cutting off all show of superfluous wealth, not to mention licentiousness” (Pg 723).
Second, wisdom. Be wise enough about yourself and Scripture to “diligently to guard against turning helps into hindrances” (Pg., 723). Here the subject of Christian liberty comes up. A believer can be free to do certain things, but in this freedom they must not let any activity become a hinderance.
Third, contentment. To control lust of the flesh, Calvin tells us to put on the bridle of “being content with what you have!” “They who have narrow and slender resources should know how to go without things patiently, lest they be troubled by an immoderate desire for them” (Pg., 723). (Phil. 4:12)
Fourth, stewardship. God in his great love and mercy has given us a calling in life. Therefore, knowing the love and kindness of God in giving us that particular status, vocation, or monetary condition, let us be good stewards, disciplined for the glory of God. (Lk. 16:2)
Here Calvin is down to earth giving us good advice about how we can live our Christian life here and now. In the last entry I mentioned Calvin’s eschatology does not consistently lean toward the blessing and power of the resurrection and the age of the Spirit. In this chapter he is leaning more than he did in the last chapter. There is a good worldview here.
1. God’s children are pilgrims travelling to the Heavenly Kingdom (Lev. 25:23; 1 Chr 29:15; Ps. 39:13; 119:19; Heb. 11:8-10, 13-16; 13:14; 1 Peter 2:11). But another thing is certain as well. “If we must simply pass through this world, there is no doubt we ought to use its good things in so far as they help rather than hinder our course” (Pg., 719).
2. Because of the human propensity to self indulgence, we must be careful to maintain a proper balance in the use of the good things God has given. Persons can slide into the area of intemperance and covetousness, or they can slide into severe asceticism and not rejoice in those good things God has given them to enjoy.
3. Calvin says the principle to remember is “that the use of God’s gifts is not wrongly directed when it is referred to that end to which the Author himself created and destined them for us, since he created them for our good, not for our ruin. Accordingly, no one will hold to a straighter path than he who diligently looks to this end” (Pg., 720).
4. Though men and women at times overflow in asceticism, intemperance and the lust of the flesh is they easier sin to fall into. “Unless they are kept in order, they overflow without measure” (Pg., 721). No person can recognize God, and be grateful to him, if his mind is filled with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Remember Paul’s verse in Rom. 13:14; “if we yield too much to these (desires), they boil up without measure or control” (Pg., 722).
Here the medieval mysticism and devotio mederna come out again. Self-discipline was the key to a godly life. Obviously, there is some truth to this. Proverbs makes it clear that a man who can control himself is better than a general with all the tactical acumen and strength who can take a city (Prov 16:23).
5. To control wrong cravings, pride, substances, and other passions Calvin writes that we should first put on the bridle of recognizing that all things are created for us, for the express purpose of revealing God as Creator and rendering thanksgiving in our hearts for his kindnesses to us. As we look for Christ the king and that eternal city whose builder and maker is God, we can use the good things in this life with temperance and to the glory of God.
6. Well, the question comes up, “How do we handle what we can enjoy?”
First, humility. Remember the flesh, meaning our wishes or our passions, is never satisfied. Calvin writes that the Christian should “indulge oneself as little as possible; but on the contrary, with unflagging effort of mind to insist upon cutting off all show of superfluous wealth, not to mention licentiousness” (Pg 723).
Second, wisdom. Be wise enough about yourself and Scripture to “diligently to guard against turning helps into hindrances” (Pg., 723). Here the subject of Christian liberty comes up. A believer can be free to do certain things, but in this freedom they must not let any activity become a hinderance.
Third, contentment. To control lust of the flesh, Calvin tells us to put on the bridle of “being content with what you have!” “They who have narrow and slender resources should know how to go without things patiently, lest they be troubled by an immoderate desire for them” (Pg., 723). (Phil. 4:12)
Fourth, stewardship. God in his great love and mercy has given us a calling in life. Therefore, knowing the love and kindness of God in giving us that particular status, vocation, or monetary condition, let us be good stewards, disciplined for the glory of God. (Lk. 16:2)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Calvin wants heaven.
Calvin was a Reformer practicing and pleading for ad fontes. Nevertheless, he was a man of his times, and as George H. Tavard has shown his spirituality in connection with how we should view heaven and this earthly life is reminiscent of medieval mysticism and of the devotio mederna. That is seen in this chapter of his Institutes (Book 3, Chapter 8).
Here is my summary.
1. Heaven is the place we seek and long for as Christians. That is, we seek and long for it only as God by tribulation and sore chastisements faithfully teach us the vanity of this life.
2. Why do we so easily forget about heaven? Calvin tells us “our blockishness arises from the fact that our minds, stunned by the empty dazzlement of riches, power, and honors, become so deadened that they can see no farther...In fine, the whole soul, enmeshed in the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on earth” (Pg., 712).
3. God in love for his elect continually proves and demonstrates the miseries of this world, giving us tribulations and sore chastisements.
4. This does not mean we should hate this life. Life is a gift from God which teaches us of God’s love, goodness, and authority over us.
Calvin: “When we are certain that the earthly life we live is a gift of God’s kindness, as we are beholden to him for it we ought to remember it and be thankful. Then we shall come in good time to consider its most unhappy condition in order that we may, indeed, be freed from too much desire of it” (Pg., 715).
5. Paul longed for the life to come, but he also served God while he was living in this world. This is to be the stance of the Christian. As Calvin puts it, “We are now, by God’s will, at our sentry post” (Pg., 716). We serve God in joy on this earth until we die. [2 Cor. 5:6; Rom 7:24 w/ Phil 1:23-24; Rom 14:8]
6. But are not many scared to death of death itself? Yes. Only godly knowledge overcomes this fear, and the believer must heartily apply his mind and heart to God’s promise if he will escape this cold fear.
7. Does not faith seek what we naturally dread? Believers desire to be clothed with immortality (2 Cor. 5:2-3), and those filled with God’s Spirit look for a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11). Believers joyfully await the day of resurrection (Tit. 2:3 w/ 2 Tim. 4:8) and praise God as their redemption draws closer, day by day. (Lk. 21:28)
8. We must not envy the wicked and their seeming comfort in this life (Ps.73:2-3). They will not be blessed in the next life, they will be punished. (Isa. 66:24; Matt. 25:41; Mark 9:43,46; Rev. 21:8; 2 Thess. 1:6-
7). However, God’s children are and will be victorious through Christ. Calvin writes: “If believers’ eyes are turned to the power of the resurrection, in their hearts the cross of Christ will at last triumph over the devil, flesh, sin, and wicked men” (Pg., 719).
9. In conclusion, “Let the aim of believers in judging mortal life, then, be that while they understand it to be of itself nothing but misery, they may with greater eagerness and dispatch betake themselves wholly to meditate upon that eternal life to come” (Pg., 716).
This is my comment. Calvin’s eschatology does not consistently lean toward the blessing and power of the resurrection and the age of the Spirit. Yes Calvin is a theologian of the Spirit and gives bright sunshine to the Spirit’s role in our union with Christ, sacraments, and Christian sanctification, but in this section of the Institutes we are not left with a clear hope or a healthy outlook for our present life. The already but not yet does not come out clearly. This life is miserable, but we need to make the best of it for God, but real life is always in heaven. This is the devotion moderna.
The NT teaches us the victory of Jesus Christ. What is bad about this world is sin; but that sin has been overcome and is being overcome through Christ’ gospel. Through this gospel the world will be made new as the gospel spreads to all even as the waters cover the sea.
Here is my summary.
1. Heaven is the place we seek and long for as Christians. That is, we seek and long for it only as God by tribulation and sore chastisements faithfully teach us the vanity of this life.
2. Why do we so easily forget about heaven? Calvin tells us “our blockishness arises from the fact that our minds, stunned by the empty dazzlement of riches, power, and honors, become so deadened that they can see no farther...In fine, the whole soul, enmeshed in the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on earth” (Pg., 712).
3. God in love for his elect continually proves and demonstrates the miseries of this world, giving us tribulations and sore chastisements.
4. This does not mean we should hate this life. Life is a gift from God which teaches us of God’s love, goodness, and authority over us.
Calvin: “When we are certain that the earthly life we live is a gift of God’s kindness, as we are beholden to him for it we ought to remember it and be thankful. Then we shall come in good time to consider its most unhappy condition in order that we may, indeed, be freed from too much desire of it” (Pg., 715).
5. Paul longed for the life to come, but he also served God while he was living in this world. This is to be the stance of the Christian. As Calvin puts it, “We are now, by God’s will, at our sentry post” (Pg., 716). We serve God in joy on this earth until we die. [2 Cor. 5:6; Rom 7:24 w/ Phil 1:23-24; Rom 14:8]
6. But are not many scared to death of death itself? Yes. Only godly knowledge overcomes this fear, and the believer must heartily apply his mind and heart to God’s promise if he will escape this cold fear.
7. Does not faith seek what we naturally dread? Believers desire to be clothed with immortality (2 Cor. 5:2-3), and those filled with God’s Spirit look for a city whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11). Believers joyfully await the day of resurrection (Tit. 2:3 w/ 2 Tim. 4:8) and praise God as their redemption draws closer, day by day. (Lk. 21:28)
8. We must not envy the wicked and their seeming comfort in this life (Ps.73:2-3). They will not be blessed in the next life, they will be punished. (Isa. 66:24; Matt. 25:41; Mark 9:43,46; Rev. 21:8; 2 Thess. 1:6-
7). However, God’s children are and will be victorious through Christ. Calvin writes: “If believers’ eyes are turned to the power of the resurrection, in their hearts the cross of Christ will at last triumph over the devil, flesh, sin, and wicked men” (Pg., 719).
9. In conclusion, “Let the aim of believers in judging mortal life, then, be that while they understand it to be of itself nothing but misery, they may with greater eagerness and dispatch betake themselves wholly to meditate upon that eternal life to come” (Pg., 716).
This is my comment. Calvin’s eschatology does not consistently lean toward the blessing and power of the resurrection and the age of the Spirit. Yes Calvin is a theologian of the Spirit and gives bright sunshine to the Spirit’s role in our union with Christ, sacraments, and Christian sanctification, but in this section of the Institutes we are not left with a clear hope or a healthy outlook for our present life. The already but not yet does not come out clearly. This life is miserable, but we need to make the best of it for God, but real life is always in heaven. This is the devotion moderna.
The NT teaches us the victory of Jesus Christ. What is bad about this world is sin; but that sin has been overcome and is being overcome through Christ’ gospel. Through this gospel the world will be made new as the gospel spreads to all even as the waters cover the sea.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Calvin’s Theology of Christian suffering.
In the previous post on Calvin’s Institutes, Calvin explained how Jesus Christ set sinners free to live a life of glad self denial. In this chapter (Chapter 8, Book 3), he sets up Jesus Christ as an example of godly self denial. For Calvin Jesus is the human example for us because he became and still is, human.
1. Jesus “learned obedience through what He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). His disciples can now can deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. As Calvin writes, “In harsh and difficult conditions (Rom 8:28), regarded as adverse and evil, a great comfort comes to us: we share Christ’s sufferings in order that s he has passed from a labyrinth of all evils into heavenly glory, we may in like manner be led through various tribulations to the same glory (Acts 14:22)” (Pg., 702).
2. Why must we have and be under the weight of suffering? Calvin gives five reasons from Scripture.
3. First, because we have a “stupid and empty confidence in the flesh” (Pg., 703). Sinners by nature want to say “I did it my way.”
Well, cross bearing “can best restrain this arrogance when he proves to us by experience not only the great incapacity but also the frailty under which we labor....Thus humbled, we learn to call upon his power, which alone makes us stand fast under the weight of afflictions” (Pg., 703).
4. Secondly, cross bearing teaches us patience and obedience. (Rom 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 1:4; Gen. 22:1,12; 1 Peter 1:7)
5. Thirdly, cross bearing is medicine for our pride and love for comfort. If God were to make everything rosy for us, we would be like fattened horses. That is, “fattened and made flabby, we kick against him who has fed and nourished us” (Pg., 705).
Suffering keeps us thankful and dependent upon him. Calvin writes, “The Lord himself, according as he sees it expedient, confronts us and subjects and restrains our unrestrained flesh with the remedy of the cross” (Pg., 706).
6. Fourthly, cross bearing is fatherly chastisement. “For he afflicts us not to ruin or destroy us but, rather, to free us from the condemnation of the world...When we have fallen away from him, God destroys us unless by reproof he recalls us” (Pg., 706).
7. Fifth, cross bearing is suffering for righteousness sake. “Therefore, whether in declaring God’s truth against Satan’s falsehoods or in taking up the protection of the good and the innocent against the wrongs of the wicked, we must undergo the offences and hatred of the world, which may imperil either our life, our fortunes, or our honour” (Pg., 707).
1. Jesus “learned obedience through what He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). His disciples can now can deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. As Calvin writes, “In harsh and difficult conditions (Rom 8:28), regarded as adverse and evil, a great comfort comes to us: we share Christ’s sufferings in order that s he has passed from a labyrinth of all evils into heavenly glory, we may in like manner be led through various tribulations to the same glory (Acts 14:22)” (Pg., 702).
2. Why must we have and be under the weight of suffering? Calvin gives five reasons from Scripture.
3. First, because we have a “stupid and empty confidence in the flesh” (Pg., 703). Sinners by nature want to say “I did it my way.”
Well, cross bearing “can best restrain this arrogance when he proves to us by experience not only the great incapacity but also the frailty under which we labor....Thus humbled, we learn to call upon his power, which alone makes us stand fast under the weight of afflictions” (Pg., 703).
4. Secondly, cross bearing teaches us patience and obedience. (Rom 5:3-4; 2 Cor. 1:4; Gen. 22:1,12; 1 Peter 1:7)
5. Thirdly, cross bearing is medicine for our pride and love for comfort. If God were to make everything rosy for us, we would be like fattened horses. That is, “fattened and made flabby, we kick against him who has fed and nourished us” (Pg., 705).
Suffering keeps us thankful and dependent upon him. Calvin writes, “The Lord himself, according as he sees it expedient, confronts us and subjects and restrains our unrestrained flesh with the remedy of the cross” (Pg., 706).
6. Fourthly, cross bearing is fatherly chastisement. “For he afflicts us not to ruin or destroy us but, rather, to free us from the condemnation of the world...When we have fallen away from him, God destroys us unless by reproof he recalls us” (Pg., 706).
7. Fifth, cross bearing is suffering for righteousness sake. “Therefore, whether in declaring God’s truth against Satan’s falsehoods or in taking up the protection of the good and the innocent against the wrongs of the wicked, we must undergo the offences and hatred of the world, which may imperil either our life, our fortunes, or our honour” (Pg., 707).
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Obedience and self-denial.
The doctrine of repentance has been Calvin’s main subject since chapter three of Book 3. Even in this chapter (chapter seven) it is behind what is said. The chapter is entitled, The Sum of the Christian Life: The Denial of Ourselves. Obviously if this is the sum of what it is to be a Christian then repentance must be an ongoing practice. To deny ourselves involves turning away from sin (denying sin), and turning to God (denying the self).
Of course Calvin said God’s law guides us in this. Now, in union with Christ we are free to love that law. He believed Jesus freed us from the debt and curse of God’s law. In him we don’t come to Mt. Sinai that swirls with judgment. But rather we come to Mt. Zion. And Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Now, that law is written in our hearts by the Spirit as his GPS for us. This gospel centered understanding of the law is found throughout the Institutes.
Here is the summary today.
1. God’s law is the Christian’s guide in life. Love must have expression; therefore love for God is expressed by keeping God’s commandments. (Jn. 14:15, 21-24; 1 Jn. 5:3).
2. But loving obedience to that law is always accompanied with self denial, “A presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” (Rom. 12:1; 1 Cor. 6:19). We are God’s people therefore, “let us therefore live for him and die for him... let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions...let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal (Rom. 14:8; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19)” (Pg., 690).
3. The Christian must not seek his self meaning or will. God’s will and glory must be his goal. Christian maturity comes as we forget ourselves. “Surely subordinating our self-concern, we try faithfully to devote our zeal to God and his commandments” (Pg., 691).
4. Grace teaches us to deny ourselves (Titus 2:11-14). This grace teaches our flesh and mind to say no to irreligion and sinful passions; and yes to soberness, joy, righteousness and godliness.
5. Grace teaches us to deny ourselves and love others. You will never love others unless you renounce the “kingdom you think lies in your breast” (pride), and unless “you give up all thought of self and, so to speak, get out of yourself, you will accomplish nothing here” (Pg., 695).
6. Remember everything we have received comes from God (1 Cor. 4:7; James 1:17), but also remember that these gifts of grace are to be used for God and for the benefit of others. (1 Peter 4:10) Again, self must be denied. (1 Cor. 12;12ff; Ps. 16:2-3; Heb. 13:16).
7. God’s grace, and the freedom it brings, teaches us to deny ourselves and love God and his will. “Scripture calls us to resign ourselves and all our possessions to the Lord’s will, and to yield to him the desires of our hearts to be tamed and subjugated” (Pg., 698).
