Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.8.8. to 2.8.14

INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 8.
EXPOSITION OF THE MORAL LAW.

2.8.8.

Calvin suggests that there is more to the Law than simply the words. There is deeper meaning than what we read on the surface. This of course is a dangerous statement and if it is true one needs to have a right system of interpretation so that error does not creep in. "The best rule, in my opinion, would be, to be guided by the principle of the commandment-viz. to consider in the case of each what the purpose is for which it was given. For example, every commandment either requires or prohibits; and the nature of each is instantly discerned when we look to the principle of the commandment as its end." So he uses, for example the command to honor your parents. Calvin would take that this far, e.g., honor all those whom God has honored, and so on.

" So in each of the commandments we must first look to the matter of which it treats, and then consider its end, until we discover what it properly is that the Lawgiver declares to be pleasing or displeasing to him."

2.8.9.

Because this principle can be taken so unwisely, Calvin summarizes it this way: "There is no need of proving, that when good is ordered the evil which is opposed to it is forbidden. This every one admits. It will also be admitted, without much difficulty, that when evil is forbidden, its opposite is enjoined." So the command, "Thou shalt not kill", means more than just refraining from injury but would imply the positive element of giving life when possible.

2.8.10.

Why does God write these commands in the elliptical means? Man would like to take the edge off of sin and therefore when God speaks of such things as anger and wrath of mankind against another, he forces us to consider the most heinious end of these sins, that being murder.

2.8.11.

It is clear that the Ten Commandments are divided into two divisions. "God thus divided his Law into two parts, containing a complete rule of righteousness, that he might assign the first place to the duties of religion which relate especially to His worship, and the second to the duties of charity which have respect to man." Man's response to God is set first because if it is contravined all other matters are then maligned. "We say, then, that the worship of God is the beginning and foundation of righteousness; and that wherever it is wanting, any degree of equity, or continence, or temperance, existing among men themselves, is empty and frivolous in the sight of God."

2.8.12.

As to how the Ten Commandments are ordered Calvin discusses various approaches, but concludes, " I must, while I leave them to hold their own opinion, follow what appears to me better established-viz. that what they make to be the first commandment is of the nature of a preface to the whole Law, that thereafter follow four commandments in the First Table, and six in the Second . . .."

First Commandment.
I AM THE LORD THY GOD, WHICH BROUGHT THEE OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE. THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.

2.8.13.

In the preface to the Commandments (as Calvin would understand it) God impresses His chosen and redeemed people, who were brought out of Egypt, His absolute right to command obedience. The commands are motivated by His kindness and mercy that the response would not only convict us of disobedience, but also ingratitude.

2.8.14.

His prologue also implies covenant. He is commanded them for He is in covenantal relationship with them. "It is, therefore, the same as if he had said, I have chosen you to myself, as a people to whom I shall not only do good in the present life, but also bestow felicity in the life to come. The end contemplated in this is adverted to in the Law, in various passages."

Questions to Consider

1. Why does God rebuke sin so strongly in the law, put the worst possible light on our behavior? For example, why call hatred murder?

2. How does Calvin divide the law given in the ten commandments?

3. How does Calvin take the preface to the ten commandments?

Monday, March 30, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.8.2. to 2.8.7.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 8.
EXPOSITION OF THE MORAL LAW.

2.8.2.

God as our Father and Master has ev every right to demand of us what He wills. His will is clear that He loves righteousness and justice. His Law demands that of us. "Whatever his demands from us may be, as he can only require what is right, we are necessarily under a natural obligation to obey. Our inability to do so is our own fault."

The fact that we violate the Law of God out of "necessity", that is the imputed sin nature common to us all does not free us from condemnation.

2.8.3.

When we examine ourselves before the Law of God we see two things: One is how very far short we fall in meeting the demands of the Law; and Secondly how completely unable we are to fulfill the Law's demands. "The necessary consequence must be, to produce distrust of our own ability, and also anxiety and trepidation of mind."

The condemnation, dread and despondency that the Law produces can serve as a means to drive men to a solution, i.e., the mercy of God.

2.8.4.

Calvin gives this great explanation fo the "fear of the Lord". "But the Lord does not count it enough to inspire a reverence for his justice. To imbue our hearts with love to himself, and, at the same time, with hatred to iniquity, he has added promises and threatening. " Thus we have the purpose of such dire warnings.

Wouldn't it be great if mankind viewed the eternal beauty of God's holiness and were naturally attracted to it? But, no, God must indulge our sinful nature by promising great reward to those who obey Him and devastating punishment to those who do not. (Cf: Lev. 18:5; Ezek. 18:4, 20)

"The threatening attest the spotless purity of God, which cannot bear iniquity, while the promises attest at once his infinite love of righteousness (which he cannot leave unrewarded), and his wondrous kindness."

As His creatures we are obligated to obey Him. He is not unrighteous to demand perfect obedience. This exaction from God to mankind is in every sense of the word a debt. Payment for this debt is not a reward but a duty.

When this payment is granted in mercy and grace and not spontaneously (for it cannot), God is exceedingly merciful to accept obedience not initiated or accomplished by His subject.

2.8.5.

God has ordained obedience to the Law in conformity to His will as the means of acceptable worship. Man has a propensity to try to do anything else except what God has ordained.

""Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. "When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?' "You shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. "Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it." (Deuteronomy 12:28-32, NASB95)

"Most truly does Augustine say in one place, that the obedience which is rendered to God is the parent and guardian; in another, that it is the source of all the virtues."

2.8.6.

The Law of God is not only intended to instruct our behavior as it is our heart. "But God, whose eye nothing escapes, and who regards not the outward appearance so much as purity of heart, under the prohibition of murder, adultery, and thefts includes wrath, hatred, lust, covetousness, and all other things of a similar nature." Human lawgivers simply care if the act is followed or not. God considers the heart.

2.8.7.

Calvin argues that he is not adding a new interpretation upon Moses' Law but simply following the teaching of Christ in Matthew 5. Calvin would not support the view that our Lord's teaching in Matthew 5 was showing a deficiency in Moses. He would argue that Christ was interpreting Moses and "whereas he only restored it to its integrity by maintaining and purifying it when obscured by the falsehood, and defiled by the leaven of the Pharisees."