God has given us this freedom in Christ. Paul said in Gal 5:1, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” We are free to obey God. Our obedience is a free obedience. Our discipleship is a glad one. We present our selves to God freely. That is, we are perfectly satisfied with what God has chosen for us. We are willingly in agreement with God’s sovereign will. We have the freedom to make the right choice by the power of the Spirit. He has written God’s law in our hearts and we agree with it. This is the law of life in Christ Jesus which sets us free from the law of sin and death. Christ’s gospel brings us simply to live as true human beings…thinking God’s thoughts after him and agreeing with him on everything.
8. Love of money, love of prestige, or love of self comfort must not control us. Calvin tells us, “We are always to look to the Lord so that by his guidance we may be led to whatever lot he has provided for us” (Pg., 699). This faith expressing itself in love enables believers to worship God in the midst of adversity.
Of course Calvin said God’s law guides us in this. Now, in union with Christ we are free to love that law. He believed Jesus freed us from the debt and curse of God’s law. In him we don’t come to Mt. Sinai that swirls with judgment. But rather we come to Mt. Zion. And Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Now, that law is written in our hearts by the Spirit as his GPS for us. This gospel centered understanding of the law is found throughout the Institutes.
Here is the summary today.
1. God’s law is the Christian’s guide in life. Love must have expression; therefore love for God is expressed by keeping God’s commandments. (Jn. 14:15, 21-24; 1 Jn. 5:3).
2. But loving obedience to that law is always accompanied with self denial, “A presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” (Rom. 12:1; 1 Cor. 6:19). We are God’s people therefore, “let us therefore live for him and die for him... let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions...let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal (Rom. 14:8; cf. 1 Cor. 6:19)” (Pg., 690).
3. The Christian must not seek his self meaning or will. God’s will and glory must be his goal. Christian maturity comes as we forget ourselves. “Surely subordinating our self-concern, we try faithfully to devote our zeal to God and his commandments” (Pg., 691).
4. Grace teaches us to deny ourselves (Titus 2:11-14). This grace teaches our flesh and mind to say no to irreligion and sinful passions; and yes to soberness, joy, righteousness and godliness.
5. Grace teaches us to deny ourselves and love others. You will never love others unless you renounce the “kingdom you think lies in your breast” (pride), and unless “you give up all thought of self and, so to speak, get out of yourself, you will accomplish nothing here” (Pg., 695).
6. Remember everything we have received comes from God (1 Cor. 4:7; James 1:17), but also remember that these gifts of grace are to be used for God and for the benefit of others. (1 Peter 4:10) Again, self must be denied. (1 Cor. 12;12ff; Ps. 16:2-3; Heb. 13:16).
7. God’s grace, and the freedom it brings, teaches us to deny ourselves and love God and his will. “Scripture calls us to resign ourselves and all our possessions to the Lord’s will, and to yield to him the desires of our hearts to be tamed and subjugated” (Pg., 698).
God has given us this freedom in Christ. Paul said in Gal 5:1, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” We are free to obey God. Our obedience is a free obedience. Our discipleship is a glad one. We present our selves to God freely. That is, we are perfectly satisfied with what God has chosen for us. We are willingly in agreement with God’s sovereign will. We have the freedom to make the right choice by the power of the Spirit. He has written God’s law in our hearts and we agree with it. This is the law of life in Christ Jesus which sets us free from the law of sin and death. Christ’s gospel brings us simply to live as true human beings…thinking God’s thoughts after him and agreeing with him on everything.
8. Love of money, love of prestige, or love of self comfort must not control us. Calvin tells us, “We are always to look to the Lord so that by his guidance we may be led to whatever lot he has provided for us” (Pg., 699). This faith expressing itself in love enables believers to worship God in the midst of adversity.
Monday, December 14, 2009
The work of a pastor and the theologian.
Just read a great post on the pastor as theologian. Theology is the fuel that keeps a minister going, which is say God and his revelation in Jesus Christ is the real joy of pastoral work. Speaking about him to people, not people brings the smile to ministry. People are actually more encouraged and helped when God is spoken of then when we try to comfort them with some sentimental, scientific, or psychological advice.
This post is a great encouragement to ministers. Read it here.
http://cruciality.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/theology-for-the-community/
This post is a great encouragement to ministers. Read it here.
http://cruciality.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/theology-for-the-community/
Calvin’s Institutes: The Christian life can be lived.
Christian repentance and its life in the Christian’s life is Calvin’s subject in chapter six, Book 3 of Calvin’s Institutes. There is a lot of hope here. To Calvin the holy repentant life is possible because of the gospel.
1. What kind of life are the repentant to live? Calvin beautifully answers this question by saying that the whole object of regeneration “is to manifest in the life of believers a harmony and agreement between God’s righteousness and their obedience, and thus to confirm the adoption that they have received as sons (Gal. 4:5; cf. II Peter 1:10)” (Pg., 684).
2 God’s Scripture gives direction and content for this object. It gives us “goods and helps in order that those who heartily repent may not err in their zeal” (Pg., 684).
3. The Bible addresses two inseparable truths in connection with the Christian’s pursuit of holiness.
a. The love for righteousness
b. The commandments of God which are the Christian’s guide.
But these two truths are inseparable to the believer’s union with Christ. This union with Christ by the Spirit is actually the fountain head of Christian holiness. It is obvious that the natural man has no natural love for righteousness; hence any person who pursues holiness does so because of God’s work of grace quickening his dead heart, and shedding the love of God upon the heart of a regenerate sinner (Rom 5). Because of this grace the sinner’s life out of gratitude and love must “express the bond of their adoption” (Pg., 687).
4. Because God has revealed himself to us, and Christ has cleansed us, and grafted us into his body, and ascended into heaven to be our Mediator, and since he has made us God’s temples, and since God has promised us an incorruptible inheritance, we who are objects of these graces ought to strive, with love to live holy unto God. (Mal. 1:6; Eph. 5:1; 1 John 3:1; Heb. 10:10; 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Peter 1:15,19; Eph. 5:23-33; 1 Cor. 6:15; John 15:3-6; Col. 3:1 ff; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Thess. 5:23; Phil. 1:10)
5. Christianity is a heart religion! That is, Christianity is not lived in mere words or confessions; it is lived in a life of love to God and man. As Calvin said, “We detest these trifling Sophists who are content to roll the gospel on the tips of their tongues when its efficacy ought to penetrate the inmost affections of the heart, take its seat in the soul, and affect the whole man” (Pg., 688).
6. Is this love perfect in us? No. The Christian strives, longs, works and presses on praying, “Lord I love you, help me to love you more.”
7. Can the Christian life be lived if perfection is out of reach in this life? Yes! Calvin rightly says, “The beginning of right living is spiritual, where the inner feeling of the mind is unfeignedly dedicated to God for the cultivation of holiness and righteousness” (Pg., 688).
8. In our pursuit of holiness we are weak, but God is strong. Let us not become weary in well doing, nor excuse our sins; but press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3)
1. What kind of life are the repentant to live? Calvin beautifully answers this question by saying that the whole object of regeneration “is to manifest in the life of believers a harmony and agreement between God’s righteousness and their obedience, and thus to confirm the adoption that they have received as sons (Gal. 4:5; cf. II Peter 1:10)” (Pg., 684).
2 God’s Scripture gives direction and content for this object. It gives us “goods and helps in order that those who heartily repent may not err in their zeal” (Pg., 684).
3. The Bible addresses two inseparable truths in connection with the Christian’s pursuit of holiness.
a. The love for righteousness
b. The commandments of God which are the Christian’s guide.
But these two truths are inseparable to the believer’s union with Christ. This union with Christ by the Spirit is actually the fountain head of Christian holiness. It is obvious that the natural man has no natural love for righteousness; hence any person who pursues holiness does so because of God’s work of grace quickening his dead heart, and shedding the love of God upon the heart of a regenerate sinner (Rom 5). Because of this grace the sinner’s life out of gratitude and love must “express the bond of their adoption” (Pg., 687).
4. Because God has revealed himself to us, and Christ has cleansed us, and grafted us into his body, and ascended into heaven to be our Mediator, and since he has made us God’s temples, and since God has promised us an incorruptible inheritance, we who are objects of these graces ought to strive, with love to live holy unto God. (Mal. 1:6; Eph. 5:1; 1 John 3:1; Heb. 10:10; 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Peter 1:15,19; Eph. 5:23-33; 1 Cor. 6:15; John 15:3-6; Col. 3:1 ff; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; 1 Thess. 5:23; Phil. 1:10)
5. Christianity is a heart religion! That is, Christianity is not lived in mere words or confessions; it is lived in a life of love to God and man. As Calvin said, “We detest these trifling Sophists who are content to roll the gospel on the tips of their tongues when its efficacy ought to penetrate the inmost affections of the heart, take its seat in the soul, and affect the whole man” (Pg., 688).
6. Is this love perfect in us? No. The Christian strives, longs, works and presses on praying, “Lord I love you, help me to love you more.”
7. Can the Christian life be lived if perfection is out of reach in this life? Yes! Calvin rightly says, “The beginning of right living is spiritual, where the inner feeling of the mind is unfeignedly dedicated to God for the cultivation of holiness and righteousness” (Pg., 688).
8. In our pursuit of holiness we are weak, but God is strong. Let us not become weary in well doing, nor excuse our sins; but press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3)
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: The error of indulging in indulgences and purgatory
I did not disappear. After a week and a half of computer trouble I am finally up and blogging again. This blog entry is on Calvin's dissertation on purgatory. Having computer problems is purgatory. It's a trouble for sure.
Here is my entry.
Calvin’s polemic against Rome, which began in chapter four of Book 3, chapter four continues here in chapter five. In chapter four he dealt with the Roman doctrines of repentance, and confession. Here he deals with the Roman doctrine of indulgences, or to put it another way, the idea of satisfaction for sin. Luther nailed his 95 theses against indulgences on a church door; Calvin writes his thesis against indulgences in this chapter of his Institutes.
1. It stands to reason that if church officers can retain or forgive sins, the people under their tyranny will look to them for a prescription, a list of do’s, something they perhaps could give so that they could be forgiven! Enter giving of indulgences.
2. Calvin calls all indulgences, “A profanation of the blood of Christ, a Satanic mockery, to lead the Christian people away from God’s grace, away from the life that is in Christ, and turn them aside from the true way of salvation” (Pg., 671).
3. These indulgences had taken the place of Christ’s atoning work at this period in the Roman Church. That is, they declare Christ’s atonement to be insufficient, unable to forgive sins and unable to save. But the Bible clearly teaches that salvation is through the sacrifice of Christ. (1 John 1:7; 1 Cor. 5:21; 1 Cor. 1:13; Acts 20:28; Heb. 10:14; Rev. 7:14). The sacrifices of the martyrs by their martyrdom did not add to the atonement for their sin.
4. Was there something lacking in Christ’s suffering, thus necessitating Paul to complete it with his own suffering (Col.1:24)? No! But this was one of the texts the Romanists used to support indulgences.
5. Calvin explains what this verse means. “Here he refers to that lack or that supplement not to the work of redemption, satisfaction, and expiation but to those afflictions with which the members of Christ ‘namely, all believers’ must be exercised so long as they live in this flesh....what once for all he suffered in himself he daily suffers in his members” (Pg., 673).
6. What about the Romish doctrine of purgatory? Calvin calls it a “deadly fiction of Satan, which nullifies the cross of Christ, inflicts unbearable contempt upon God’s mercy, and overturns and destroys our faith” (Pg., 676). Why? Because by purgatory the Romanists mean another way for dead people to make satisfaction for their own sins, and this is an attack against the sufficiency of Christ.
7. There is no New Testament passage to support the existence of purgatory, but the Bible is replete with descriptions of the sufficiency of Christ’s work in bringing the gospel.
Here is my entry.
Calvin’s polemic against Rome, which began in chapter four of Book 3, chapter four continues here in chapter five. In chapter four he dealt with the Roman doctrines of repentance, and confession. Here he deals with the Roman doctrine of indulgences, or to put it another way, the idea of satisfaction for sin. Luther nailed his 95 theses against indulgences on a church door; Calvin writes his thesis against indulgences in this chapter of his Institutes.
1. It stands to reason that if church officers can retain or forgive sins, the people under their tyranny will look to them for a prescription, a list of do’s, something they perhaps could give so that they could be forgiven! Enter giving of indulgences.
2. Calvin calls all indulgences, “A profanation of the blood of Christ, a Satanic mockery, to lead the Christian people away from God’s grace, away from the life that is in Christ, and turn them aside from the true way of salvation” (Pg., 671).
3. These indulgences had taken the place of Christ’s atoning work at this period in the Roman Church. That is, they declare Christ’s atonement to be insufficient, unable to forgive sins and unable to save. But the Bible clearly teaches that salvation is through the sacrifice of Christ. (1 John 1:7; 1 Cor. 5:21; 1 Cor. 1:13; Acts 20:28; Heb. 10:14; Rev. 7:14). The sacrifices of the martyrs by their martyrdom did not add to the atonement for their sin.
4. Was there something lacking in Christ’s suffering, thus necessitating Paul to complete it with his own suffering (Col.1:24)? No! But this was one of the texts the Romanists used to support indulgences.
5. Calvin explains what this verse means. “Here he refers to that lack or that supplement not to the work of redemption, satisfaction, and expiation but to those afflictions with which the members of Christ ‘namely, all believers’ must be exercised so long as they live in this flesh....what once for all he suffered in himself he daily suffers in his members” (Pg., 673).
6. What about the Romish doctrine of purgatory? Calvin calls it a “deadly fiction of Satan, which nullifies the cross of Christ, inflicts unbearable contempt upon God’s mercy, and overturns and destroys our faith” (Pg., 676). Why? Because by purgatory the Romanists mean another way for dead people to make satisfaction for their own sins, and this is an attack against the sufficiency of Christ.
7. There is no New Testament passage to support the existence of purgatory, but the Bible is replete with descriptions of the sufficiency of Christ’s work in bringing the gospel.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: The way off teachings Pt 2. More types of sin than one?
The focus in today’s summary is on Calvin’s polemic against the Roman Catholic doctrine of sin, sin’s penalty, and guilt.
1. The Roman Catholics further confuse repentance and consequently true salvation by their compartmentalizing sins in either the venial category or mortal category. There are more types of sin than one.
2. Mortal sins are deadly sins from which there is no forgiveness. Venial sins “can be purged by easier remedies by the Lord’s Prayer, by the sprinkling of holy water, by the absolution afforded by the Mass” (Pg., 654).
3. Of course scripture is very plain in saying that all sins are deadly, yet for those who are imputed with Christ’s righteousness, sins kill them no longer. Calvin wrote “that the sins of believers are venial, not because they do not deserve death, but because by God’s mercy ‘there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’” (Rom. 8:1) (Pg., 654).
4. Roman Catholic theology also “fashions a distinction between penalty and guilt” (Pg., 655). Guilt, they say is remitted by God’s mercy. Penalty is that remaining thing which must be paid for according to the demands of God’s justice; even after God has remitted the guilt.
5. Calvin exposed the fallacy of this distinction when he said, “They admit that forgiveness of guilt is freely available, yet repeatedly teach men to deserve it through prayers and tears, and all sorts of other preparations. And yet all we are taught in Scripture concerning forgiveness of sins directly opposes this distinction” (Pg., 655).
6. Complete forgiveness both of the guilt and penalty of sin is given to the sinner redeemed by the gospel of Christ. (Jer. 31:31,34; Ezek. 18:24,21-22,27; Isa. 38:17; 44:22; Micah 7:19; Ps. 32:1-2; Isa. 1:18)
7. But doesn’t it seem that God punishes the saints and therefore these same saints must suffer the penalty for their sin and must pay for that sin by acts of penance?
8. Calvin helps us here. There are two types of judgements which God executes.
a. Judgements of vengeance. “God should be understood as taking vengeance upon his enemies; so that he exercises his wrath against them, he confounds them, he scatters them, he brings them to nought” (Pg., 659).
b. Judgements of chastisement. Here God “is not so harsh as to be angry nor does he take vengeance so as to blast with destruction. Consequently, it is not, properly speaking, punishment or vengeance, but correction and admonition. The one is the act of a judge; the other, of a father” (Pg., 659). (Job 5:17; Prov. 3:11-12; Heb. 12:5-6; Ps. 118:18; 119:71; Jer. 10:24-25; Ps. 6:1,2; 38:2; 37:2)
9. The wicked receive just punishment from God for their iniquity, but those who are his adopted children “are afflicted by the hand of the heavenly Father, this is not a penalty to confound us, but only a chastisement to instruct us” (Pg., 662). In chastising us God does not urge to make our satisfaction before Him!
1. The Roman Catholics further confuse repentance and consequently true salvation by their compartmentalizing sins in either the venial category or mortal category. There are more types of sin than one.
2. Mortal sins are deadly sins from which there is no forgiveness. Venial sins “can be purged by easier remedies by the Lord’s Prayer, by the sprinkling of holy water, by the absolution afforded by the Mass” (Pg., 654).
3. Of course scripture is very plain in saying that all sins are deadly, yet for those who are imputed with Christ’s righteousness, sins kill them no longer. Calvin wrote “that the sins of believers are venial, not because they do not deserve death, but because by God’s mercy ‘there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’” (Rom. 8:1) (Pg., 654).
4. Roman Catholic theology also “fashions a distinction between penalty and guilt” (Pg., 655). Guilt, they say is remitted by God’s mercy. Penalty is that remaining thing which must be paid for according to the demands of God’s justice; even after God has remitted the guilt.
5. Calvin exposed the fallacy of this distinction when he said, “They admit that forgiveness of guilt is freely available, yet repeatedly teach men to deserve it through prayers and tears, and all sorts of other preparations. And yet all we are taught in Scripture concerning forgiveness of sins directly opposes this distinction” (Pg., 655).
6. Complete forgiveness both of the guilt and penalty of sin is given to the sinner redeemed by the gospel of Christ. (Jer. 31:31,34; Ezek. 18:24,21-22,27; Isa. 38:17; 44:22; Micah 7:19; Ps. 32:1-2; Isa. 1:18)
7. But doesn’t it seem that God punishes the saints and therefore these same saints must suffer the penalty for their sin and must pay for that sin by acts of penance?
8. Calvin helps us here. There are two types of judgements which God executes.
a. Judgements of vengeance. “God should be understood as taking vengeance upon his enemies; so that he exercises his wrath against them, he confounds them, he scatters them, he brings them to nought” (Pg., 659).
b. Judgements of chastisement. Here God “is not so harsh as to be angry nor does he take vengeance so as to blast with destruction. Consequently, it is not, properly speaking, punishment or vengeance, but correction and admonition. The one is the act of a judge; the other, of a father” (Pg., 659). (Job 5:17; Prov. 3:11-12; Heb. 12:5-6; Ps. 118:18; 119:71; Jer. 10:24-25; Ps. 6:1,2; 38:2; 37:2)
9. The wicked receive just punishment from God for their iniquity, but those who are his adopted children “are afflicted by the hand of the heavenly Father, this is not a penalty to confound us, but only a chastisement to instruct us” (Pg., 662). In chastising us God does not urge to make our satisfaction before Him!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: The way off teachings Pt1. Repentance in Roman Catholic doctrine
The summaries for Book 3, chapter 4 now begin. Calvin is in refutation mode here. He aims his language at the Roman Catholic Church, or to put it another way, the medieval scholastic doctrines of repentance, confession, and satisfaction.
Calvin’s polemics are still applicable today. Though the Roman Catholic Church made sweeping changes at Vatican II she still did not embrace the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. For this reason she still believes and practices the medieval doctrines of repentance, confession, and satisfaction or purgatory. Therefore, Calvin’s refutions are still needed and helpful.
1. Calvin explains that the Roman Catholic Church divides repentance into three parts.
a. Contrition.
b. Confession.
c. Satisfaction.
These parts, the Roman Catholic Church asserts, are necessary to attain salvation. Calvin’s overall message is that this error should be repented of.
2. Let’s focus on contrition first. They demand contrition to be just and full. Who can do this? It will either be pretended contrition, or the person will become desperate and hate the name and truth of God, because they cannot give what they are asked to give – perfect contrition.
This is not the gospel. The gospel teaches “that the sinner does not dwell upon his own compunction or tears, but fixes both eyes upon the Lord’s mercy alone” (Pg., 626). Perfect contrition is not redemption, Jesus Christ is. And all who call upon his name in with the grace repentance and faith will be saved.
3. Let’s focus on confession next. The Roman Catholic Church demands it to occur in the confessional to be heard and absolved by a human priest! They base this practice on pure allegorical interpretation, not on the specific command of Christ.
4. God’s people have an High Priest who is eternal and perfect. They do not have a mere man for a priest. Hence, confession of sin is truly done when that confession is made to Jesus Christ. Calvin writes, “it is the Lord who forgives, forgets, and wipes out, sins, let us confess our sins to him in order to obtain pardon” (Pg., 634).
5. The Roman Catholics claim integrity for their confessional system, from the Word of Christ in reference to the power of the keys in binding and loosening. Does this refer to priests having the power and knowledge to forgive or to retain forgiveness? No.
6. The third focus is satisfaction. What does the Roman Catholic Church believe about this? With satisfaction they mean that though a person is contrite, and has made confession to the priest certain specified works must be performed in order to satisfy God for particular sins.
7. Calvin describes their position this way: “We indeed obtain pardon for our transgressions from God’s kindness, but only through the intervening merit of works, by which the offence of our sins may be paid for, in order that due satisfaction may be made to God’s justice” (Pg., 651)
8. In Jesus Christ sinners are freely given the remission of sins. (Isa. 52:3; Rom. 3:24-25; 5:8; Col. 2:13-14; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5; Acts 10:43) Christ is the sinner’s satisfaction. By the merit and work of Christ alone is God satisfied, not by our merit or work. God has made Christ a “perpetual advocate in order that by his intercession he may always restore us to the Father’s favour; an everlasting propitiation by which sins may be expiated” (Pg., 652). (1 John 2:1-2,12; 1:29)
Calvin’s polemics are still applicable today. Though the Roman Catholic Church made sweeping changes at Vatican II she still did not embrace the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone. For this reason she still believes and practices the medieval doctrines of repentance, confession, and satisfaction or purgatory. Therefore, Calvin’s refutions are still needed and helpful.
1. Calvin explains that the Roman Catholic Church divides repentance into three parts.
a. Contrition.
b. Confession.
c. Satisfaction.
These parts, the Roman Catholic Church asserts, are necessary to attain salvation. Calvin’s overall message is that this error should be repented of.
2. Let’s focus on contrition first. They demand contrition to be just and full. Who can do this? It will either be pretended contrition, or the person will become desperate and hate the name and truth of God, because they cannot give what they are asked to give – perfect contrition.
This is not the gospel. The gospel teaches “that the sinner does not dwell upon his own compunction or tears, but fixes both eyes upon the Lord’s mercy alone” (Pg., 626). Perfect contrition is not redemption, Jesus Christ is. And all who call upon his name in with the grace repentance and faith will be saved.
3. Let’s focus on confession next. The Roman Catholic Church demands it to occur in the confessional to be heard and absolved by a human priest! They base this practice on pure allegorical interpretation, not on the specific command of Christ.
4. God’s people have an High Priest who is eternal and perfect. They do not have a mere man for a priest. Hence, confession of sin is truly done when that confession is made to Jesus Christ. Calvin writes, “it is the Lord who forgives, forgets, and wipes out, sins, let us confess our sins to him in order to obtain pardon” (Pg., 634).
5. The Roman Catholics claim integrity for their confessional system, from the Word of Christ in reference to the power of the keys in binding and loosening. Does this refer to priests having the power and knowledge to forgive or to retain forgiveness? No.
6. The third focus is satisfaction. What does the Roman Catholic Church believe about this? With satisfaction they mean that though a person is contrite, and has made confession to the priest certain specified works must be performed in order to satisfy God for particular sins.
7. Calvin describes their position this way: “We indeed obtain pardon for our transgressions from God’s kindness, but only through the intervening merit of works, by which the offence of our sins may be paid for, in order that due satisfaction may be made to God’s justice” (Pg., 651)
8. In Jesus Christ sinners are freely given the remission of sins. (Isa. 52:3; Rom. 3:24-25; 5:8; Col. 2:13-14; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5; Acts 10:43) Christ is the sinner’s satisfaction. By the merit and work of Christ alone is God satisfied, not by our merit or work. God has made Christ a “perpetual advocate in order that by his intercession he may always restore us to the Father’s favour; an everlasting propitiation by which sins may be expiated” (Pg., 652). (1 John 2:1-2,12; 1:29)
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Repentance, Pt.5. Repentance and reprobation.
The majesty of God is a reoccurring phrase in Calvin’s Institutes. By it he means to describe the super abounding grace and gifts of God, and honest awesome authority of God. In his discussion on repentance this concept of God’s majesty is not lost. Repentance comes to mankind in their sinfulness from his grace and command.
However, what about those not chosen by God? Calvin calls them the reprobate. Calvin’s whole discussion on election and predestination in connection with those who will and will not be saved comes in full later on in chapters 21 to 24, but he brings it up here in connection to repentance and the unpardonable sin.
It would be good to understand what Calvin means by the reprobate. They are the non-elect, those whom God does not chose to give his saving grace to, those whom God passes by in mercy but visits in just judgement. To Calvin all mankind, the elect and reprobate deserve God’s justice; not his gift of repentance. The reprobates are not treated unfairly because they are given their justice. The elect are not treated fairly either because they should deserve justice, but are given grace.
1. The repentance which brings forgiveness and eternal life is a grace, a gift of God. (Acts 11:18; 2 Cor. 7:10; 2 Tim 2:25-26; Ps. 80:3,17,19; Jer. 31:18; Acts 5:31)
2. Yes, God commands all to repent but the gift of repentance is given only to the elect. The hard hearted will not turn to God that they might be saved. (Isa. 63:17; Heb. 6:4-6)
3. However, those whom God has predestined will turn from their sin unto God, due to God graciously turning them. Calvin writes, “For obviously God, renewing those he wills not to perish, shows the sign of his fatherly favour and, so to speak, draws them to himself with the rays of his calm and joyous countenance” (Pg., 616). It is this connection of repentance as a gift of God to the elect, that Calvin discusses the unpardonable sin.
4. Can we pardon the unpardonable sin as though it were nothing? What is it, if anything? Augustine says it is “persistent stubbornness even to death, with distrust of pardon” (Pg., 617). Others have said it consists in envy, which is coveting the grace bestowed upon his brother. This was Bede’s understanding.
5. Calvin proclaims it to be a striving against the illumination of the Holy Spirit. He says, “they sin against the Holy Spirit who, with evil intention, resist God’s truth, although by its brightness they are so touched that they cannot claim ignorance. Such resistance alone constitutes this sin” (Pg., 617).
6. This striving and resistance is practiced universally by the reprobate. They sinfully, blindly and hatefully resist God and His Son. (1 John 2:19; Heb. 6:6, 10:26)
However, what about those not chosen by God? Calvin calls them the reprobate. Calvin’s whole discussion on election and predestination in connection with those who will and will not be saved comes in full later on in chapters 21 to 24, but he brings it up here in connection to repentance and the unpardonable sin.
It would be good to understand what Calvin means by the reprobate. They are the non-elect, those whom God does not chose to give his saving grace to, those whom God passes by in mercy but visits in just judgement. To Calvin all mankind, the elect and reprobate deserve God’s justice; not his gift of repentance. The reprobates are not treated unfairly because they are given their justice. The elect are not treated fairly either because they should deserve justice, but are given grace.
1. The repentance which brings forgiveness and eternal life is a grace, a gift of God. (Acts 11:18; 2 Cor. 7:10; 2 Tim 2:25-26; Ps. 80:3,17,19; Jer. 31:18; Acts 5:31)
2. Yes, God commands all to repent but the gift of repentance is given only to the elect. The hard hearted will not turn to God that they might be saved. (Isa. 63:17; Heb. 6:4-6)
3. However, those whom God has predestined will turn from their sin unto God, due to God graciously turning them. Calvin writes, “For obviously God, renewing those he wills not to perish, shows the sign of his fatherly favour and, so to speak, draws them to himself with the rays of his calm and joyous countenance” (Pg., 616). It is this connection of repentance as a gift of God to the elect, that Calvin discusses the unpardonable sin.
4. Can we pardon the unpardonable sin as though it were nothing? What is it, if anything? Augustine says it is “persistent stubbornness even to death, with distrust of pardon” (Pg., 617). Others have said it consists in envy, which is coveting the grace bestowed upon his brother. This was Bede’s understanding.
5. Calvin proclaims it to be a striving against the illumination of the Holy Spirit. He says, “they sin against the Holy Spirit who, with evil intention, resist God’s truth, although by its brightness they are so touched that they cannot claim ignorance. Such resistance alone constitutes this sin” (Pg., 617).
6. This striving and resistance is practiced universally by the reprobate. They sinfully, blindly and hatefully resist God and His Son. (1 John 2:19; Heb. 6:6, 10:26)
The Freedom of the Christian: Freedom number three.
Yesterday a friend of mine who reads this blog said, “This study on freedom is an amazing study.” What I think he meant was that Jesus Christ’s gospel is amazing. How true. It’s amazing because it not only sets us free from the dictatorship of sin, and free from the law as a curse and debt (See my previous posts), but also because in Christ we are free to obey God.
The freedom of the Christ means we are free to obey God. Our obedience is a free obedience. Our discipleship is a glad one. We present our selves to God freely. That is, we are perfectly satisfied with what God has chosen for us. We are willingly in agreement with God’s sovereign will. We have the freedom to make the right choice by the power of the Spirit. He has written God’s law in our hearts and we agree with it. This is the law of life in Christ Jesus which sets us free from the law of sin and death. Christ’s gospel brings us simply to live as true human beings…thinking God’s thoughts after him and agreeing with him on everything.
Scripture explains this freedom in many ways. The commandments are not a burden (1 Jn 5:3). Being in Christ, Christians actually don’t see them as a weight, but as way forward in life. They don’t slow us down, they actually speed us up to a life of peace and joy now that the Spirit has and is changing us to make the right choices.
The freedom of the Christ means we are free to obey God. Our obedience is a free obedience. Our discipleship is a glad one. We present our selves to God freely. That is, we are perfectly satisfied with what God has chosen for us. We are willingly in agreement with God’s sovereign will. We have the freedom to make the right choice by the power of the Spirit. He has written God’s law in our hearts and we agree with it. This is the law of life in Christ Jesus which sets us free from the law of sin and death. Christ’s gospel brings us simply to live as true human beings…thinking God’s thoughts after him and agreeing with him on everything.
Scripture explains this freedom in many ways. The commandments are not a burden (1 Jn 5:3). Being in Christ, Christians actually don’t see them as a weight, but as way forward in life. They don’t slow us down, they actually speed us up to a life of peace and joy now that the Spirit has and is changing us to make the right choices.
Friday, November 27, 2009
The Freedom of the Christ: Freedom number two.
In Christ we are free from the law as a debt and curse. The law of God is good, but in our sin without Christ it is a weight greater than we can bear. It is a both a grace and a terror. A terror for it shows us we are not free after all, for we would not have known, “You shall not commit adultery,” except God’s law said so. But it is a grace even as it shows us that we can’t stand under it’s condemnation, but need Jesus Christ to save us. Jesus frees us from the debt and curse of God’s law. In him we don’t come to Mt. Sinai that burns with fire, swirls with judgment. But rather we come to Mt. Zion (Heb 12).
Paul’s point in Romans 5 is that when the law came to Israel, it did not mark the beginning of holiness in them, it accentually intensified the problem of the old Adam. The law intensified, drew attention to man’s sin (even in Israel), like an oven intensifies and makes us pay attention to heat. But the law by itself could and can do nothing to stop sin. Paul said this earlier in ch.3 and in Gal 3. And he said this to bring his fellow Jews to the free gospel of grace in Jesus.
Where sin abounds grace super abounds. The law intensifies sin, God’s grace is great than all sin and death for his answer is not the law, but the new Adam – Jesus. Yes, sin reigned in death. It destroyed slowly, seeking to lay waste man and creation. It raised it’s ugly head to grind men away from God. It stood up as some dumb king, to make all it’s subjects selfish, cruel, inhuman. BUT grace came in Christ…now grace reigns and there is a new kingdom, a new life, a world of God given possibility of a reign of righteousness, holiness, and love; all because of Jesus through whom sinners are justified, made righteous with God. For the curse of God is not directed to us, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Status: Through Jesus we are justified by faith. We are in the new Adam. This was not accomplished by Torah, but by God’s grace through Jesus…so now grace reigns through Jesus’ faithfulness (righteousness), which leads to eternal life in him.
Paul’s point in Romans 5 is that when the law came to Israel, it did not mark the beginning of holiness in them, it accentually intensified the problem of the old Adam. The law intensified, drew attention to man’s sin (even in Israel), like an oven intensifies and makes us pay attention to heat. But the law by itself could and can do nothing to stop sin. Paul said this earlier in ch.3 and in Gal 3. And he said this to bring his fellow Jews to the free gospel of grace in Jesus.
Where sin abounds grace super abounds. The law intensifies sin, God’s grace is great than all sin and death for his answer is not the law, but the new Adam – Jesus. Yes, sin reigned in death. It destroyed slowly, seeking to lay waste man and creation. It raised it’s ugly head to grind men away from God. It stood up as some dumb king, to make all it’s subjects selfish, cruel, inhuman. BUT grace came in Christ…now grace reigns and there is a new kingdom, a new life, a world of God given possibility of a reign of righteousness, holiness, and love; all because of Jesus through whom sinners are justified, made righteous with God. For the curse of God is not directed to us, for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
Status: Through Jesus we are justified by faith. We are in the new Adam. This was not accomplished by Torah, but by God’s grace through Jesus…so now grace reigns through Jesus’ faithfulness (righteousness), which leads to eternal life in him.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Repentance, Pt.4. True repentance moves us to action.
I continue with Calvin’s doctrine of repentance. Having established a definition of biblical repentance, Calvin now describes the fruits of repentance.
1. He writes “the fruits of repentance are the duties of piety toward God, of charity toward men, and in the whole of life, holiness and purity. Briefly, the more earnestly any man measures his life by the standard of God’s law, the surer are the signs of repentance that he shows” (Pg., 609).
I should be remembered that central to Calvin’s doctrine of the Christian life is union with Jesus Christ. The piety, charity, holiness, purity, and obedience to God’s law take place in the context of union with Jesus Christ through faith.