Questions to Consider

1. Why has God added promises and threats to the law?

2. What deserves no reward?

1. If an earthly king forbids a particular action, what is not included?

2. How is this different from what God forbids?

3. Who is the best interpreter of the law?

4. Did Christ add to the law?

Friday, March 27, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.7.14. to 2.8.1.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.7.8. to 2.7.13.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.7.2 to 2.7.7.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 7.
THE LAW GIVEN, NOT TO RETAIN A PEOPLE FOR ITSELF, BUT TO KEEP ALIVE THE HOPE OF SALVATION IN CHRIST UNTIL HIS ADVENT.

2.7.2.

Calvin's Christocentric view of the Old Testament is profound. For indeed the Law, Israel and the entire dispensation point to Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:24 (ESV)
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:19 (ESV)
19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

"For Christ not yet having been made familiarly known to the Jews, they were like children whose weakness could not bear a full knowledge of heavenly things." The Old Testament was not silent about this sacrifice that would make all their sacrifices cease:

Isaiah 53:5 (NASB95)
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Daniel 9:26-27 (NASB95)
26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. 27 "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

Indeed as Romans 10:4 (NASB95) says, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes."

2.7.3.

It is true that the Law is perfect and it is true that if one were to keep it perfectly they would attain to eternal life. But the reality is that we cannot. The Law is a reminder of how incapable we are to attain to any righteousness. But in order to attain to any perfection we must not only keep the Law perfectly but it must be accomplished in our own power. Here is where the Law stands as weak for it cannot, in itself, empower us to perfection. "The doctrine of the Law transcending our capacity, a man may indeed look from a distance at the promises held forth, but he cannot derive any benefit from them." The end result then is misery.

2.7.4.

If the result of staring at the Law of God is depondency (for we cannot achieve one iota of it) then is God playing some sort of game with us? Is He toying with us, our author asks? Calvin gives a great answer. I quote him fully:

"For when we have learned, that the promises would be fruitless and unavailing, did not God accept us of his free goodness, without any view to our works, and when, having so learned, we, by faith, embrace the goodness thus offered in the gospel, the promises, with all their annexed conditions, are fully accomplished. For God, while bestowing all things upon us freely, crowns his goodness by not disdaining our imperfect obedience; forgiving its deficiencies, accepting it as if it were complete, and so bestowing upon us the full amount of what the Law has promised."

Wow!

2.7.5.

The indictment upon us that no one has ever, in this life, been able to attain to that perfection whereby we always and have always loved God with all our heart, soul and mind. All men even the non-elect are by Divine command and necessity called to obey the Law perfectly. When people contest about this Calvin refers them "to the answer which our Saviour gave to his disciples when they asked, "Who then can be saved?" "With men," said he, "this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (Mt. 19:25)." ""Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." (Romans 8:7, NASB95)

2.7.6.

Calvin speaks of 3 uses of the Law [1]. His first use of the Law shows man his inability to obey and thereby condemns him. Until man is humbled and broken from his own sense of righteousness, he remains independent and apart from God. "He, then, who is schooled by the Law, lays aside the arrogance which formerly blinded him. In like manner must he be cured of pride, the other disease under which we have said that he labours."

2.7.7.

The Law is then like a mirror that shows us our faults. Having seen the imperfections, the unregenerate man plunges even deeper into more guilt and sin. Augustine is right when he says, "If the Spirit of grace be absent, the law is present only to convict and slay us." If we were still in our innocence and our hearts were perfect, we not only could obey the Law but would find in it eternal life. It is neither the fault of God, nor a fault with His Law that it does not grant us eternal life. It is our own depravity. "Hence additional sweetness is given to divine grace, which comes to our aid without the law, and additional loveliness to the mercy which confers it."

Questions to Consider

1. The righteousness taught by the Law is all in vain until what happens?

2. Are the promises attached to the law all in vain because of our disobedience?

3. What does Calvin mean by the impossibility of obedience?

4. How impossible is impossible?

5. As we grow tired under the burden of sin, what does God never tire of?

__________________________________________________________

[1] Calvin speaks of three offices or uses of the Moral Law. These three uses are specifically set forth in sections seven, ten, and twelve; and are specified as follows: First use: to be a mirror for man's impotence, iniquity, and consequent condemnation. Second use: to be a curb or restraint upon man's depravity. Third use: to be a guide and a motivation to righteousness, in the lives of the regenerate. It is interesting to note that in the Formula of Concord, written seventeen years after the definitive edition of the Institutes had appeared (1559), the same three uses of the Law are enumerated (although in a slightly different order). In general, the Lutheran theologians characterized the three uses of the Moral Law as "political," "pedagogical," and "didactic." These three uses were expressed in the German terms "Sundenriegel," "Sundenspiegel," and "Lebensregel," which respectively mean "a restraint against sin," "a mirror of sin," and "a rule of life."

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.6.3. to 2.7.1.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 6.
REDEMPTION FOR MAN LOST TO BE SOUGHT IN CHRIST.

2.6.3.

The Scriptures, when the people of God or in distress or when the people of God need to be exhorted always are directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. When the hope and revitalization of the Church is mentioned in the Prophets, we are directed toward the promises given to David and particularly David's greatest Son. (For example: Ezek. 34:23, 24, 25 and Jer. 23:5, 6). "The hope of believers was ever treasured up in Christ alone."

2.6.4.

"By familiarising the Jews with these prophecies, God intended to teach them, that in seeking for deliverance, they should turn their eyes directly towards Christ. And though they had sadly degenerated, they never entirely lost the knowledge of this general principle, that God, by the hand of Christ, would be the deliverer of the Church, as he had promised to David; and that in this way only the free covenant by which God had adopted his chosen people would be fulfilled."

Thus, we are called to believe in Christ and thus know the Father. In Christ alone .... is Calvin's theme in these pages.

"More Christ-centered hermeneutics from Calvin: in short, that what is seen in the New is promised in the Old; that by covenant (mentioned five times in section 2.6.3 alone) God administers salvation by one means - "the hope of all the godly has ever reposed in Christ alone" (2.6.3); that "apart from Christ the saving knowledge of God does not stand" (2.6.4); "from the beginning of the world he ... set before the elect that they should look unto him and put their trust in him" (2.6.4); "God is comprehended in Christ alone" (2.6.4)." - Derek Thomas.