2. We must keep the Biblical balance before us: Outward fruits of repentance must come from the repentant heart. If outward shows of penance are mere forms of movements flowing from a heart of mere duty and fear of men; it is not repentance. Remember Esau.
Genuine repentance is a tangible repentance. It moves to action. Secondly, it is also difficult. It involves serving the Lord only. It means you make your heart steadfast toward the Lord. We cannot leave sin if we are not prepared to do the difficult - leave all false gods and serve the Lord only. We might just as well try to cure poison ivy by scratching, than try to serve the Lord faithfully when we have idols in our heart
3. God looks to the heart. The heart must be turned to God, and from this, God-ward movements (fruits of repentance) are brought about.
4. For the believer the “whole of life” consists in continual confession of sin before God, and when demanded, confession of sin before men.
5. “We must judge ourselves” (1 Cor. 11:31), meaning we must examine ourselves in order to repent from our sins.
6. Repentance and forgiveness go together. (Matt. 11:10; 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Mark 1:15; Luke 24:26, 46-47; Acts 5:30-31; 1 Cor. 1:30)
7. “Repentance is preached in the name of Christ when, through the teaching of the gospel, men hear that all their thoughts, all their inclinations, all their efforts, are corrupt and vicious. Accordingly, they must be reborn if they would enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Pg., 614).
8. “Forgiveness of sins is preached when men are taught that for them Christ became redemption, righteousness, salvation, and life (1 Cor. 1:30), by whose name they are freely accounted righteous and innocent in God’s sight” (Pg., 614).
1. He writes “the fruits of repentance are the duties of piety toward God, of charity toward men, and in the whole of life, holiness and purity. Briefly, the more earnestly any man measures his life by the standard of God’s law, the surer are the signs of repentance that he shows” (Pg., 609).
I should be remembered that central to Calvin’s doctrine of the Christian life is union with Jesus Christ. The piety, charity, holiness, purity, and obedience to God’s law take place in the context of union with Jesus Christ through faith.
2. We must keep the Biblical balance before us: Outward fruits of repentance must come from the repentant heart. If outward shows of penance are mere forms of movements flowing from a heart of mere duty and fear of men; it is not repentance. Remember Esau.
Genuine repentance is a tangible repentance. It moves to action. Secondly, it is also difficult. It involves serving the Lord only. It means you make your heart steadfast toward the Lord. We cannot leave sin if we are not prepared to do the difficult - leave all false gods and serve the Lord only. We might just as well try to cure poison ivy by scratching, than try to serve the Lord faithfully when we have idols in our heart
3. God looks to the heart. The heart must be turned to God, and from this, God-ward movements (fruits of repentance) are brought about.
4. For the believer the “whole of life” consists in continual confession of sin before God, and when demanded, confession of sin before men.
5. “We must judge ourselves” (1 Cor. 11:31), meaning we must examine ourselves in order to repent from our sins.
6. Repentance and forgiveness go together. (Matt. 11:10; 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Mark 1:15; Luke 24:26, 46-47; Acts 5:30-31; 1 Cor. 1:30)
7. “Repentance is preached in the name of Christ when, through the teaching of the gospel, men hear that all their thoughts, all their inclinations, all their efforts, are corrupt and vicious. Accordingly, they must be reborn if they would enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Pg., 614).
8. “Forgiveness of sins is preached when men are taught that for them Christ became redemption, righteousness, salvation, and life (1 Cor. 1:30), by whose name they are freely accounted righteous and innocent in God’s sight” (Pg., 614).
The freedom of the Christian: Freedom number one.
Paul said in Gal 5:1, “For freedom, Christ has set us free.” Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32). And, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn8:36). Freedom comes from and through the truth of God, through the Son of God. The Spirit of God was upon him anointing him to proclaim liberty to the captives. Through his cross and resurrection we are delivered from the bondage of sin and kingdom of darkness. Where the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is there is liberty, and where Christ’s Spirit has been sent into the hearts of those who repent of sin and believe in him, they can cry Abba Father, and are no longer a slave, but a son.
If we put these and other Scripture witnesses together we could sum up the NT teaching on freedom the way Peter Eicher did. “God’s choice is our freedom.” If we have freedom we owe it to God, and his choice, not to the choice of our own. Genuine freedom, as Eberard Bush explained, “Is the freedom that is granted to us as a gift by the grace of God in Jesus Christ!” If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. Water and rain go together, and so do freedom and Jesus Christ.
But freedom for what? Over the next few days I will attempt to give answers to that question. I’ll begin with freedom number one.
Christians are freed from the dictatorship of sin (Rom 6). "True Christian freedom is the freedom of the children of God – and that is not the freedom to sin, but the freedom from sin in Jesus Christ" -Kim Fabricius. Jesus Christ came to reconcile us to God, not to our sins. He came to destroy Satan and sin, not his Lordship. Jesus Christ does not make us more rebellious, greedier, or more hateful. He did not come to teach us to be alone to choose ourselves. No, he came to give us new life and crucify the old self. He took our guilty and sin which we loved and nailed it to the cross. We are unshackled from its bondage. Rom 6:4.
If we put these and other Scripture witnesses together we could sum up the NT teaching on freedom the way Peter Eicher did. “God’s choice is our freedom.” If we have freedom we owe it to God, and his choice, not to the choice of our own. Genuine freedom, as Eberard Bush explained, “Is the freedom that is granted to us as a gift by the grace of God in Jesus Christ!” If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed. Water and rain go together, and so do freedom and Jesus Christ.
But freedom for what? Over the next few days I will attempt to give answers to that question. I’ll begin with freedom number one.
Christians are freed from the dictatorship of sin (Rom 6). "True Christian freedom is the freedom of the children of God – and that is not the freedom to sin, but the freedom from sin in Jesus Christ" -Kim Fabricius. Jesus Christ came to reconcile us to God, not to our sins. He came to destroy Satan and sin, not his Lordship. Jesus Christ does not make us more rebellious, greedier, or more hateful. He did not come to teach us to be alone to choose ourselves. No, he came to give us new life and crucify the old self. He took our guilty and sin which we loved and nailed it to the cross. We are unshackled from its bondage. Rom 6:4.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Repentance, Pt.3. Elements in repentance
Genuine repentance is a tangible repentance. It moves to action. Secondly, it is also difficult. It involves serving the Lord only. It means you make your heart steadfast toward the Lord. We cannot leave sin if we are not prepared to do the difficult - leave all false gods and serve the Lord only. We might just as well try to cure poison ivy by scratching, than try to serve the Lord faithfully without repentance from idolatry or any other sin.
Calvin described biblical repentance in a very tangible way. Here is the summary for today.
1. Those that turn from their sin to God mortify their flesh, and are alive to the things of God, yet traces of sinful corruption still remain. Calvin said, “There remains in a regenerate man a smouldering cinder of evil” (Pg., 602).
2. Some have called this remaining corruption weakness rather than sinfulness because the corrupt inclinations in believers are not sinful in themselves, until the will yields to them.
3. This is wrong. Calvin explains that even these corrupt inclinations in the Christian are sinful. “We label sin that very depravity which begets in us desires of this sort. We accordingly teach that in the saints, until they are divested of mortal bodies, there is always sin; for in their flesh there resides that depravity of inordinate desiring which contends against righteousness” (Pg., 603).
4. This does not mean God’s people remain under the dominion of sin. They do not. [Rom. 6; Eph. 5:26-27] God has promised to give delivering grace to free his adopted children from sin’s reign. “Sin does remain, but no longer reigns,” Professor John Murray said. [Rom. 6:6; 8:2; 7:6]
5. Not only are we freed from the reign of sin, but we are also freed from its awful guilt, because Christ was our substitute. [Eph. 5:26-27; Rom. 8:1]
6. In 2 Cor. 7:11 Paul gives seven elements involved in repentance. “They are earnestness or carefulness, excuse, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and avenging” (Pg., 607). Calvin explained them in these ways…
- By carefulness is meant a sorrow over sin, which brings self dissatisfaction and a diligent fight against sin.
- By excuse or “clearing of yourselves” (KJV) is meant “purification, which relies more on asking pardon than on confidence in one’s own cause” (Pg., 608).
- By fear it is meant that trembling which occurs in the mind when one truly understands the severity of his sin before the holy God, and the just severity of God’s wrath toward that sin.
- By longing and zeal, it is meant a desire and readiness to obey God; to plunge into God’s mercy.
- By avenging it is meant a sort of self attack on sin. We declare war on our remaining corruption desiring to avenge it by good works and love to God. However, we must beware and not slip into despair during the process.
Calvin described biblical repentance in a very tangible way. Here is the summary for today.
1. Those that turn from their sin to God mortify their flesh, and are alive to the things of God, yet traces of sinful corruption still remain. Calvin said, “There remains in a regenerate man a smouldering cinder of evil” (Pg., 602).
2. Some have called this remaining corruption weakness rather than sinfulness because the corrupt inclinations in believers are not sinful in themselves, until the will yields to them.
3. This is wrong. Calvin explains that even these corrupt inclinations in the Christian are sinful. “We label sin that very depravity which begets in us desires of this sort. We accordingly teach that in the saints, until they are divested of mortal bodies, there is always sin; for in their flesh there resides that depravity of inordinate desiring which contends against righteousness” (Pg., 603).
4. This does not mean God’s people remain under the dominion of sin. They do not. [Rom. 6; Eph. 5:26-27] God has promised to give delivering grace to free his adopted children from sin’s reign. “Sin does remain, but no longer reigns,” Professor John Murray said. [Rom. 6:6; 8:2; 7:6]
5. Not only are we freed from the reign of sin, but we are also freed from its awful guilt, because Christ was our substitute. [Eph. 5:26-27; Rom. 8:1]
6. In 2 Cor. 7:11 Paul gives seven elements involved in repentance. “They are earnestness or carefulness, excuse, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and avenging” (Pg., 607). Calvin explained them in these ways…
- By carefulness is meant a sorrow over sin, which brings self dissatisfaction and a diligent fight against sin.
- By excuse or “clearing of yourselves” (KJV) is meant “purification, which relies more on asking pardon than on confidence in one’s own cause” (Pg., 608).
- By fear it is meant that trembling which occurs in the mind when one truly understands the severity of his sin before the holy God, and the just severity of God’s wrath toward that sin.
- By longing and zeal, it is meant a desire and readiness to obey God; to plunge into God’s mercy.
- By avenging it is meant a sort of self attack on sin. We declare war on our remaining corruption desiring to avenge it by good works and love to God. However, we must beware and not slip into despair during the process.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Repentance, Pt.2. Life and death
After a couple of days off, my summary of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion continues. I am on Book 3, chapter 3.
1. To Biblically define repentance, we must distinguish it from faith. Faith and repentance are two different things. They are inseparable yet distinct truths. [Acts 20:21]
2. On the basis of the Hebrew and Greek etymology of the word Calvin defines biblical repentance as “the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of him; and it consists in the mortification of our flesh and of the old man, and in the vivification of the Spirit” (Pg., 587).
Let’s look at this definition point by point.
3. First, the meaning of “turning of our life to God.” By this is meant a transformation, both of the outward life and inward soul. The soul by the gift and power of repentance must be turned to God, first. When the old man is put off and renewed, then the renewed mind, the repentant man will “bring forth the fruits of works in harmony with its renewal” (Pg., 598). [Ezek. 18:31; Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 30:2,6,10; Jer. 24:7; Deut. 10:16; Jer 4]
4. Secondly, the meaning, “turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of him.” By this is meant that “before the mind of the sinner inclines to repentance, it must be aroused by thinking upon divine judgement” (Pg., 599).
The Bible frequently discusses God’s judgement when sinners are admonished to repent, and the Bible declares God to be the judge. [Jer. 4:4; Acts 17:30-31; Deut. 29:19 ff; 2 Cor. 7:10]
Why? Calvin explains. “For if we were not sharply pricked, the slothfulness of our flesh could not be corrected. Indeed, these prickings would not have sufficed against its dullness and blockishness had God not penetrated more deeply in unsheathing his rods....Therefore, the depravity of our nature compels God to use severity in threatening us” (Pg., 599).
5. Third, the meaning of “mortification of our flesh, vivification of the Spirit.” Both of these are component parts of biblical repentance.
“mortification of our flesh.” By this we simply mean we must continually turn from and deny our remaining sin. Though we are renewed in Jesus Christ, we still struggle with remaining sin. Actually the struggle comes preceisely because of the new birth. [Ps. 36:8,3,27; Isa. 1:16-17; Gal 5]
“vivification of the Spirit.” By this we simply mean we are made alive to turn to God and his righteousness. Calvin writes, “That comes to pass when the Spirit of God so imbues our souls, steeped in his holiness, with both new thoughts and feelings, that they can be rightly considered new” (Pg., 600).
6. The great work of repentance in all its parts happens to us by participation in Christ. The true child of God participates in both his death (mortification) and resurrection (vivification). [Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:23,24; Col. 3:10; 2 Cor. 4:4]
1. To Biblically define repentance, we must distinguish it from faith. Faith and repentance are two different things. They are inseparable yet distinct truths. [Acts 20:21]
2. On the basis of the Hebrew and Greek etymology of the word Calvin defines biblical repentance as “the true turning of our life to God, a turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of him; and it consists in the mortification of our flesh and of the old man, and in the vivification of the Spirit” (Pg., 587).
Let’s look at this definition point by point.
3. First, the meaning of “turning of our life to God.” By this is meant a transformation, both of the outward life and inward soul. The soul by the gift and power of repentance must be turned to God, first. When the old man is put off and renewed, then the renewed mind, the repentant man will “bring forth the fruits of works in harmony with its renewal” (Pg., 598). [Ezek. 18:31; Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 30:2,6,10; Jer. 24:7; Deut. 10:16; Jer 4]
4. Secondly, the meaning, “turning that arises from a pure and earnest fear of him.” By this is meant that “before the mind of the sinner inclines to repentance, it must be aroused by thinking upon divine judgement” (Pg., 599).
The Bible frequently discusses God’s judgement when sinners are admonished to repent, and the Bible declares God to be the judge. [Jer. 4:4; Acts 17:30-31; Deut. 29:19 ff; 2 Cor. 7:10]
Why? Calvin explains. “For if we were not sharply pricked, the slothfulness of our flesh could not be corrected. Indeed, these prickings would not have sufficed against its dullness and blockishness had God not penetrated more deeply in unsheathing his rods....Therefore, the depravity of our nature compels God to use severity in threatening us” (Pg., 599).
5. Third, the meaning of “mortification of our flesh, vivification of the Spirit.” Both of these are component parts of biblical repentance.
“mortification of our flesh.” By this we simply mean we must continually turn from and deny our remaining sin. Though we are renewed in Jesus Christ, we still struggle with remaining sin. Actually the struggle comes preceisely because of the new birth. [Ps. 36:8,3,27; Isa. 1:16-17; Gal 5]
“vivification of the Spirit.” By this we simply mean we are made alive to turn to God and his righteousness. Calvin writes, “That comes to pass when the Spirit of God so imbues our souls, steeped in his holiness, with both new thoughts and feelings, that they can be rightly considered new” (Pg., 600).
6. The great work of repentance in all its parts happens to us by participation in Christ. The true child of God participates in both his death (mortification) and resurrection (vivification). [Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:23,24; Col. 3:10; 2 Cor. 4:4]
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Repentance, Pt.1. Gospel repentance.
In the summaries so far we have not come specifically to the doctrine of justification, so why did Calvin put repentance here after faith? A thorough explanation of justification does not come until chapter 11. It comes only after he has discussed, 1) the fruit of repentance, 2) the error of the Roman Catholic doctrine of confession, indulgences and purgatory in relation to repentance, 3) the Christian life of self-denial, 5) the Christian’s future life with God, and 4) how we must use this present life for holiness. Wow, all this before justification by faith.
Why? McNeill in his note on page 593 asks, “Why this surprising order?” Well, as he explains what holiness and the Christian life consists of we realize that our only hope of salvation is Jesus Christ. “For when this topic (repentance and holiness of life) is rightly understood it will better appear how man is justified by faith alone, and simple pardon; nevertheless actual holiness of life, so to speak, is not separated from free imputation of righteousness” (Pg., 593).
At first I thought we turn the order around today, but then I realized we don’t. Rather, we leave out one or the other. We either preach a holiness without the gospel, or we preach a gospel without holiness.
Let’s begin with Calvin on repentance in Chapter 3, Book 3. Again I will make a number of entries here.
1. Faith and repentance go together like husband and wife because both are in the gospel. [Lk. 24:47; Acts 5:31] True faith is accompanied by repentance and repentance, as saving grace, is executed due to the presence of faith.
2. Calvin writes, "Now it ought to be a fact beyond controversy that repentance not only constantly follows faith, but is also born of faith. ...surely no one can embrace the grace of the gospel without betaking himself from the errors of his past life into the right way, and applying his whole effort to the practice of repentance" (Pg., 593).
3. Before Calvin dives into the definition and movement of repentance, he makes some important particulars concerning repentance.
4. First the origin of repentance. Understanding it to be a saving grace springing up from faith, one concludes that, "a man cannot apply himself seriously to repentance without knowing himself to belong to God. But no one is truly persuaded that he belongs to God unless he has first recognized God=s grace" (Pg., 594). This work the Spirit must do, and it comes when he reveals Jesus Christ as the answer for man’s sin.
5. Second, repentance and mortification. By mortification, we mean a sorrow in the soul and mind, which has resulted from a true awareness and knowledge of sin. This knowledge and sorrow over sin brings with it a hate for sin, displeasure of self, and confusion of the miserable state of the sinner.
6. Third, repentance and vivification. By vivification is meant the comfort which comes from faith. "That is, when a man is laid low by the consciousness of sin and stricken by the fear of God, and afterward looks to the goodness of God 'to his mercy, grace, salvation, which is through Christ' he raises himself up, he takes heart, he recovers courage, and as it were, returns from death to life" (Pg., 595).
7. Fourthly, we must understand the term "repentance of the law." By this Calvin refers to the convicting work of God's law. That is, the sinner gets caught by his sin, feels the wickedness of his sin, and realizes its reigning power; all because the law reveals it to him.
8. Fifth, the term "repentance of the gospel." Those who have been wounded and destroyed of self righteousness by the law, through the "repentance unto the gospel" turns, grasps, and rests upon Christ alone to heal his wounds, comfort his fear, and be the haven of his misery” (Pg., 596).
9. "We see ‘gospel repentance’ in all those who, made sore by the sting of sin but aroused and refreshed by trust in God's mercy, have turned to the Lord" (Pg., 596). [2 Kings 20:2; Isa. 38:2; Jonah 3:5,9; 2 Sam. 24:10; 12:13,16; Acts 2:37, Matt. 26:75; Luke 22:62]
Why? McNeill in his note on page 593 asks, “Why this surprising order?” Well, as he explains what holiness and the Christian life consists of we realize that our only hope of salvation is Jesus Christ. “For when this topic (repentance and holiness of life) is rightly understood it will better appear how man is justified by faith alone, and simple pardon; nevertheless actual holiness of life, so to speak, is not separated from free imputation of righteousness” (Pg., 593).
At first I thought we turn the order around today, but then I realized we don’t. Rather, we leave out one or the other. We either preach a holiness without the gospel, or we preach a gospel without holiness.
Let’s begin with Calvin on repentance in Chapter 3, Book 3. Again I will make a number of entries here.
1. Faith and repentance go together like husband and wife because both are in the gospel. [Lk. 24:47; Acts 5:31] True faith is accompanied by repentance and repentance, as saving grace, is executed due to the presence of faith.
2. Calvin writes, "Now it ought to be a fact beyond controversy that repentance not only constantly follows faith, but is also born of faith. ...surely no one can embrace the grace of the gospel without betaking himself from the errors of his past life into the right way, and applying his whole effort to the practice of repentance" (Pg., 593).
3. Before Calvin dives into the definition and movement of repentance, he makes some important particulars concerning repentance.
4. First the origin of repentance. Understanding it to be a saving grace springing up from faith, one concludes that, "a man cannot apply himself seriously to repentance without knowing himself to belong to God. But no one is truly persuaded that he belongs to God unless he has first recognized God=s grace" (Pg., 594). This work the Spirit must do, and it comes when he reveals Jesus Christ as the answer for man’s sin.
5. Second, repentance and mortification. By mortification, we mean a sorrow in the soul and mind, which has resulted from a true awareness and knowledge of sin. This knowledge and sorrow over sin brings with it a hate for sin, displeasure of self, and confusion of the miserable state of the sinner.
6. Third, repentance and vivification. By vivification is meant the comfort which comes from faith. "That is, when a man is laid low by the consciousness of sin and stricken by the fear of God, and afterward looks to the goodness of God 'to his mercy, grace, salvation, which is through Christ' he raises himself up, he takes heart, he recovers courage, and as it were, returns from death to life" (Pg., 595).
7. Fourthly, we must understand the term "repentance of the law." By this Calvin refers to the convicting work of God's law. That is, the sinner gets caught by his sin, feels the wickedness of his sin, and realizes its reigning power; all because the law reveals it to him.
8. Fifth, the term "repentance of the gospel." Those who have been wounded and destroyed of self righteousness by the law, through the "repentance unto the gospel" turns, grasps, and rests upon Christ alone to heal his wounds, comfort his fear, and be the haven of his misery” (Pg., 596).
9. "We see ‘gospel repentance’ in all those who, made sore by the sting of sin but aroused and refreshed by trust in God's mercy, have turned to the Lord" (Pg., 596). [2 Kings 20:2; Isa. 38:2; Jonah 3:5,9; 2 Sam. 24:10; 12:13,16; Acts 2:37, Matt. 26:75; Luke 22:62]
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
A Position Needs Filling: A Master craftsman for the craft of the Christian life needed.
I read an excellent article by Stanley Hauerwas called, Discipleship as a Craft, Church as a Disciplined Community. It was a great reminder to me that in the church we need a Master.
In it he uses the illustration of a bricklayer. To be a bricklayer requires you to take an apprenticeship to be taught by a master craftsman. He teaches you all that is involved; including the language. This is also true for playing baseball, being a cook, or carpenter etc.
But should this not be true for a Christian or a church? Yes. Sadly however, in our modern democratic infatuation and demand for individualism we don’t want a master to train us in life. To quote Hauerwas, “the accounts of morality sponsored by democracy want to deny the necessity of a master. It is assumed that we each in and of ourselves have all we need to be moral. No master is necessary for us to become moral, for being moral is a condition that does not require initiation or training.” We think we can set our own course in morality, and actually in our love to discover things by ourselves we think a valuable morality only comes when we discover it by ourselves.
Hauerwas goes on to say that there are less and less bricklayers because contractors are building more practical, cheaper plastic and glass covered buildings. The end result of course is less and less master bricklayers are needed. What will happen if in our democratic self made morality endeavour we get more and more morality? We will need a master less and less. To put it plainly, we will need Jesus and all he has set in place to nurture us less and less; namely Christian friends less and less, pastors and elders less and less, and the Christian community less and less.
Christian bookstores and conferences are full of self-help books for democratic reasons…people need to have these things available so they can discover the morality that suites them for themselves. No conversion to Jesus is necessary, and to submit to him as Master and Lord is seen as undemocratic. “After all he is to lend a hand to achieve my happiness, not be my Lord.” Following this way will leave us untransformed. There is no gospel in this whatsoever. Being made new by the Master is actually shunned out of a love and goal to renew ourselves. We can’t be failures because then we would have to go to the Master and admit we need his guidance.
The fact is we need the Master, Jesus Christ, and his body the church through which he works. This means…
1. Being a Christian is not about having all beliefs and behaviour right. It is about being born again into the craft of a new creation, or new life in Christ.
2. Following Jesus as the Master craftsmen of life comes from this grace of God.
3. He by his Spirit will train us in the art of humility. He will train us that we are sinners in need of his grace all the time.
4. From this he will train us to forgive. If we have been forgiven by him, he will lead us to forgive others too.
5. At this juncture, having humbled us to receive his forgiveness and having inspired us to forgive others around us who are failures like us; in his grace he teaches us to be creatures. That we are God’s creations set free from a self determining democracy and called to live his way in the world he has made.
This is antithetical to democratic Christianity. Most Christians live as if this world was theirs, and if in their belief about the end times they can’t wait to get out of this bad place and reach heaven; well, they make heaven theirs also. And no surprise because they have been taught Jesus and Christianity is about a democratic choice that the individual makes. Hauerwas was correct in identifying a huge problem in the Western church. His basic idea was that the great problem of modernity (post-modernity too) is how the church can declare Jesus is Lord, give Jesus centered discipleship, and practice biblical discipline in a democratic society? The answer he gave was simple…follow the Master, and grieve not the Holy Spirit. Live in his world as his child! To not have faith as a little child, but maintain a democratic right before God is tantamount to “grieving the Spirit of God.” To says Jesus is for me, church is for me, this world exists for my happiness alone, or that I need to master the Christian life on my own is to grieve the Spirit of God.
Discipleship and discipline are a gift of God’s grace. They come to us from the triune God, the Master of the world. However, if we need him less and less because of our successful morality we will live less and less too.
In it he uses the illustration of a bricklayer. To be a bricklayer requires you to take an apprenticeship to be taught by a master craftsman. He teaches you all that is involved; including the language. This is also true for playing baseball, being a cook, or carpenter etc.
But should this not be true for a Christian or a church? Yes. Sadly however, in our modern democratic infatuation and demand for individualism we don’t want a master to train us in life. To quote Hauerwas, “the accounts of morality sponsored by democracy want to deny the necessity of a master. It is assumed that we each in and of ourselves have all we need to be moral. No master is necessary for us to become moral, for being moral is a condition that does not require initiation or training.” We think we can set our own course in morality, and actually in our love to discover things by ourselves we think a valuable morality only comes when we discover it by ourselves.
Hauerwas goes on to say that there are less and less bricklayers because contractors are building more practical, cheaper plastic and glass covered buildings. The end result of course is less and less master bricklayers are needed. What will happen if in our democratic self made morality endeavour we get more and more morality? We will need a master less and less. To put it plainly, we will need Jesus and all he has set in place to nurture us less and less; namely Christian friends less and less, pastors and elders less and less, and the Christian community less and less.
Christian bookstores and conferences are full of self-help books for democratic reasons…people need to have these things available so they can discover the morality that suites them for themselves. No conversion to Jesus is necessary, and to submit to him as Master and Lord is seen as undemocratic. “After all he is to lend a hand to achieve my happiness, not be my Lord.” Following this way will leave us untransformed. There is no gospel in this whatsoever. Being made new by the Master is actually shunned out of a love and goal to renew ourselves. We can’t be failures because then we would have to go to the Master and admit we need his guidance.
The fact is we need the Master, Jesus Christ, and his body the church through which he works. This means…
1. Being a Christian is not about having all beliefs and behaviour right. It is about being born again into the craft of a new creation, or new life in Christ.
2. Following Jesus as the Master craftsmen of life comes from this grace of God.
3. He by his Spirit will train us in the art of humility. He will train us that we are sinners in need of his grace all the time.
4. From this he will train us to forgive. If we have been forgiven by him, he will lead us to forgive others too.
5. At this juncture, having humbled us to receive his forgiveness and having inspired us to forgive others around us who are failures like us; in his grace he teaches us to be creatures. That we are God’s creations set free from a self determining democracy and called to live his way in the world he has made.
This is antithetical to democratic Christianity. Most Christians live as if this world was theirs, and if in their belief about the end times they can’t wait to get out of this bad place and reach heaven; well, they make heaven theirs also. And no surprise because they have been taught Jesus and Christianity is about a democratic choice that the individual makes. Hauerwas was correct in identifying a huge problem in the Western church. His basic idea was that the great problem of modernity (post-modernity too) is how the church can declare Jesus is Lord, give Jesus centered discipleship, and practice biblical discipline in a democratic society? The answer he gave was simple…follow the Master, and grieve not the Holy Spirit. Live in his world as his child! To not have faith as a little child, but maintain a democratic right before God is tantamount to “grieving the Spirit of God.” To says Jesus is for me, church is for me, this world exists for my happiness alone, or that I need to master the Christian life on my own is to grieve the Spirit of God.
Discipleship and discipline are a gift of God’s grace. They come to us from the triune God, the Master of the world. However, if we need him less and less because of our successful morality we will live less and less too.
Calvin’s Institutes: Christian Faith, Pt.7. The Siamese twins, faith and hope.
I now come to consider the relationship between faith and the two comforting virtues hope and love. To understand this relationship the essential nature of faith itself must be known. In simple terms it is a secure trust in the promises of God. Hope is similar. It anticipates the promises of God. For Calvin hope and faith were focused on the Person and reward of God’s grace…Jesus.
1. From Hebrews 11:1, Calvin explains the essential nature of faith four ways.
a. Substance of faith is a sort of “support upon which the godly mind may lean and rest. It is as if he were to say that faith itself is a sure and secure possession of those things which God has promised us, unless someone prefers to understand ‘hypostasis’ as confidence!” (Pg., 588).
b. These promises are not perceived by our immediate senses, therefore we do not group these promises “any other way than if we transcend all the limits of our senses and direct our perception beyond all things of this world and, in short, surpass ourselves. Therefore he adds that this assurance of possession is on those things which lie in hope, and are therefore not seen” (Pg., 588).
c. Hence faith is “an evidence of things not appearing, a seeing of things not seen, a clearness of things obscure, a presence of things absent, a showing forth of things hidden.”
d. Therefore faith understands, knows, trusts, and rests upon the real promises of God, which cannot be seen by the naked eye, but are tangible, alive, and already done to the eye of saving faith.
2. Obviously, those who see and believe the promises of God are aroused to hope and love for God.
3. Hope in God and what he has promised in Scripture, “is nothing else than the expectation of those things which faith has believed to have been truly promised by God” (Pg., 590).
4. How do faith and hope work together? “Faith knows God to be true, hope waits for the time this truth will be manifest; faith believes that he is our Father, hope anticipates that he will ever show himself to be a Father toward us; faith believes that eternal life has been given to us, hope anticipates that it will some time be revealed; faith is the foundation upon which hope rests, hope nourishes and sustains faith…(This is because, ‘Faith must be sustained and nourished by patient hope and expectation, lest it fail and grow faint.’) Hope restrains faith that it may not fail headlong from to much hast...Hope strengthens faith that it may not waver in God’s promises…Hope refreshes faith, that it may not become weary. In short, by unremitting renewing and restoring, it (hope) invigorates faith again and again with perseverance” (Pg., 590).
5. Hope also supports faith through periods of testing and waiting. [Hab. 2:3; Isa. 8:7; 2 Peter 3:3,4; Ps. 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8]
6. Faith and Hope are inseparably linked together. “Because, embracing the testimony of the gospel concerning freely given love, we look for the time when God will openly show that which is now hidden under hope” (Pg., 591).
7. The believer has faith and hope in God, for the express purpose to embrace his mercy. The Spirit gives faith and hope for this reason. As Calvin writes, “The single goal of faith is the mercy of God” (Pg., 592). Faith and hope are like Siamese twins.
1. From Hebrews 11:1, Calvin explains the essential nature of faith four ways.
a. Substance of faith is a sort of “support upon which the godly mind may lean and rest. It is as if he were to say that faith itself is a sure and secure possession of those things which God has promised us, unless someone prefers to understand ‘hypostasis’ as confidence!” (Pg., 588).
b. These promises are not perceived by our immediate senses, therefore we do not group these promises “any other way than if we transcend all the limits of our senses and direct our perception beyond all things of this world and, in short, surpass ourselves. Therefore he adds that this assurance of possession is on those things which lie in hope, and are therefore not seen” (Pg., 588).
c. Hence faith is “an evidence of things not appearing, a seeing of things not seen, a clearness of things obscure, a presence of things absent, a showing forth of things hidden.”
d. Therefore faith understands, knows, trusts, and rests upon the real promises of God, which cannot be seen by the naked eye, but are tangible, alive, and already done to the eye of saving faith.
2. Obviously, those who see and believe the promises of God are aroused to hope and love for God.
3. Hope in God and what he has promised in Scripture, “is nothing else than the expectation of those things which faith has believed to have been truly promised by God” (Pg., 590).
4. How do faith and hope work together? “Faith knows God to be true, hope waits for the time this truth will be manifest; faith believes that he is our Father, hope anticipates that he will ever show himself to be a Father toward us; faith believes that eternal life has been given to us, hope anticipates that it will some time be revealed; faith is the foundation upon which hope rests, hope nourishes and sustains faith…(This is because, ‘Faith must be sustained and nourished by patient hope and expectation, lest it fail and grow faint.’) Hope restrains faith that it may not fail headlong from to much hast...Hope strengthens faith that it may not waver in God’s promises…Hope refreshes faith, that it may not become weary. In short, by unremitting renewing and restoring, it (hope) invigorates faith again and again with perseverance” (Pg., 590).
5. Hope also supports faith through periods of testing and waiting. [Hab. 2:3; Isa. 8:7; 2 Peter 3:3,4; Ps. 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8]
6. Faith and Hope are inseparably linked together. “Because, embracing the testimony of the gospel concerning freely given love, we look for the time when God will openly show that which is now hidden under hope” (Pg., 591).
7. The believer has faith and hope in God, for the express purpose to embrace his mercy. The Spirit gives faith and hope for this reason. As Calvin writes, “The single goal of faith is the mercy of God” (Pg., 592). Faith and hope are like Siamese twins.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Christian Faith, Pt.6. Faith and the Holy Spirit.
We now come to consider the Holy Spirit's work in connection with faith. To put it differently, can Scripture and man by themselves bring faith, or is this God’s work? Yes, God the Holy Spirit must take Scripture and illuminate it into and upon the darkened heart. "Without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the Word can do nothing" (Pg., 580). I would add without the Holy Spirit we can not know Jesus Christ.
Here is today’s summary.
1. Blind men can not see the blinding sun unless their eyes are made to see. Sinful men cannot see their sin or the truth of God in Jesus, unless they are allowed by grace to see the truth. [1 Cor. 2:9-11,14,16; Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21; Matt. 16:17; Rom. 11:34; John 6:44,45; John 1:18 and 5:37; Luke 24:27,45; John 16:13]
2. As man cannot initiate faith by himself, so he cannot beam the light of the Scripture upon his mind and heart, so as to love, believe and embrace Jesus Christ and be united to God.