CHAPTER 7.
THE LAW GIVEN, NOT TO RETAIN A PEOPLE FOR ITSELF, BUT TO KEEP ALIVE THE HOPE OF SALVATION IN CHRIST UNTIL HIS ADVENT.

2.7.1.

So the Law was not given to lead people away from Christ to another source. But it was given to give His People a longing for His coming and to "to inflame their desire, and confirm their expectation, that they might not become dispirited by the long delay." The Law was not intended to do away with the Abrahamic promises. None of the sacrifices could amount to anything save point the worshipper to Christ. "But the type shows that God did not enjoin sacrifice, in order that he might occupy his worshippers with earthly exercises, but rather that he might raise their minds to something higher."

The New Testament teaches "that the fullness of grace, of which the Jews had a foretaste under the Law, is exhibited in Christ." It is an issue of promise versus fulfillment.

Questions to Consider

1. Why did God give the Law.

2. Is Christ prefigured in the Old Testament? What are some ways?

3. Are Muslims true theists because they worship one God?

Monday, March 23, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.5.17 to 2.6.2.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 5.
THE ARGUMENTS USUALLY ALLEGED IN SUPPORT OF FREE WILL REFUTED.

2.5.18.

Some of the objectors go to Ecclesiastes 15:14-17 where it is said that God made man with capability to choose righteousness and to obey Him. Of course we would agree with that. Man in his original creation had free will and could choose right from wrong.

2.5.19.

Those that allegorize the story of the Good Samaritan suggest that the robbed man was left destitute but not entirely, trying to paint a picture that sinful man is not totally unable to choose rightly. Calvin rightly concludes that the exegesis is horrible. "First, were I to deny that there is any room for their allegory, what could they say? There can be no doubt that the Fathers invented it contrary to the genuine sense of the parable."

Of course Paul in Ephesians 2 not only concludes that man is marred by sin, but he is totally and completely dead in trespass and sin.

The conclusion is plain regarding free will:

"Let it stand, therefore, as an indubitable truth, which no engines can shake, that the mind of man is so entirely alienated from the righteousness of God that he cannot conceive, desire, or design any thing but what is wicked, distorted, foul, impure, and iniquitous; that his heart is so thoroughly envenomed by sin that it can breathe out nothing but corruption and rottenness; that if some men occasionally make a show of goodness, their mind is ever interwoven with hypocrisy and deceit, their soul inwardly bound with the fetters of wickedness."

CHAPTER 6.
REDEMPTION FOR MAN LOST TO BE SOUGHT IN CHRIST.

2.6.1.

Mankind is so corrupt by sin and the world is so marred that any semblence of God as Father is totally eradicated. Apart from faith in Christ one could not know the Father. The world and all the wisdom it displays cannot show us the Father. "It is certain that after the fall of our first parent, no knowledge of God without a Mediator was effectual to salvation." (Confirm John 17:3) This makes religion that seeks to worship God immeasurably profane if they know not His Christ. "John distinctly testifies that those become the sons of God who believe in his name."

2.6.2.

God was never appeased even within His people Israel without the hope of a Redeemer. All Scripture attests to the truth that apart from Christ there can be no relationship with God. Even the heirs of Abraham are ultimately only found in Jesus Christ. "And there can be no doubt that our heavenly Father intended that a living image of Christ should be seen in David and his posterity . . . God, in thus preserving his Church, intended that its security and salvation should depend on Christ as its head."

And this is true whether we are talking about the Old Covenant or New Covenant. The same way of salvation operates in both Testaments.

Questions to Consider

1. Is the need for a Mediator revealed to us for the first time in the New Testament?

2. In order to be propitious toward the human race, what does God need?

3. Were the saints in the Old Testament saved by works and in the New, saved by faith?

Friday, March 20, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.5.13. to 2.5.17.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 5.
THE ARGUMENTS USUALLY ALLEGED IN SUPPORT OF FREE WILL REFUTED.

2.5.13.

Another objection is of a similar vein. It is asked how God can test people, withdraw His grace from them and expect them to respond properly unless they have it within them to do so? They goal of God in such cases is to bring humility and contriteness of heart. It's as if God says, "Since nothing is gained by admonishing, exhorting, rebuking this stubborn people, I will withdraw for a little, and silently leave them to be afflicted; I shall see whether, after long calamity, any remembrance of me will return, and induce them to seek my face."

2.5.14.

Another objection is the way Scripture speaks of man's activity. It is observed that God's works are said to be our works. "It could not be accordant with reason to say, that we do those things which we are incapable of doing of our own motion, God moving us, as if we were stones." The point, I think that Calvin makes in response is to assure us that the agency of man is not destroyed just because God the Holy Spirit assists man to either do good or to purpose mankind's evil to God's own design. The truth of the matter, as Augustine says it is, "Did not God assist us, we should not only not be able to conquer, but not able even to fight."

2.5.15.

When the Holy Spirit moves in regenerating grace is does so, not diminishing the will, but restoring it. "There is nothing then to prevent us from saying, that our will does what the Spirit does in us, although the will contributes nothing of itself apart from grace." But although we have this will, we do not claim for ourselves the praise of anything good for it is God's doing that we do it. Nor do we deny that we acted apart from our will.

2.5.16.

Quoting Genesis 4:7 the opponents suggest that God assumed Cain had the ability to conquer sin. But this may be viewed either as a command (order) or promise. "If an order, we have already demonstrated that this is no proof of man's ability; if a promise, where is the fulfilment of the promise when Cain yielded to the sin over which he ought to have prevailed?"

2.5.17.

From Romans 9:15 the opponents infer "that there is something in will and endeavour, which, though weak in themselves, still, being mercifully aided by God, are not without some measure of success." But the passage is clear and indisputable. God bestows salvation upon whomever He chooses to have mercy. There can be no argument that there is some ability in man apart from that. "Paul's meaning is more simple-there is no will nor running by which we can prepare the way for our salvation-it is wholly of the divine mercy."

Question to Consider

1. In what sense are our good works ours, and in what sense God's?

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.5.9. to 2.5.12.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 5.
THE ARGUMENTS USUALLY ALLEGED IN SUPPORT OF FREE WILL REFUTED.

2.5.9.

Still dealing with these objections, Calvin notes that "some, who would be thought more acute, endeavor to evade all these passages, by the quibble, that there is nothing to hinder us from contributing our part, while God, at the same time, supplies our deficiencies." This is the old we do our part to be saved and then God will do His (Finney, Graham, etc.) This is, however, a mute argument. It is foolhardy to think that any of us have the power to obey Christ just because we are commanded to do so. God's grace is necessary to do anything of a righteous nature. In fact He has promised to do that for that which is demanded of us. But it is His power and grace.

The precept of the Law cannot in itself grant us the will and the power to obey. It is ultimately by the Spirit alone.

2.5.10.

All these verses seem to imply, says the Objectors, that God commands our will therefore it should be within the will to obey:

Amos 5:14 (NASB95)
14 Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said!
Isaiah 1:19-20 (NASB95)
19 "If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; 20 "But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Jeremiah 4:1 (NASB95)
1 "If you will return, O Israel," declares the Lord, "Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And will not waver,
Deuteronomy 28:1 (NASB95)
1 "Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

If God commands and we are unable to obey, then the Objectors say that God is toying with us and mocking us. But God intends two different ends for these promises. To the evil man they stand as sting upon his conscience; and they have the constant reminder in the sorrow of their sin that God has promised them otherwise if they but turn and repent. For the elect these promises that require the Spirit stir up our desire to seek Him and depend upon Him for all goodness. "The greater our desire of righteousness, the greater will be our earnestness to obtain the grace of God."

2.5.11.

What of the many passages that God reprimends men and infers "that it was not his fault that they did not obtain all kinds of favour from his indulgence?" Since it is true that it is our own sinful fault that we do not enjoy God's grace and that we are punished, why is it wrong for God to rebuke us? All blame lies within us and us alone. We cannot blame God for our rebellion. The fact that God, out of necessity, must awaken the heart and by His grace bring righteousness does not stop Him from commanding our will to obey. For we note:

Psalm 95:8 (NASB95)
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB95)
12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 (NASB95)
19 Do not quench the Spirit;
2 Corinthians 7:1 (NASB95)
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
1 John 5:18 (NASB95)
18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
1 Peter 1:22 (NASB95)
22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,

2.5.12.

But one passage that seems to fly in the face of what is being taught is found in Deuteronomy 30:11-14 (NASB95)

11 "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12 "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' 13 "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' 14 "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

In Romans 10, Paul interpreted this passage in relation to the Gospel but even as it applies to the precepts of the Law, prior to these verses Moses writes: "Deuteronomy 30:6, "Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live."

"This passage, therefore, tends in no degree to establish the freedom of the human will."

Question to Consider

1. What effect do the promises have on the impious?

2. What effect do the promises have on the believers?

3. Why can unbelievers not find fault with God for His reproof of them?

4. How does Calvin interpret Deuteronomy 30:11-12, 14ff?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.5.4. to 2.5.8.

INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 5.
THE ARGUMENTS USUALLY ALLEGED IN SUPPORT OF FREE WILL REFUTED.

2.5.4.

Calvin has been addressing certain objections. Some complained that if God required us to obey then we must have within us the capacity to obey. Another objector points out that Scripture apparently teaches that the realization of certain promises is contingent upon our choice and ability to obey. The next objection looks at the opposite of the previous one. God's reproach of people stems from their own fault through their own actions by their own free will, so the argument goes.

Another objection is offered in this section. If Scripture exhorts us in certain ways, certainly one must have the ability to obey? Calvin refers to Augustine who reminds us "that God does not measure the precepts of his law by human strength, but, after ordering what is right, freely bestows on his elect the power of fulfilling it." ""I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5, NASB95).

2.5.5.

So why does the Bible give us exhortations when we can not perform them in our own strength. One, they will stand against those who refuse to obey them. "But their chief use is to be seen in the case of believers, in whom the Lord, while he always acts by his Spirit, also omits not the instrumentality of his word, but employs it, and not without effect." So the next question is then, why does God need the Word? Why doesn't just the Spirit lead? "God works in his elect in two ways: inwardly, by his Spirit; outwardly, by his Word. By his Spirit illuminating their minds, and training their hearts to the practice of righteousness, he makes them new creatures, while, by his Word, he stimulates them to long and seek for this renovation."

2.5.6.

When the objectors speak against this teaching, they gather verses in relation to conversion, to law-abiding and to the work of perseverance. But Calvin first deals with the Law in general. One of the fondest arguments is that if God has given the Law then men have the ability to obey it -- or it is useless. But Calvin points out that "it was placed far above us, in order to convince us of our utter feebleness?"

2.5.7.

Indeed the Law "teaches that the power of obeying it is derived from the goodness of God, and it accordingly urges us to pray that this power may be given us." To this we add this quote of Augustine:

"God orders what we cannot do, that we may know what we ought to ask of him. There is a great utility in precepts, if all that is given to free will is to do greater honour to divine grace. Faith acquires what the Law requires; nay, the Law requires, in order that faith may acquire what is thus required; nay, more, God demands of us faith itself, and finds not what he thus demands, until by giving he makes it possible to find it."

"Faith achieves what the law commands"

2.5.8.

Again as Augustine says, "What God promises, we ourselves do not through choice or nature, but he himself does by grace." Any degree of faithfulness or goodness we attain to in this life is but a gift from God.

Question to Consider

1. How does God hold people accountable if they are not free?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.4.7 to 2.5.3.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 4.
HOW GOD WORKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN.

2.4.7.

Some may object to the teaching on the bondage of the will and presume that a few texts that so dictate this cannot mean the rule for all. The few texts though is compelling enough and Scripture is plain enough that man's will is far from being free, by definition. "If any will is free from subjection, it must be that of one possessed of regal power, and in a manner exercising dominion over other wills. But if it is under the hand of God, ours surely cannot be exempt from it." It is true that only God has free will. It is fascinating that certain people are so determined to grant free will to themselves but not to the supreme God of the Universe!