3. Calvin sums it up. "Christ, when he illumines us into faith be the power of his Spirit, at the same time so engrafts us into his body that we become partakers of every good" (Pg., 583).
4. Saving Faith reaches both the mind and heart. To put it another way, the understanding must be illuminated in God's truth to such an extent that truth is grasped, loved, and followed by the heart.
5. The Spirit's illumination and "efficacious winning" of the heart will drive out those deep seated doubts, distrusts and blackness. The Spirit will seal God's truth in the believer's heart, being the guarantee. "The Spirit accordingly serves as a seal, to seal up in our hearts those very promises the certainty of which it has previously impressed upon our minds; and takes the place of a guarantee to confirm and establish them. After Ayou believed" (the apostle declares), "you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance" (Pg., 584). [Eph. 1:13-14. See Calvin’s Commentary on Ephesians]
6. Scripture tells us God's children confidently rejoice and persevere in their faith through the indwelling Holy Spirit. [1 Cor. 2:12; Rom. 8:9,11,14,16; 1 John 3:24, 4:13; Isa. 44:3; cf. Joel 2:28; Rom. 8:38,39]
7. God the Holy Spirit takes Scripture and illumines the mind and heart of his people to see God, but not only to see God…to also be at rest in God.
8. Again as Calvin said, "That the root of faith can never be torn from the godly breast, but clings so fast to the inmost parts that, however faith seems to be shaken or to bend this way or that, its light is never so extinguished or snuffed out that it does not at least lurk as it were beneath the ashes."
Here is today’s summary.
1. Blind men can not see the blinding sun unless their eyes are made to see. Sinful men cannot see their sin or the truth of God in Jesus, unless they are allowed by grace to see the truth. [1 Cor. 2:9-11,14,16; Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21; Matt. 16:17; Rom. 11:34; John 6:44,45; John 1:18 and 5:37; Luke 24:27,45; John 16:13]
2. As man cannot initiate faith by himself, so he cannot beam the light of the Scripture upon his mind and heart, so as to love, believe and embrace Jesus Christ and be united to God.
3. Calvin sums it up. "Christ, when he illumines us into faith be the power of his Spirit, at the same time so engrafts us into his body that we become partakers of every good" (Pg., 583).
4. Saving Faith reaches both the mind and heart. To put it another way, the understanding must be illuminated in God's truth to such an extent that truth is grasped, loved, and followed by the heart.
5. The Spirit's illumination and "efficacious winning" of the heart will drive out those deep seated doubts, distrusts and blackness. The Spirit will seal God's truth in the believer's heart, being the guarantee. "The Spirit accordingly serves as a seal, to seal up in our hearts those very promises the certainty of which it has previously impressed upon our minds; and takes the place of a guarantee to confirm and establish them. After Ayou believed" (the apostle declares), "you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance" (Pg., 584). [Eph. 1:13-14. See Calvin’s Commentary on Ephesians]
6. Scripture tells us God's children confidently rejoice and persevere in their faith through the indwelling Holy Spirit. [1 Cor. 2:12; Rom. 8:9,11,14,16; 1 John 3:24, 4:13; Isa. 44:3; cf. Joel 2:28; Rom. 8:38,39]
7. God the Holy Spirit takes Scripture and illumines the mind and heart of his people to see God, but not only to see God…to also be at rest in God.
8. Again as Calvin said, "That the root of faith can never be torn from the godly breast, but clings so fast to the inmost parts that, however faith seems to be shaken or to bend this way or that, its light is never so extinguished or snuffed out that it does not at least lurk as it were beneath the ashes."
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The soul’s death…wanting to hide from God.
“Adam, where are you?” (Gen 3:9), was God’s judgment on Adam’s sin, and it showed that Adam had died as God had said. He hid himself from God, and all mankind after him has sought to do hide from God in as many ways as there are people on earth. To want to hide from God is a spiritual catastrophe, a misery, a total confusion, a ruin, a depravity and, yes, a death. The question God asked sounded horrible to Adam because it carried judgment. Of course grace was with God here too in the coming to and finding Adam. But notice, Adam preferred to hide from this judgement and grace. This was truly the death of the soul.
George H. Tavard in his work on John Calvin’s Psychopannychia entitled, The Starting Point of Calvin’s Theology summarized how Calvin understood the soul’s death. “Calvin in his Psychopannychia wrote, ‘Do you wish to know what the soul’s death is? It is to miss God, to be forsaken by God, to be left to itself. For if God is the soul’s life, the soul that loses God’s presence loses its own life.’ Such a spiritual death is experienced when God’s love presence has been withdrawn. Since there is no light outside of God that is able to illumine our night, ‘our soul, buried in its darkness, is blind’ when the divine light sets. This blindness entails other tragic defects, for by the same token the soul is dumb, ‘unable to make saving confession.’ It is also deaf, ‘unable to hear the living voice.’ And finally it limps, ‘unable to function.’ Calvin asks, ‘What more do you require for death.’ All these decays of the human spirit can already be experienced by sinners in the present life” (Pg., 85-85)
George H. Tavard in his work on John Calvin’s Psychopannychia entitled, The Starting Point of Calvin’s Theology summarized how Calvin understood the soul’s death. “Calvin in his Psychopannychia wrote, ‘Do you wish to know what the soul’s death is? It is to miss God, to be forsaken by God, to be left to itself. For if God is the soul’s life, the soul that loses God’s presence loses its own life.’ Such a spiritual death is experienced when God’s love presence has been withdrawn. Since there is no light outside of God that is able to illumine our night, ‘our soul, buried in its darkness, is blind’ when the divine light sets. This blindness entails other tragic defects, for by the same token the soul is dumb, ‘unable to make saving confession.’ It is also deaf, ‘unable to hear the living voice.’ And finally it limps, ‘unable to function.’ Calvin asks, ‘What more do you require for death.’ All these decays of the human spirit can already be experienced by sinners in the present life” (Pg., 85-85)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Christian Faith, Pt.5. Faith is trusting Jesus Christ.
I was talking with the kids about faith the other day. One of them said, “Sometimes Christian pastors and teachers make faith so hard to understand. What is it really?” Someone said in response, “Faith is simply trusting and depending on the Lord. After all he sent Jesus didn’t he?”
Calvin wrote about faith as trust years ago. Here is the gist of his discussion.
1. Faith is repose upon God's promises. The promises of God are the foundation of our faith. "Faith properly begins with the promise, rests in it, and ends in it" (Pg., 575).
2. Calvin says Christians do have faith in God's commands, threatenings, and prohibitions but true faith does not find its nourishment here. Why? "For in God faith seeks life: a life that is not found in commandments or declarations of penalties, but in the promise of mercy, and only in a freely given promise" (Pg., 575).
3. "Therefore, if we would not have our faith tremble and waver, we must buttress it with the promise of salvation, which is willingly and freely offered to us by the Lord in consideration of our misery rather than our deserts" (Pg., 575).
4. These promises of God are found in Jesus Christ, and Scripture witnesses to him. We are again reminded of the necessary connection between faith and Scripture. The Scriptures direct us to the verity that these promises are found in Jesus Christ. (Rom. 1:17; 2 Cor. 1:20) "The reason for this fact is at hand; for if God promises anything, by it he witnesses his benevolence, so that there is no promise of his which is not a testimony of his love" (Pg., 579).
5. It must be understood; even the wicked receive gifts from the goodness of God's providing hand. However, they reject these gifts of common grace as coming from God's hand and therefore hate and spurn the promise contained in Christ. Rather than the goodness of God leading them to repentance, it leads them to rebellion.
6. "Nothing prevents them, in habitually rejecting the promises intended for them, from thereby bringing upon themselves a greater vengeance" (Pg., 579).
7. Those promises which manifest God's love to man, wicked men are commanded to believe and obey. But if they are not elect in Christ, they will themselves disregard those promises, and not be loved by the Father. "It is indisputable that no one is loved by God apart from Christ" (Pg., 579). [Eph. 1:6; Eph. 2:14; Rom. 8:3 ff]
8. The elect of God have great and exceeding and precious promise, upon which to rest and practise faith.
Calvin wrote about faith as trust years ago. Here is the gist of his discussion.
1. Faith is repose upon God's promises. The promises of God are the foundation of our faith. "Faith properly begins with the promise, rests in it, and ends in it" (Pg., 575).
2. Calvin says Christians do have faith in God's commands, threatenings, and prohibitions but true faith does not find its nourishment here. Why? "For in God faith seeks life: a life that is not found in commandments or declarations of penalties, but in the promise of mercy, and only in a freely given promise" (Pg., 575).
3. "Therefore, if we would not have our faith tremble and waver, we must buttress it with the promise of salvation, which is willingly and freely offered to us by the Lord in consideration of our misery rather than our deserts" (Pg., 575).
4. These promises of God are found in Jesus Christ, and Scripture witnesses to him. We are again reminded of the necessary connection between faith and Scripture. The Scriptures direct us to the verity that these promises are found in Jesus Christ. (Rom. 1:17; 2 Cor. 1:20) "The reason for this fact is at hand; for if God promises anything, by it he witnesses his benevolence, so that there is no promise of his which is not a testimony of his love" (Pg., 579).
5. It must be understood; even the wicked receive gifts from the goodness of God's providing hand. However, they reject these gifts of common grace as coming from God's hand and therefore hate and spurn the promise contained in Christ. Rather than the goodness of God leading them to repentance, it leads them to rebellion.
6. "Nothing prevents them, in habitually rejecting the promises intended for them, from thereby bringing upon themselves a greater vengeance" (Pg., 579).
7. Those promises which manifest God's love to man, wicked men are commanded to believe and obey. But if they are not elect in Christ, they will themselves disregard those promises, and not be loved by the Father. "It is indisputable that no one is loved by God apart from Christ" (Pg., 579). [Eph. 1:6; Eph. 2:14; Rom. 8:3 ff]
8. The elect of God have great and exceeding and precious promise, upon which to rest and practise faith.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Christian Faith, Pt.4. Faith and peace.
Peace and faith go together. We don’t often think of faith as the way to peace. Knowledge, science, medicine, politics or technologies are the keys to peace, we think. However, faith or trust in the word and will of God brings true peace. Here are Calvin’s thoughts on the relationship between faith and peace.
I should remind my readers that I am using the John T. McNeill edition of Calvin’s Institutes found in The Library of Christian Classics. The summary below covers pages 561-66.
1. Faith and inward peace. From Scripture's testimony we realize that true faith brings and grows the fruit of peace. Actually, peace is a part of faith, due to faith's embracing the gospel. [Rom. 5:1]
2. Calvin says that the "hinge on which faith turns is that a person individually embraces God's promises of mercy. Hence, at last is born that confidence which Paul elsewhere calls 'peace'"(Pg., 561).
3. Yet it must be remembered, as Calvin reminds us, that this faith can be, and is assailed by temptations of the mind and our own conflict with unbelief. But Calvin quickly adds, "we deny that, in whatever way they are afflicted, they fall away and depart from the certain assurance received from God's mercy"(Pg., 562).
4. David is an example of persevering faith. (See, Pg. 563) "So David, even when he might have seemed overwhelmed, in rebuking himself did not cease to rise up to God. He who, struggling with his own weakness, presses toward faith in his moments of anxiety is already in large part victorious"(Pg., 563).
5. From David's life, from the life of other saints in the Bible and our own life we understand that there is a conflict between faith and unbelief. Why? Calvin gives 2 reasons.
a. The division between flesh and spirit.
b. The godly heart feels itself divided between a love for God's goodness and hatred of our own sin, a restful reliance upon God's promises and an awareness of our "restless reliance," and a great expectation of eternal life, and fear of death.
6. However, Calvin is quick to remind us that, "the end of the conflict is always this: that faith ultimately triumphs over those difficulties which besiege and seem to imperil it" (Pg., 564).
7. Weak faith however is still real faith; hence faith is weak and strong at times. [1 Cor. 13:9-12] For the weakness to be cured and faith to be strengthened "we must constantly keep at learning," from the Scriptures (Pg., 565).
8. The Scripture fortifies faith. "The Word, which is an incorruptible seed, brings forth fruit like itself, whose fertility never wholly dries up and dies" (Pg. 567).
9. "Holy fear" also strengthens faith and peace. [1 Cor. 10:11, Ps 5:7, Phil 2:12-13] Calvin explains how this occurs. "This happens when believers, considering that the examples of divine wrath are executed upon the ungodly as warnings to them, take special care not to provoke God=s wrath against them by the same offences; or, when inwardly contemplating their own misery, learn to depend wholly upon the Lord, without whom they see themselves more unstable and fleeting than any wind" (Pg., 568).
10. Faith and peace live together. [Ps. 23:4] We must be "content with this certainty: that, however many things fail us that have to do with the maintenance of this life, God will never fail. Rather, the chief assurance of faith rests in the expectation of the life to come, which has been placed beyond doubt through the Word of God. Yet whatever earthly miseries and calamities await those whom God has embraced in his love, these cannot hinder his benevolence from being their full happiness" (Pg., 574).
I should remind my readers that I am using the John T. McNeill edition of Calvin’s Institutes found in The Library of Christian Classics. The summary below covers pages 561-66.
1. Faith and inward peace. From Scripture's testimony we realize that true faith brings and grows the fruit of peace. Actually, peace is a part of faith, due to faith's embracing the gospel. [Rom. 5:1]
2. Calvin says that the "hinge on which faith turns is that a person individually embraces God's promises of mercy. Hence, at last is born that confidence which Paul elsewhere calls 'peace'"(Pg., 561).
3. Yet it must be remembered, as Calvin reminds us, that this faith can be, and is assailed by temptations of the mind and our own conflict with unbelief. But Calvin quickly adds, "we deny that, in whatever way they are afflicted, they fall away and depart from the certain assurance received from God's mercy"(Pg., 562).
4. David is an example of persevering faith. (See, Pg. 563) "So David, even when he might have seemed overwhelmed, in rebuking himself did not cease to rise up to God. He who, struggling with his own weakness, presses toward faith in his moments of anxiety is already in large part victorious"(Pg., 563).
5. From David's life, from the life of other saints in the Bible and our own life we understand that there is a conflict between faith and unbelief. Why? Calvin gives 2 reasons.
a. The division between flesh and spirit.
b. The godly heart feels itself divided between a love for God's goodness and hatred of our own sin, a restful reliance upon God's promises and an awareness of our "restless reliance," and a great expectation of eternal life, and fear of death.
6. However, Calvin is quick to remind us that, "the end of the conflict is always this: that faith ultimately triumphs over those difficulties which besiege and seem to imperil it" (Pg., 564).
7. Weak faith however is still real faith; hence faith is weak and strong at times. [1 Cor. 13:9-12] For the weakness to be cured and faith to be strengthened "we must constantly keep at learning," from the Scriptures (Pg., 565).
8. The Scripture fortifies faith. "The Word, which is an incorruptible seed, brings forth fruit like itself, whose fertility never wholly dries up and dies" (Pg. 567).
9. "Holy fear" also strengthens faith and peace. [1 Cor. 10:11, Ps 5:7, Phil 2:12-13] Calvin explains how this occurs. "This happens when believers, considering that the examples of divine wrath are executed upon the ungodly as warnings to them, take special care not to provoke God=s wrath against them by the same offences; or, when inwardly contemplating their own misery, learn to depend wholly upon the Lord, without whom they see themselves more unstable and fleeting than any wind" (Pg., 568).
10. Faith and peace live together. [Ps. 23:4] We must be "content with this certainty: that, however many things fail us that have to do with the maintenance of this life, God will never fail. Rather, the chief assurance of faith rests in the expectation of the life to come, which has been placed beyond doubt through the Word of God. Yet whatever earthly miseries and calamities await those whom God has embraced in his love, these cannot hinder his benevolence from being their full happiness" (Pg., 574).
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Christian Faith, Pt.3. Faith and knowledge.
Beginning with the Enlightenment to the present day the West has had anxiety over the relation, or lack thereof, between faith and reason. The worried language has set itself in terms of “faith and science,” or “religion and reason,” or even “conservatives and liberals.” Now that western civilization has “fallen,” it seems we are coming around to understand that faith is a gate to knowledge, and is actually not without knowledge at all. Of course this has given rise to a new resurgent and militant atheism; the likes of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens to mention a few.
Calvin and those before him did not believe real faith was empty or disconnected with knowledge. He tackled this issue in Chapter 3, Bk.2. Here I summarize that section.
1. Biblical faith has more than one component. The Bible speaks of faith in terms of knowledge, inward peace and a full repose upon the promises of God. Calvin explains all three with great clarity.
2. Faith and knowledge. They are not contradictions but rather inseparable friends.
3. First of all, when faith is called knowledge, it refers to that apprehension which grasps and “really, lovingly knows the infinite truth of God. [Eph 3:18-19]
4. Secondly, faith is called recognition [Eph 1:17; 4:13; Col 1:9; 3:10; 1 Tim 2:4; Titus 1:1; Philemon 6; 2 Pet 2:21]. John asserts that God’s children can have the knowledge (recognition) that they are God’s children. “But, as Calvin writes, they are more strengthened by the persuasion of divine truth than instructed by rational proof” (Pg., 560).