2.4.8.

"In discussing the subject of free will, the question is not, whether external obstacles will permit a man to execute what he has internally resolved, but whether, in any matter whatever, he has a free power of judging and of willing."

CHAPTER 5.
THE ARGUMENTS USUALLY ALLEGED IN SUPPORT OF FREE WILL REFUTED.

2.5.1.

Men gain most vehemence when you withdraw from them their precious diamond of free will. They attack this teaching as irrational and try to throw Scriptural texts against it. "If sin, say they, is necessary, it ceases to be sin; if it is voluntary, it may be avoided." In modern language the idea is that if the will is indeed in bondage the opponents then presume that man's will is then instinctive -- puppets they say. This is the common assault. Sin is not less sin because it has been imputed to us through the Adamic nature. And sin is not less culpable because it flows from a corrupt nature. The point of Calvinistic teaching (albeit Biblical doctrine) is that "a thing may be done voluntarily, though not subject to free choice." That is key!

2.5.2.

The opponents argue that unless sin or goodness flow from a free will, it is neither. Or even if God, out of necessity gives grace to produce good, then even in matters of evil, how can the individual be blamed. This is the frequent argument and even the argument of Romans 9! "Some seem to think . . . that there is no place at all for the mind, if good works do not spring from free will . . .."

2.5.3.

We deny free will so that all praise and merit go to Christ, by whom it flows. But our sin and subsequent punishment is ours due to the Fall. If we fail to appropriate the mercy of Christ, who is to blame for that? The reason this doctrine is so odious to those who want to maintain free will is because it obvious leads to Divine election. For if we are all in bondage to sin, how can we be saved apart from intentional and effectual mercy?

Then why do some start yet fail to continue? The answer given by Calvin is pregnant with Bibical truth. "Perseverance is the gift of God, which he does not lavish promiscuously on all, but imparts to whom he pleases. If it is asked how the difference arises-why some steadily persevere, and others prove deficient in steadfastness, we can give no other reason than that the Lord, by his mighty power, strengthens and sustains the former, so that they perish not, while he does not furnish the same assistance to the latter, but leaves them to be monuments of instability."

Questions to Consider

1. When actions are neither good nor evil, is God still involved?

2. Is free will to be determined by whether or not a man chooses what he wants?

Monday, March 16, 2009

The Doctor on Direct Interventions By God Today

The Doctor thinks we are crazy if we reject the notion of God intervenng directly in human history today. This quote makes me want to pray more for him to stretch out his hand and act:

'What is being taught in Christendom today is this, that since we have got the New Testament canon, since we have got the Word now, we do not need these direct interventions, we do not need God to speak to us directly, as He spoke to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob and these patriarchs. We have got the Word now! Is this superior to the direct speech of God? I think we are mad! There is no other word for this. We are mad.

We are meant to be in a superior position to every Old Testament saint because of what has happened in our blessed Lord and Saviour! But this teaching would have us believe that we do not need this direct contact with God now, and that all that has come to an end since the formation of the New Testament canon.......remember that the great point of the whole teaching of the Bible, of all you can deduce from it, is to tell you that God is a God who acts. And our only hope this afternoon is that this is still true. He has not finished acting. He is going on....There is only one hope. That is that He is still the living and the acting God. Christ is at His right hand, and He is seated and waiting until His enemies should be made His footstool.......

I have been defending the faith - and people have praised me for doing it. Rubbish! What a miserable failure it has all been! From now on I am determined to do one thing only, and that is to give God no rest nor peace, until He does prove Himself and show Himself. I have expended so much energy in reasoning with the people about this faith. We have got to do that, it is part of preaching. But if we stop at that it will avail us nothing. But what I now am concerned about and I am concentrating on is this - asking God to show Himself, to do something,to give this touch, this manifestation of power. Nothing else will even make people listen to us. ....Nothing is going to call the attention of the masses of the people to the truth of this faith save a great phenomenon, such as the phenomenon of the day of Pentecost, the phenomenon of any one of the great revivals, the phenomenon of a single changed life. This is something that always arrests attention, maybe curiosity - what does it matter? The people come and listen......

We must not be content until we have had some manifestation of the activity of God. We must concentrate on this. This is my plea, that we concentrate on this, because it is the great message of the Bible....... Let us put it like this: Do we really believe that God can still act? That is the question; that is the ultimate challenge. Or have we, for theological or some other reasons, excluded the very possibility? Here is the crucial matter. Do we individually and personally really believe that God still acts, can act and will act - in individuals, in groups of individuals, in churches, localities, perhaps even in countries? Do we believe that He is as capable of doing that today as He was in ancient times - the Old Testament, the New Testament times, the book of Acts, Protestant Reformation, Puritans, Methodist Awakening, 1859, 1904-5? Do we really believe that He can still do it? You see, it is ultimately what you believe about God. If He is the great Jehovah - I am that I am, I am that I shall be, unchanged, unchanging, unchangeable, the everlasting and eternal God - well, He can still do it.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.4.1. to 2.4.6.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 4.
HOW GOD WORKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN.

2.4.1.

So far Calvin has attempted to show that mankind is so sinful that he can neither desire good or accomplish good, on his own. He has also shown that along man's nature forces him to sin necessarily, that this sinfulness is voluntary, not simply of animalistic instinct. Likewise "when it is said, then, that the will of the natural man is subject to the power of the devil, and is actuated by him, the meaning is not that the wills while reluctant and resisting, is forced to submit (as masters oblige unwilling slaves to execute their orders), but that, fascinated by the impostures of Satan, it necessarily yields to his guidance, and does him homage."

2.4.2. When God so ordains that evil exist and occur the situation is quite different. Like the situation with Job, Job understood that the ultimate agency of permission of this calamity was God Himself. How can God permit and even concur with evil and not be evil Himself? "This is easily done, if we look first to the end, and then to the mode of acting." God's design of the calamity is greater faith and perseverance in His saint. The Devil's design is ruin. So there is no inconsistency by saying, in this case, God did it; or by saying Satan did it.

2.4.3.