The mistake we have fallen into since the rise of Christian liberalism and its affront against the reality of God’s work in incarnation, miracle, and atonement is that we have sought proof for persuasion rather than be persuaded by God’s promises by the Spirit. Calvin has good advice to help us here.
5. Third, this faith called knowledge can and often does come with great certainty due to the sureness of God’s promises. [Rom 4:16; Ps 19:7]
6. Calvin says, “As faith is not content with a doubtful and changeable opinion, so is it not content with an obscure and confused conception; but requires full and fixed certainty, such as men are wont to have from things experienced and proved” (Pg., 560).
7. Calvin essentially demands that true faith and knowledge always includes certainty! His reason for this is twofold.
a. “For unbelief is so deeply rooted in our hearts, and we are so inclined to it, that not without hard struggle is each one able to persuade himself of what all confess with the mouth: namely, that God is faithful” (Pg., 560).
b. Going half-way in faith leaves the human soul in great fear. That is, God in his goodness is manifested to us so as to leave us without doubt; therefore those who do doubt do not stand before God with tranquil hearts. “This kind of faith,” says Calvin, “is no right faith” (Pg., 561).
8. Is Calvin completely correct? Can a person have true faith and still not have confidence, or at least struggle with assurance from time to time? Yes. Calvin was not completely correct and a person can struggle and still have true faith. (See WCF, XVIII)
9. However, we must always cleave to Calvin’s advice when he says, “Surely, as often as God commends his Word to us, he indirectly rebukes us for our unbelief, for he has no other intention than to uproot perverse doubts from our hearts” (Pg., 560-561). God says we can boldly claim His promises and come before his presence. [Eph. 3:12; Heb. 4:15-16]
Calvin and those before him did not believe real faith was empty or disconnected with knowledge. He tackled this issue in Chapter 3, Bk.2. Here I summarize that section.
1. Biblical faith has more than one component. The Bible speaks of faith in terms of knowledge, inward peace and a full repose upon the promises of God. Calvin explains all three with great clarity.
2. Faith and knowledge. They are not contradictions but rather inseparable friends.
3. First of all, when faith is called knowledge, it refers to that apprehension which grasps and “really, lovingly knows the infinite truth of God. [Eph 3:18-19]
4. Secondly, faith is called recognition [Eph 1:17; 4:13; Col 1:9; 3:10; 1 Tim 2:4; Titus 1:1; Philemon 6; 2 Pet 2:21]. John asserts that God’s children can have the knowledge (recognition) that they are God’s children. “But, as Calvin writes, they are more strengthened by the persuasion of divine truth than instructed by rational proof” (Pg., 560).
The mistake we have fallen into since the rise of Christian liberalism and its affront against the reality of God’s work in incarnation, miracle, and atonement is that we have sought proof for persuasion rather than be persuaded by God’s promises by the Spirit. Calvin has good advice to help us here.
5. Third, this faith called knowledge can and often does come with great certainty due to the sureness of God’s promises. [Rom 4:16; Ps 19:7]
6. Calvin says, “As faith is not content with a doubtful and changeable opinion, so is it not content with an obscure and confused conception; but requires full and fixed certainty, such as men are wont to have from things experienced and proved” (Pg., 560).
7. Calvin essentially demands that true faith and knowledge always includes certainty! His reason for this is twofold.
a. “For unbelief is so deeply rooted in our hearts, and we are so inclined to it, that not without hard struggle is each one able to persuade himself of what all confess with the mouth: namely, that God is faithful” (Pg., 560).
b. Going half-way in faith leaves the human soul in great fear. That is, God in his goodness is manifested to us so as to leave us without doubt; therefore those who do doubt do not stand before God with tranquil hearts. “This kind of faith,” says Calvin, “is no right faith” (Pg., 561).
8. Is Calvin completely correct? Can a person have true faith and still not have confidence, or at least struggle with assurance from time to time? Yes. Calvin was not completely correct and a person can struggle and still have true faith. (See WCF, XVIII)
9. However, we must always cleave to Calvin’s advice when he says, “Surely, as often as God commends his Word to us, he indirectly rebukes us for our unbelief, for he has no other intention than to uproot perverse doubts from our hearts” (Pg., 560-561). God says we can boldly claim His promises and come before his presence. [Eph. 3:12; Heb. 4:15-16]
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Christian Faith, Pt.2.
We had a good weekend. Saturday I had the privilege of sharing the faith of Jesus with a number of prisoners at our local jail; and Sunday, as always, our faith was built up and re-aligned to Jesus Christ again. So I am glad to start with this summary on what Calvin said about faith itself in Book 3, chapter 2 of his Institutes.
By the way if you are interested in a good book on Calvin’s doctrine of faith read Victor Shepherd’s, The Nature and Function of Faith in the Theology of John Calvin. You can purchase it here
http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Sermons/books_by_victor_shepherd.htm
“Everybody has a faith” is a common statement of faith today! As a result, faith is defined many ways for many people, and as a result, true saving faith is misunderstood. This was a problem in Calvin’s day as well, thus he spends some time refuting false concepts of faith in order to clear the road for understanding true faith.
1. The first kind of false faith he refutes is what he terms “shadow-shapes of faith” (Pg., 554), or “image faith”(Pg., 554), or “unformed faith” (Pg., 551). What is it? “People who are touched by no fear of God, no sense of piety, nevertheless believe whatever it is necessary to know for salvation” (Pg., 551).
2. In a nut shell, this “shadow-shaped faith” is belief that faith without works is still true faith. Or to put it another, this “shadow-shaped faith” is justification without sanctification. This is false faith [Acts 8:13; Lk 8:6-13; Jn 8:29-59; James 2].
For Calvin the goal of justification was sanctification. Thus the whole point of faith was not just justification, but justification for sanctification. Justification is strategically first, but the goal is sanctification. Karl Barth clearly explained this in his Church Dogmatics. In the CD. Vol.IV. Pt.2, he says, “Calvin in Bk III does deal with the order. Calvin basically teaches here that, "God renews those whom he freely reckons as righteous for the cultivation of righteousness (Bk III, 11:6).” Barth says Calvin is the theologian of sanctification because he seeks to answer a very biblical question, "What is it that God by his grace and will, wills to accomplish in man?" Yet, as a study of the Institutes shows Calvin hinges everything on justification. Without this foundation there is neither assurance or sanctification. In all his explanation of the life of the Christian he never loses sight of justification. So we can and must say Calvin was the theologian of justification too. So…"we can and should learn from the classical example of his mode of treatment that we can give only a twofold answer to the question of priority in the relationship of these two moments and aspects. Calvin was quite in earnest when he gave sanctification a strategic precedence over justification. He was also quite in earnest when he gave the latter a tactical precedence." Pg, 510.
Back to the summary.
3. Calvin’s biblical refutation. “Since faith embraces Christ, as offered to us by the Father [cf. Jn 6:29] - that is, since he is offered not only for righteousness, forgiveness of sins, and peace, but also for sanctification [cf. 1 Cor 1:30] and the fountain of the water of life [Jn 7:38; cf. 4:14] - without a doubt, no one can duly know him without at the same time apprehending the sanctification of the Spirit....And Christ cannot be known apart from the sanctification of his Spirit. It follows that faith can in no wise be separated from a devout disposition” (Pg., 552).
4. How is false faith distinguished from true faith? Calvin gives 5 marks.
a) True faith flourishes confidence; false faith divided allegiance. [Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15]
b) The elect are regenerated with incorruptible seed, forever [1Pet 1:23]; the reprobate are not regenerated at all and hence are not steady in life or faith - they do not persevere.
c) “The reprobate never receive anything but a confused awareness of grace, so that they grasp a shadow rather than the firm body of it. For the Spirit, strictly speaking, seals the forgiveness of sins in the elect alone, so that they apply it by special faith to their own use” (Pg., 555).
d) He does not show Himself merciful to them, to the extent of truly snatching them from death and receiving them into His keeping, but only manifests to them His mercy for the time being. Only His elect does He account worthy of receiving the living root of faith so that they may endure to the end [Matt 24:13]” (Pg., 556).
e) True faith grasps and grows in the truths of Scripture, but false faith cannot penetrate into the Scriptures. That is, they cannot know them - lovingly.
5. Calvin sums it up this way. “However deficient or weak faith may be in the elect, still, because the Spirit of God is for them the sure guarantee and seal of their adoption [Eph 1:14; cf. 2 Cor 1:22], the mark He has engraved can never be erased from their hearts; but on the wicked such light is shed as may afterward pass away” (Pg., 556). [see pg., 557 for the discussion on God’s chastisement]
6. Calvin advises us to understand the many definitions of faith so that we can distinguish saving faith from other forms of faith.
7. Faith means doctrine. “Faith is rightly extended to the whole sum of heavenly doctrine, from which it cannot be separated” (Pg., 558). [1 Tim 4:6; Col 2:3 ]
8. Faith refers to an object [Matt 9:2; 8:10]; faith is connected with the performance of miracles [1 Cor 13], and faith is connected with the activity of teaching in the church. [see pg., 559 for an explanation of this.]
9. But what is that faith; what are the aspects of true saving faith, through and by which we call upon God, are justified and receive all the benefits of redemption? Calvin answers this question in the remainder of this chapter. I will summarize the answers in the next entry.
By the way if you are interested in a good book on Calvin’s doctrine of faith read Victor Shepherd’s, The Nature and Function of Faith in the Theology of John Calvin. You can purchase it here
http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Sermons/books_by_victor_shepherd.htm
“Everybody has a faith” is a common statement of faith today! As a result, faith is defined many ways for many people, and as a result, true saving faith is misunderstood. This was a problem in Calvin’s day as well, thus he spends some time refuting false concepts of faith in order to clear the road for understanding true faith.
1. The first kind of false faith he refutes is what he terms “shadow-shapes of faith” (Pg., 554), or “image faith”(Pg., 554), or “unformed faith” (Pg., 551). What is it? “People who are touched by no fear of God, no sense of piety, nevertheless believe whatever it is necessary to know for salvation” (Pg., 551).
2. In a nut shell, this “shadow-shaped faith” is belief that faith without works is still true faith. Or to put it another, this “shadow-shaped faith” is justification without sanctification. This is false faith [Acts 8:13; Lk 8:6-13; Jn 8:29-59; James 2].
For Calvin the goal of justification was sanctification. Thus the whole point of faith was not just justification, but justification for sanctification. Justification is strategically first, but the goal is sanctification. Karl Barth clearly explained this in his Church Dogmatics. In the CD. Vol.IV. Pt.2, he says, “Calvin in Bk III does deal with the order. Calvin basically teaches here that, "God renews those whom he freely reckons as righteous for the cultivation of righteousness (Bk III, 11:6).” Barth says Calvin is the theologian of sanctification because he seeks to answer a very biblical question, "What is it that God by his grace and will, wills to accomplish in man?" Yet, as a study of the Institutes shows Calvin hinges everything on justification. Without this foundation there is neither assurance or sanctification. In all his explanation of the life of the Christian he never loses sight of justification. So we can and must say Calvin was the theologian of justification too. So…"we can and should learn from the classical example of his mode of treatment that we can give only a twofold answer to the question of priority in the relationship of these two moments and aspects. Calvin was quite in earnest when he gave sanctification a strategic precedence over justification. He was also quite in earnest when he gave the latter a tactical precedence." Pg, 510.
Back to the summary.
3. Calvin’s biblical refutation. “Since faith embraces Christ, as offered to us by the Father [cf. Jn 6:29] - that is, since he is offered not only for righteousness, forgiveness of sins, and peace, but also for sanctification [cf. 1 Cor 1:30] and the fountain of the water of life [Jn 7:38; cf. 4:14] - without a doubt, no one can duly know him without at the same time apprehending the sanctification of the Spirit....And Christ cannot be known apart from the sanctification of his Spirit. It follows that faith can in no wise be separated from a devout disposition” (Pg., 552).
4. How is false faith distinguished from true faith? Calvin gives 5 marks.
a) True faith flourishes confidence; false faith divided allegiance. [Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15]
b) The elect are regenerated with incorruptible seed, forever [1Pet 1:23]; the reprobate are not regenerated at all and hence are not steady in life or faith - they do not persevere.
c) “The reprobate never receive anything but a confused awareness of grace, so that they grasp a shadow rather than the firm body of it. For the Spirit, strictly speaking, seals the forgiveness of sins in the elect alone, so that they apply it by special faith to their own use” (Pg., 555).
d) He does not show Himself merciful to them, to the extent of truly snatching them from death and receiving them into His keeping, but only manifests to them His mercy for the time being. Only His elect does He account worthy of receiving the living root of faith so that they may endure to the end [Matt 24:13]” (Pg., 556).
e) True faith grasps and grows in the truths of Scripture, but false faith cannot penetrate into the Scriptures. That is, they cannot know them - lovingly.
5. Calvin sums it up this way. “However deficient or weak faith may be in the elect, still, because the Spirit of God is for them the sure guarantee and seal of their adoption [Eph 1:14; cf. 2 Cor 1:22], the mark He has engraved can never be erased from their hearts; but on the wicked such light is shed as may afterward pass away” (Pg., 556). [see pg., 557 for the discussion on God’s chastisement]
6. Calvin advises us to understand the many definitions of faith so that we can distinguish saving faith from other forms of faith.
7. Faith means doctrine. “Faith is rightly extended to the whole sum of heavenly doctrine, from which it cannot be separated” (Pg., 558). [1 Tim 4:6; Col 2:3 ]
8. Faith refers to an object [Matt 9:2; 8:10]; faith is connected with the performance of miracles [1 Cor 13], and faith is connected with the activity of teaching in the church. [see pg., 559 for an explanation of this.]
9. But what is that faith; what are the aspects of true saving faith, through and by which we call upon God, are justified and receive all the benefits of redemption? Calvin answers this question in the remainder of this chapter. I will summarize the answers in the next entry.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Christian Faith, Pt.1.
The Canadian Presbyterian theologian Walter W. Bryden said, "The Christian is an optimist…because he believes God has come and does come into this world. The Christian's faith and hope lie in the fact that the Word was made flesh." This faith, like Jesus, is a gift God gives us so that by his gift we can come into his presence and live out our human lives as new creations. Knowing that faith is the principle work of the Spirit, what is its object, what is faith and how does the Spirit bring faith to the sinner? Calvin answers these questions in this great “faith chapter” of his Institutes.
Because of the size of the chapter I will summarize it over at least 5 entries. It really is a great chapter.
1. The object of faith. It is not the law of God or human ability. Rather, the object of true faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the express revelation of God. [2 Cor 4:6; Jn 17:3; Heb 1:3]
2. God in all his power and redemptive grace would have remained hidden from us if he had not purposed to reveal himself by Christ. Christ is the life, the living water, living bread and way. He is the One sent from and by God to be the Saviour. In short, he is the revelation of God himself, and thus true faith looks to Christ alone.
3. “As God he is the destination to which we move; as man, the path by which we go. Both are found in Christ alone. But, while Paul proclaims faith in God, he does not have in mind to overturn what he so often emphasizes concerning faith: namely, that all its stability rests in Christ” (Pg., 544).
4. This faith must rest explicitly upon Christ alone and simultaneously be dressed with true knowledge of Christ. Implicit faith, which is simultaneously covered with ignorance requires a person to “submit their feelings, obediently to the whim of a church” (Pg., 545), or person. This is not true faith, it is a blind fold used to cover and hide Christ as revealed by the Spirit in Scripture. Calvin writes, “Faith consists n the knowledge of God and Christ [Jn 17:3], not in reverence for the church” (Pg., 545).
Of course this does not mean the church should not preach Jesus. She must, and therefore she must judge herself to see what her “whim” is. If the whim is church growth, or psychological self-help (I could list countless other things), then she is not helping people have an explicit faith in the Lord of the world, and she needs to repent.
And if her “whim” is to preach Christ Jesus, well then she must still judge herself so she can stay on track and give people what Hauerwas once wrote, “the interpretive skills, a truthful understanding of how to see the world under the banner of Jesus Christ.”
5. Does this mean all implicit faith is wrong? No. Implicit faith is wrong when persons in a position of authority demand the “blind faith” of others, while teaching them error or not teaching them at all. Implicit faith is legitimate when it is “strictly nothing but the preparation of faith” (Pg., 547). [i.e Jn 4:50-53; 42; Lk 24:11-12; Jn 20:8]
6. The disciples are an example of this legitimate implicit faith. Notice their whole attitude about the resurrection. Jesus had told them of this truth, but they did not finally believe until they discerned for themselves the truth Jesus’ words by the resurrection fact itself. Calvin says, “Not that they then began to believe, but because the seed of hidden faith - which had been dead, as it were, in their hearts - at that time burst through with renewed vigour! For there was in them a true but implicit faith because they had reverently embraced Christ as their sole teacher” (Pg., 547).
7. Anselm sums up the meaning of true implicit faith in the phrase “Faith seeks understanding.” Because we are surrounded by many obstacles and clouds, our faith is not complete. But we must strive to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and teachers of the church must seek to make the members of Christ, scholars of Christ who abound in the knowledge of the object of true faith, namely Jesus Christ.
Because of the size of the chapter I will summarize it over at least 5 entries. It really is a great chapter.
1. The object of faith. It is not the law of God or human ability. Rather, the object of true faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the express revelation of God. [2 Cor 4:6; Jn 17:3; Heb 1:3]
2. God in all his power and redemptive grace would have remained hidden from us if he had not purposed to reveal himself by Christ. Christ is the life, the living water, living bread and way. He is the One sent from and by God to be the Saviour. In short, he is the revelation of God himself, and thus true faith looks to Christ alone.
3. “As God he is the destination to which we move; as man, the path by which we go. Both are found in Christ alone. But, while Paul proclaims faith in God, he does not have in mind to overturn what he so often emphasizes concerning faith: namely, that all its stability rests in Christ” (Pg., 544).
4. This faith must rest explicitly upon Christ alone and simultaneously be dressed with true knowledge of Christ. Implicit faith, which is simultaneously covered with ignorance requires a person to “submit their feelings, obediently to the whim of a church” (Pg., 545), or person. This is not true faith, it is a blind fold used to cover and hide Christ as revealed by the Spirit in Scripture. Calvin writes, “Faith consists n the knowledge of God and Christ [Jn 17:3], not in reverence for the church” (Pg., 545).
Of course this does not mean the church should not preach Jesus. She must, and therefore she must judge herself to see what her “whim” is. If the whim is church growth, or psychological self-help (I could list countless other things), then she is not helping people have an explicit faith in the Lord of the world, and she needs to repent.
And if her “whim” is to preach Christ Jesus, well then she must still judge herself so she can stay on track and give people what Hauerwas once wrote, “the interpretive skills, a truthful understanding of how to see the world under the banner of Jesus Christ.”
5. Does this mean all implicit faith is wrong? No. Implicit faith is wrong when persons in a position of authority demand the “blind faith” of others, while teaching them error or not teaching them at all. Implicit faith is legitimate when it is “strictly nothing but the preparation of faith” (Pg., 547). [i.e Jn 4:50-53; 42; Lk 24:11-12; Jn 20:8]
6. The disciples are an example of this legitimate implicit faith. Notice their whole attitude about the resurrection. Jesus had told them of this truth, but they did not finally believe until they discerned for themselves the truth Jesus’ words by the resurrection fact itself. Calvin says, “Not that they then began to believe, but because the seed of hidden faith - which had been dead, as it were, in their hearts - at that time burst through with renewed vigour! For there was in them a true but implicit faith because they had reverently embraced Christ as their sole teacher” (Pg., 547).
7. Anselm sums up the meaning of true implicit faith in the phrase “Faith seeks understanding.” Because we are surrounded by many obstacles and clouds, our faith is not complete. But we must strive to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and teachers of the church must seek to make the members of Christ, scholars of Christ who abound in the knowledge of the object of true faith, namely Jesus Christ.
Friday, October 23, 2009
The church has climate
An ethos is a tone, sentiment, or climate of a people or community. I like the word climate the best. Denominations and individual churches throughout history have had a myriad of climates; from war to greed, from gospel to legalism, from fundamentalism to 19th century Victorian acceptability etc. The question is not whether we should have an ethos; the question is which one, and who or what will give us this ethos.
When Dietrich Bonhoeffer traveled in America in 1930-31 he said this about the American church ethos. "The church is really no longer the place where the congregation hears and preaches God's word, but rather the place where one acquires secondary significance as a social entity for this or that purpose." Imagine coming to church only to hear about ourselves and our reason for having church!
No wonder people left the church from the 1950’s on. Why go when the climate is so bad or boring. Praise the Lord this is slowly changing.
God in Jesus Christ is true, challenging, divine, judging, holy, and world-changing. This is not bad or boring. To be in Christ and have him proclaimed in church is to be in an exciting environment, in a good climate.
When Dietrich Bonhoeffer traveled in America in 1930-31 he said this about the American church ethos. "The church is really no longer the place where the congregation hears and preaches God's word, but rather the place where one acquires secondary significance as a social entity for this or that purpose." Imagine coming to church only to hear about ourselves and our reason for having church!
No wonder people left the church from the 1950’s on. Why go when the climate is so bad or boring. Praise the Lord this is slowly changing.
God in Jesus Christ is true, challenging, divine, judging, holy, and world-changing. This is not bad or boring. To be in Christ and have him proclaimed in church is to be in an exciting environment, in a good climate.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: God’s Spirit works to bring us faith in Christ.
I am at Book 3 in my summaries of Calvin's Institutes.
Having considered who God is, what we are (Bk. 1), and Christ the Redeemer (Bk 2); we now have the blessing and responsibility, as Calvin writes, to understand, “how we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on His only begotten Son” (Pg., 537).
Because the main message of Bk.3 is how a sinner receives the blessing of God’s grace of salvation the main concepts of faith, prayer, and election are discussed. With the study of faith comes justification, merit, Christian liberty and all that. And when we talk of prayer, of course, the Christian engaged in faith asks God for forgiveness and salvation in Jesus name. All this raises the question of who will receive faith, and who is really heard of God. This brings us to election.
Well, here is the summary of ch.1
1. To have the Son is to have eternal life. However, to be without the Son is to be without God forever, and experience an existence without God’s love and blessing. This existence is in the Lake of Fire, and is truly hell because God in his love and mercy are not there. Calvin in all his ministry laboured to bring the gospel to men to bring them to Jesus’ blessing of life. May we do the same.
2. “All that he (Christ) possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him” (Pg., 537). [Eph 4:15; Rom 8:29; Rom 11:17; Gal 3:27] And we will not grow into one body with him apart from the revealing work of the Holy Spirit.
3. Well, we are sitting at the edge of our seats. That is, those whom the Spirit is effectually calling want to know and embrace Christ.
Christ, our Redeemer, came to this earth with the fullness of the Spirit. [Jn 3:34] Calvin teaches that this special endowment of the Spirit upon Christ was for the express purpose of separating His people from the world and gather them “unto the hope of the eternal inheritance” (Pg., 538). [see section # 2. Pg., 538]
4. Also, “God the Father gives us the Holy Spirit for his Son’s sake” (Pg., 538). We receive the revelation of life and hope through the same Spirit Christ possessed; “without which no one can taste either the fatherly favour of God or the beneficence of Christ” (Pg., 539).
5. God the Holy Spirit has one great principle work. It is the giving, establishing and strengthening of faith, so that through faith in Christ we may have life in Christ. He is “the inner teacher by whose effort the promise of salvation penetrates into our minds” (Pg., 541).
6. True faith, “has not other source than the Spirit” (Pg., 541). [2 Thess 2:13; 1 Jn 4:34; 1 Jn 4:13; Jn 14:17] He is the Illuminator, the Teacher who draws to Christ those whom the Father has given to Christ. [Jn 6:44; 12:32; 17:6]
7. That we might be saved, Jesus, “ ‘Baptizes us in the Holy Spirit and fire’ [Lk 3:16], bringing us into the light of faith in his gospel and so regenerating us that we become new creatures [cf. 2 Cor 5:17]; and he consecrates us, purges us of uncleanness to be temples holy to God [cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21]” (Pg., 542).
Having considered who God is, what we are (Bk. 1), and Christ the Redeemer (Bk 2); we now have the blessing and responsibility, as Calvin writes, to understand, “how we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on His only begotten Son” (Pg., 537).
Because the main message of Bk.3 is how a sinner receives the blessing of God’s grace of salvation the main concepts of faith, prayer, and election are discussed. With the study of faith comes justification, merit, Christian liberty and all that. And when we talk of prayer, of course, the Christian engaged in faith asks God for forgiveness and salvation in Jesus name. All this raises the question of who will receive faith, and who is really heard of God. This brings us to election.
Well, here is the summary of ch.1
1. To have the Son is to have eternal life. However, to be without the Son is to be without God forever, and experience an existence without God’s love and blessing. This existence is in the Lake of Fire, and is truly hell because God in his love and mercy are not there. Calvin in all his ministry laboured to bring the gospel to men to bring them to Jesus’ blessing of life. May we do the same.
2. “All that he (Christ) possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him” (Pg., 537). [Eph 4:15; Rom 8:29; Rom 11:17; Gal 3:27] And we will not grow into one body with him apart from the revealing work of the Holy Spirit.
3. Well, we are sitting at the edge of our seats. That is, those whom the Spirit is effectually calling want to know and embrace Christ.
Christ, our Redeemer, came to this earth with the fullness of the Spirit. [Jn 3:34] Calvin teaches that this special endowment of the Spirit upon Christ was for the express purpose of separating His people from the world and gather them “unto the hope of the eternal inheritance” (Pg., 538). [see section # 2. Pg., 538]
4. Also, “God the Father gives us the Holy Spirit for his Son’s sake” (Pg., 538). We receive the revelation of life and hope through the same Spirit Christ possessed; “without which no one can taste either the fatherly favour of God or the beneficence of Christ” (Pg., 539).
5. God the Holy Spirit has one great principle work. It is the giving, establishing and strengthening of faith, so that through faith in Christ we may have life in Christ. He is “the inner teacher by whose effort the promise of salvation penetrates into our minds” (Pg., 541).
6. True faith, “has not other source than the Spirit” (Pg., 541). [2 Thess 2:13; 1 Jn 4:34; 1 Jn 4:13; Jn 14:17] He is the Illuminator, the Teacher who draws to Christ those whom the Father has given to Christ. [Jn 6:44; 12:32; 17:6]
7. That we might be saved, Jesus, “ ‘Baptizes us in the Holy Spirit and fire’ [Lk 3:16], bringing us into the light of faith in his gospel and so regenerating us that we become new creatures [cf. 2 Cor 5:17]; and he consecrates us, purges us of uncleanness to be temples holy to God [cf. 1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21]” (Pg., 542).
Does the church know the definitions?
The church and unbelieving world can and do use the same words. A few of the most popular words today are justice, peace, equality, relationship, and freedom. This is not bad. What’s bad is when the church uses these words in the same way as unbelieving society. Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon brought this out in their book, Resident Aliens.
“Big words like ‘peace’ and ‘justice,’ slogans the church adopts under the presumption that, even if people do not know what ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ means, they will know what peace and justice means, are words awaiting content. The church really does not know what these words mean apart from the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth…It is Jesus’ story that gives content to our faith, judges any institutional embodiment of our faith, and teaches us to be suspicious of any political slogan that does not need God to make itself credible” (Pg, 38).
Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and therefore also the defining shape for our words of justice, peace, relationship, and so on. The trouble for the believer in our Western Culture is in part that we are afraid to say Jesus Christ is Lord. Therefore, we have no more meaning to our justice, or peace, or relationship than today’s mere economist, politician, or democratic defender.
So the question does the church know the definitions? Not if we do not know the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Thankfully, many, many churches around the world are learning the Word of God.
“Big words like ‘peace’ and ‘justice,’ slogans the church adopts under the presumption that, even if people do not know what ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ means, they will know what peace and justice means, are words awaiting content. The church really does not know what these words mean apart from the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth…It is Jesus’ story that gives content to our faith, judges any institutional embodiment of our faith, and teaches us to be suspicious of any political slogan that does not need God to make itself credible” (Pg, 38).
Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and therefore also the defining shape for our words of justice, peace, relationship, and so on. The trouble for the believer in our Western Culture is in part that we are afraid to say Jesus Christ is Lord. Therefore, we have no more meaning to our justice, or peace, or relationship than today’s mere economist, politician, or democratic defender.
So the question does the church know the definitions? Not if we do not know the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Thankfully, many, many churches around the world are learning the Word of God.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Calvin’s Institutes: Jesus our Mediator, our way to God.
We are at Book 2, chapter 17 in our ongoing summary of Calvin’s Institutes. It’s the last chapter of Book 2, and what a great ending it is. The topic is the merit of Christ and how he properly merited our salvation as our Mediator.
A few weeks ago I purchased T.F. Torrance’s, The Mediation of Christ. In it he recaptures the doctrine which was largely forgotten in 19th and 20th century theology. Torrance clearly shows that Athanasius, Calvin, and Barth asserted that only Christ and Christ alone is the bridge and way to God. Torrance also connects the mediatorship of Jesus to the Trinity. A great work to read along with Calvin.
1. God in his wisdom and purpose elected Jesus Christ to be our Mediator to gain salvation and new creation for his people. Calvin wrote, "In discussing Christ's merit, we do not consider the beginning of merit to be in him, but we go back to God's ordinance, the first cause. For God solely of his own good pleasure appointed him Mediator to obtain salvation for us" (Pg., 529).
2. Again. "Both God's free favor and Christ's obedience, each in its degree, are fitly opposed to our works. Apart from God's good pleasure Christ could not merit anything; but did so because he had been appointed to appease God's wrath with His sacrifice, and to blot out our transgressions with His obedience" (Pg., 529). Scripture testifies to the work of Christ in these passages. [Eph 4-5; 1 Jn 4:10; 2 Cor 5:21 etc.]
3. At this juncture Calvin asks how could God choose us in Christ and love us to such a degree that he ordains Jesus to be our Mediator. To put the question another way, “How could God love us in eternity past?”
Calvin said the answer was found in God’s purpose of reconciliation by the Person and work of Jesus. God contemplated the world as fallen; then according to his good pleasure he predestinated some of those sinners to salvation; then he decreed to redeem the elect by the atoning work of Christ; then in time, God decreed to apply Christ's redemptive work to the elect.
4. Through this Christ's grace is joined to God's love. In this work of Jesus, satisfaction, substitution and redemption were accomplished on the sinner's behalf, by Christ's work. God loved us so he gave Jesus Christ for our salvation. Jesus worked on our behalf as our Mediator to join us, or bring us to that love.
5. To explain this joining a little more we should remember Christ's work was also propitiatory. "If he paid the penalty owed by us, if he appeased God by his obedience - in short, if as a righteous man he suffered for unrighteous men - then he acquired salvation for us by his righteousness, which is tantamount to deserving it" (Pg., 530).
6. Christ's work was substitutionary. "Christ became a curse for us" [Gal 3:13]. "It was superfluous, even absurd, for Christ to be burdened with a curse, unless it was to acquire righteousness for others by paying what they owed" (Pg., 532). [Is 53:5, 8; 1 Pet 2:24]
7. Christ's work was redemptive. In our stead, Jesus paid what we could not nor would not pay. "God has given the price of redemption in the death of Christ [Rom 3:24]; then he bids us take refuge in Christ's blood, that having acquired righteousness we may stand secure before God's judgment [Rom 3:25]" (Pg., 532). [1 Pet 1:18-19; 1 Cor 6:20; 1 Tim 2:5-6; Col 1:14; 1 Jn 2:12; Eh 5:2; Gal 4:4-5]
A few weeks ago I purchased T.F. Torrance’s, The Mediation of Christ. In it he recaptures the doctrine which was largely forgotten in 19th and 20th century theology. Torrance clearly shows that Athanasius, Calvin, and Barth asserted that only Christ and Christ alone is the bridge and way to God. Torrance also connects the mediatorship of Jesus to the Trinity. A great work to read along with Calvin.
1. God in his wisdom and purpose elected Jesus Christ to be our Mediator to gain salvation and new creation for his people. Calvin wrote, "In discussing Christ's merit, we do not consider the beginning of merit to be in him, but we go back to God's ordinance, the first cause. For God solely of his own good pleasure appointed him Mediator to obtain salvation for us" (Pg., 529).
2. Again. "Both God's free favor and Christ's obedience, each in its degree, are fitly opposed to our works. Apart from God's good pleasure Christ could not merit anything; but did so because he had been appointed to appease God's wrath with His sacrifice, and to blot out our transgressions with His obedience" (Pg., 529). Scripture testifies to the work of Christ in these passages. [Eph 4-5; 1 Jn 4:10; 2 Cor 5:21 etc.]
3. At this juncture Calvin asks how could God choose us in Christ and love us to such a degree that he ordains Jesus to be our Mediator. To put the question another way, “How could God love us in eternity past?”
Calvin said the answer was found in God’s purpose of reconciliation by the Person and work of Jesus. God contemplated the world as fallen; then according to his good pleasure he predestinated some of those sinners to salvation; then he decreed to redeem the elect by the atoning work of Christ; then in time, God decreed to apply Christ's redemptive work to the elect.
4. Through this Christ's grace is joined to God's love. In this work of Jesus, satisfaction, substitution and redemption were accomplished on the sinner's behalf, by Christ's work. God loved us so he gave Jesus Christ for our salvation. Jesus worked on our behalf as our Mediator to join us, or bring us to that love.
5. To explain this joining a little more we should remember Christ's work was also propitiatory. "If he paid the penalty owed by us, if he appeased God by his obedience - in short, if as a righteous man he suffered for unrighteous men - then he acquired salvation for us by his righteousness, which is tantamount to deserving it" (Pg., 530).
6. Christ's work was substitutionary. "Christ became a curse for us" [Gal 3:13]. "It was superfluous, even absurd, for Christ to be burdened with a curse, unless it was to acquire righteousness for others by paying what they owed" (Pg., 532). [Is 53:5, 8; 1 Pet 2:24]
7. Christ's work was redemptive. In our stead, Jesus paid what we could not nor would not pay. "God has given the price of redemption in the death of Christ [Rom 3:24]; then he bids us take refuge in Christ's blood, that having acquired righteousness we may stand secure before God's judgment [Rom 3:25]" (Pg., 532). [1 Pet 1:18-19; 1 Cor 6:20; 1 Tim 2:5-6; Col 1:14; 1 Jn 2:12; Eh 5:2; Gal 4:4-5]
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