This statement is handled with much fear by everyone. No one wants to make God the author of sin; nor belittle Him. We belittle Him by simply attributing such Divine acts to His omniscience. No, He does act in this matters according to His will. However we are all kept safe as long as we say what the Bible says. "God is very often said to blind and harden the reprobate, to turn their hearts, to incline and impel them, as I have elsewhere fully explained (Book 1 c. 18). The extent of this agency can never be explained by having recourse to prescience or permission." In summary there appears two ways that God acts:

1. When He removes Light and His Spirit the end result is sinful inclinations, hardening and blindness; depriving man of the ability to see, obey and make right choices.
2. By directing man's counsel, and excites their wills, and regulates their efforts as He pleases."

2.4.4.

God does not only do what is described in the First Act. For instance we read in Psalm 105:25, "He turned their heart to hate His people, To deal craftily with His servants." Augustine is right when he states, "That men sin, is attributable to themselves: that in sinning they produce this or that result, is owing to the mighty power of God, who divides the darkness as he pleases."

2.4.5.

"It is repeatedly said in the First Book of Samuel, that an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, and troubled him (1 Sam. 16:14; 18:10; 19:9)." Consider also what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."

2.4.6.

What of man's decisions that are not in violation to God's command but are simply earthly decisions? Does man not have a free will in those things? No he does not and "we owe it to the special grace of God, whenever, on the one hand, we choose what is for our advantage, and whenever our will inclines in that direction; and on the other, whenever with heart and soul we shun what would otherwise do us harm."

God's Providence also steps into mankind's world and not only turns events in favor of His omniscient will, but He also gives to men wills to conform with His good pleasure.

Questions to Consider

Questions as to why evil abounds and who's to blame for evil done to one another are important discussions. Calvin is tackling this issue.

1. Does man sin willingly, even though of necessity?

2. Who was involved in Job's loss?

3. Does God harden the sinner but simply not doing something, or by doing something?

4. What error must be avoided when discussing the "evil spirit from the Lord"?

5. Can God and Satan work in the same man at the same time?

Sunday, March 15, 2009

THE PORPOISE DRIVEN LIFE

Friday, March 13, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.3.10 to 2.3.14.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin"

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 3.
EVERY THING PROCEEDING FROM THE CORRUPT NATURE OF MAN DAMNABLE.

2.3.10.

When man was first made he was made with a free will. He could incline one way or the other. But the idea that sinful man can desire to come to God without the aid of God is plainly wrong. The teaching of Scripture is not that grace is offered to us if we desire it. If that be the case none would desire it. This grace given that excites the elect prior to belief in the truth does not just create a potential within the person, it actually causes them to will and to do. "Ezekiel promises that a new spirit will be given to the elect, not merely that they may be able to walk in his precepts, but that they may really walk in them (Ezek. 11:19; 36:27)." The means that the grace of God is effectual not potential. John 6:44 (NASB95)

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."

John 6:65 (NASB95)

"And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

Here's the truth of salvation: "Men are indeed to be taught that the favour of God is offered, without exception, to all who ask it; but since those only begin to ask whom heaven by grace inspires, even this minute portion of praise must not be withheld from him. It is the privilege of the elect to be regenerated by the Spirit of God, and then placed under his guidance and government."

Calvin then encroaches on the subject of perseverance where he writes, ". . . the hearts of believers are so effectually governed from above, that they follow with undeviating affection. "Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him" (I John 3:9)."

2.3.11.

The whole issue of perseverance, or eternal security, is accelerated by the false notion that we can in our fallen state choose to accept or reject Christ's offer. The logic that follows then is that if I indeed have such power of will, then such power can either keep me in grace or permit me to totally and finally fall from grace. It is indeed a "pernicious error". Perseverance actually means that "after we are once subdued by the power of the Lord to the obedience of righteousness, we proceed voluntarily, and are inclined to follow the movement of grace."

2.3.12.

A right understanding of 1 Corinthians 15:10 requires of us to understand that Paul, ensuring that we do not suppose he is claiming self-effort in his sanctification reminds us that it was "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." This he means that he was so subdued by grace that after salvation he cooperated with the Spirit, fully. He says this not to suggest merit in his cooperation, but to give fully praise and glory to God in him.

2.3.13.

Augustine is helpful here. Profoundly he asserts that Adam was given grace to eternal life if he had the will. But thanks be to God, we have been given the will that Adam had not! We have will and power, in Christ! The "original freedom of man was to be able not to sin, but that we have a much greater freedom-viz. not to be able to sin." For those who espouse freedom of the will, even as Adam had it, make their estate worse, not better. The liberty of the will that the Christian has is not one simply to reject or accept goodness, but one that is endued with a grace that produces both the right choice and the power to effect that choice.

2.3.14.

Further, Augustine writes, ""We know that Divine grace is not given to all men, and that to those to whom it is given, it is not given either according to the merit of works, or according to the merit of the will, but by free grace: in regard to those to whom it is not given, we know that the not giving of it is a just judgment from God." Augustine asserts this:

a. The will of the sinner does not have the freedom to obtain grace -- grace gives him that freedom.
b. The same grace that gives the believer freedom also gives the gifts of joy, perseverance and courage.
c. As long as grace governs the will, it will never fail.
d. It is by free mercy and grace that the will is transformed, and once transformed it will persevere to the glory of God.
e. All of this blessing continue to rest on the will and the grace of God. There is nothing that enables merit to flow to the person.

"Thus the will (free will, if you choose to call it so), which is left to man, is, as he in another place (Ep. 46) describes it, a will which can neither be turned to God, nor continue in God, unless by grace; a will which, whatever its ability may be, derives all that ability from grace." That's a great summary!

Questions to Consider

1. Is grace a co-worker with us? (trick question)

2. Can man take credit for even one good work apart from grace?

3. Is the will eradicated in sinners? What of believers?

4. What is the right relationship of grace and freedom?

The New Calvinism - Time Magazine

The New Calvinism

By DAVID VAN BIEMA

Illustration by Lorenzo Petrantoni for TIME; Calvin: Popperfoto / Getty

If you really want to follow the development of conservative Christianity, track its musical hits. In the early 1900s you might have heard "The Old Rugged Cross," a celebration of the atonement. By the 1980s you could have shared the Jesus-is-my-buddy intimacy of "Shine, Jesus, Shine." And today, more and more top songs feature a God who is very big, while we are...well, hark the David Crowder Band: "I am full of earth/ You are heaven's worth/ I am stained with dirt/ Prone to depravity."

Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin's 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism's buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism's latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination's logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time's dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision. (Read about the re-emergence of Catholic indulgences.)

Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation's other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don't have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by "glorifying" him. In the 1700s, Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards invested Calvinism with a rapturous near mysticism. Yet it was soon overtaken in the U.S. by movements like Methodism that were more impressed with human will. Calvinist-descended liberal bodies like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) discovered other emphases, while Evangelicalism's loss of appetite for rigid doctrine — and the triumph of that friendly, fuzzy Jesus — seemed to relegate hard-core Reformed preaching (Reformed operates as a loose synonym for Calvinist) to a few crotchety Southern churches.

No more. Neo-Calvinist ministers and authors don't operate quite on a Rick Warren scale. But, notes Ted Olsen, a managing editor at Christianity Today, "everyone knows where the energy and the passion are in the Evangelical world" — with the pioneering new-Calvinist John Piper of Minneapolis, Seattle's pugnacious Mark Driscoll and Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Seminary of the huge Southern Baptist Convention. The Calvinist-flavored ESV Study Bible sold out its first printing, and Reformed blogs like Between Two Worlds are among cyber-Christendom's hottest links.

Like the Calvinists, more moderate Evangelicals are exploring cures for the movement's doctrinal drift, but can't offer the same blanket assurance. "A lot of young people grew up in a culture of brokenness, divorce, drugs or sexual temptation," says Collin Hansen, author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. "They have plenty of friends: what they need is a God." Mohler says, "The moment someone begins to define God's [being or actions] biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist." Of course, that presumption of inevitability has drawn accusations of arrogance and divisiveness since Calvin's time. Indeed, some of today's enthusiasts imply that non-Calvinists may actually not be Christians. Skirmishes among the Southern Baptists (who have a competing non-Calvinist camp) and online "flame wars" bode badly.

Calvin's 500th birthday will be this July. It will be interesting to see whether Calvin's latest legacy will be classic Protestant backbiting or whether, during these hard times, more Christians searching for security will submit their wills to the austerely demanding God of their country's infancy.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.3.5. to 2.3.9.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.
OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 3.
EVERY THING PROCEEDING FROM THE CORRUPT NATURE OF MAN DAMNABLE.

2.3.5.

I doubt if you can find a better statement than this: "When the will is enchained as the slave of sin, it cannot make a movement towards goodness, far less steadily pursue it. Every such movement is the first step in that conversion to God, which in Scripture is entirely ascribed to divine grace." Anything of any goodness that is achieved in the mind and heart of man is only that which God places in Him. There is a will in man. Never does the Scripture suggest otherwise. But the will is in great bondage. The will of the sinner is always inclined to do that which is evil. Augustine said, "Man through liberty became a sinner, but corruption, ensuing as the penalty, has converted liberty into necessity." The fact that man does evil out of necessity does not abrogate his freedom. Would anyone say that God who does good always, does not do it freely? Or what of the Devil. The fact that he always does evil, does he not do it freely and voluntarily? Is there any difference with man?

Calvin quotes Bernard who rightly says, "Thus the soul, in some strange and evil way, is held under this kind of voluntary, yet sadly free necessity, both bond and free; bond in respect of necessity, free in respect of will: and what is still more strange, and still more miserable, it is guilty because free, and enslaved because guilty, and therefore enslaved because free."

2.3.6.

The remedy for this horrid situation is spoken of by the Apostle Paul in that it must be God that starts this good work in us (Philippians 1:6). The prophet Ezekiel spoke of this grace-filled event in Ezekiel 36:26-27,

26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

Indeed it is God working in us TO WILL and to DO of His good pleasure (Phi 2:13).

2.3.7.

Calvin objects to any thought that God simply becomes a helper to our estate and in fact we cooperate of sorts with him. ""The will is aided not only so as to know what is to be done, but also to do what it knows." And thus, when God teaches not by the letter of the Law, but by the grace of the Spirit, he so teaches, that every one who has learned, not only knowing, sees, but also willing, desires, and acting, performs." All our spiritual good comes not from ourselves but God. But God not only begins this work and sustains this work; by his grace, he also brings it to conclusion at the end of days.

2.3.8.

In Jer 32:39-40 and Ezekiel 11:19 "He could not more clearly claim to himself, and deny to us, everything good and right in our will, than by declaring, that in our conversion there is the creation of a new spirit and a new heart. It always follows, both that nothing good can proceed from our will until it be formed again, and that after it is formed again in so far as it is good, it is of God, and not of us."

2.3.9.

The prayers of both David and Solomon correspond to this truth. They both pray, "Incline my heart to hear and keep your Law" (Psa 119:36 and 1Kings 8:58). Is not David's prayer proof of all this, "Create in me a clean heart and a right spirit"(Psa 51:10)?

It is amazing to me that as a Christian I know that apart from Christ I can do nothing (confirm John 15:1,4). How is it possible for a man dead in sin whose will is in bondage to do any good? ". . . The Lord both begins and perfects the good work in us, so that it is due to Him, first, that the will conceives a love of rectitude, is inclined to desire, is moved and stimulated to pursue it; secondly, that this choice, desire, and endeavor fail not, but are carried forward to effect; and, lastly, that we go on without interruption, and persevere even to the end."

Questions to Consider

Are you willing to bid farewell to your own labors, sufficiency, powers, abilities, and performance in order to rest completely on God's working in and through us? Have you come to the end of your own sufficiency in order to rest on the sufficiency of the Triune God's work for, in, and through you (2 Cor 2:14-3:6)? Will you stop robbing God his rightful glory in claiming anything for yourself in your spiritual choices or accomplishments? Will you sing the riches of God's grace?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.3.1. to 2.3.4.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 3.
EVERY THING PROCEEDING FROM THE CORRUPT NATURE OF MAN DAMNABLE.

2.3.1.

The mind and the will is by Scriptural definition: flesh. To be fleshly (biblically) is to give birth to more flesh. And the flesh is at opposition to God. But someone might say, "No, the flesh does not include the mind or will." But Jesus teaches that it is because we are flesh that we need to be born again. He does not refer to a renewed skin, but a renewed mind, heart and will. "" So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart . . .and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind," " (Ephesians 4:17-18, 23 NASB95)

"The human mind receives a humbling blow when all the thoughts which proceed from it are derided as foolish, frivolous, perverse, and insane."

2.3.2.

Indeed there is no clearer passage than this to describe the horrible condition of the human mind and will:

"as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one." "Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving," "The poison of asps is under their lips"; "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness"; "Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."" (Romans 3:10-18, NASB95)

2.3.3.

But what of those that seem to live their natural lives striving for and attaining some good and some virtue? Undoubtedly "the Lord [does not] let every mind loose to wanton in its lusts, doubtless there is not a man who would not show that his nature is capable of all the crimes with which Paul charges it." There is a restraining grace even upon our wickedness. "Thus God, by his providence, curbs the perverseness of nature, preventing it from breaking forth into action, yet without rendering it inwardly pure."

2.3.4.

Whatever good mankind does is no merit for himself because "those are not common endowments of nature, but special gifts of God, which he distributes in divers forms, and, in a definite measure, to men otherwise profane . . . The virtues which deceive us by an empty show may have their praise in civil society and the common intercourse of life, but before the judgment-seat of God they will be of no value to establish a claim of righteousness."

This instruction is so important because it teaches us that even the ungodly can do good by grace alone!

Questions to Consider

1. Do you agree with Calvin that all of man's nature fleshly?

2. Is the passage quoted in Romans 3 limited to just some men?

3. Does Calvin agree that some unbelievers have some nobility in their nature? Do these virtues put these men in a right standing with God?

4. How does Calvin account for this?

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Good News! Relying on Grace Gives God Glory

by John Piper:

It is very good news that God designs his glory to be magnified through the exercise of his grace.

To be sure, God is glorified through the power of his wrath (Romans 9:22), but repeatedly the New Testament (and OT, e.g. Isaiah 30:18) says that we should experience God’s grace so that God gets glory.

Ponder how this works in the prayer of 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12,

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul prays that God would fulfill our good resolves.

How? He prays that they would be done “by [God’s] power.” That is, that they be “works of faith.”

Why? So that Jesus would be glorified in us.

To read more click here.

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.2.24 to 2.2.27.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 2.
MAN NOW DEPRIVED OF FREEDOM OF WILL, AND MISERABLY ENSLAVED.

2.2.24.

The fact that mankind has a universal sense of judgment -- of right and wrong, is not to say that mankind always knows right from wrong or conceives a right impression of right and wrong. "Shall I then extol the discernment of a mind which can neither acquire wisdom by itself, nor listen to advice?" If we test our judgment by the First Table of the Law we find that mankind fails to:

a. Trust in God, or
b. Give Him all praise and honor in everything, or even,
c. Cause His Name or His Day to be holy.

Even to the second Table of the Law "the natural man cannot bear to recognise diseases in his lusts."

2.2.25.

Just as we cannot gain excuse from ignorance, so too can we say that all sin is intended. "We know too well from experience how often we fall, even when our intention is good. Our reason is exposed to so many forms of delusion, is liable to so many errors, stumbles on so many obstacles, is entangled by so many snares, that it is ever wandering from the right direction." In 2 Corinthians 3:5 Paul denies us the right to think that we apprehend correctly about ourselves in all things.

Augustine, in speaking of this inability of human reason to understand the things of God, says, that he deems the grace of illumination not less necessary to the mind than the light of the sun to the eye". We are to pray as David in Psalm 119:34, "Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart."

2.2.26.

Now to the matter of the will. Some philosophers wrongly teach that man does all things by instinct and if his instinct is good then the will must be good. Instinctiveness does not support free will. "There is no act of free will, unless when reason looks at opposites." Free will asks this question, "Does man, after determining by right reason what is good, choose what he thus knows, and pursue what he thus chooses?" The fact that man aspires to goodness at all is no indication of free will. "There is no man who would not be pleased with eternal blessedness; and yet, without the impulse of the Spirit, no man aspires to it.

2.2.27.

Some attribute the struggle of Paul in Romans 7 to that of the unbeliever. But Calvin rightly points out that indeed it is the Christian's struggle. "He is speaking of the Christian struggle (touched on more briefly in the Epistle to the Galatians), which believers constantly experience from the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. But the Spirit is not from nature, but from regeneration. That the apostle is speaking of the regenerate is apparent from this, that after saying, "in me dwells no good thing," he immediately adds the explanation, "in my flesh." Accordingly, he declares, "It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."

Why would Paul write in Philippians 2:13, ". . . it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" if indeed the will was free to choose?" "But if the whole man is subject to the dominion of sin, surely the will, which is its principal seat, must be bound with the closest chains."

Augustine says it well, "Of our own we have nothing but sin."

Questions to Consider

1. What is necessary before we can say that a true moral choice has been made?

2. What do you make of Paul's statement, "I myself do not do evil, but sin that dwells in me"?

Baptism - Part 8

This is my last blog in this series on baptism. My conviction is based on several things:

#1. I believe baptism is a New Testament ordinance. To carry circumcism or Old Covenant practices into the New Covenant doesn't work. I believe the essence of this ordinance is death, buriel and resurrection. The believer is united to Christ and His work in these areas and immersion dramatizes this as a public confession.

#2. I believe the word used in the Bible for baptism clearly and unequivocably speaks of going under and even with strong allusions to death.

#3. I believe the early church practiced baptism by immersion; and only permitted sprinkling of confessing mature believer in extraordinary cases.

#4. Finally I believe where Scripture is referring to baptism in a metaphorical way it can only work if you understand it as immersion. For example:

1. The people of Israel were baptized into Moses (1Co 10:2). They were taken from the government of Egypt and placed under the leadership of Moses. They were moved from one environment to another.

2. The Great Commission calls us to baptize disciples. It reads: “18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The most basic understanding of this text is not so much “immersing them in water”, but better bringing them from the world into the community of believers. Also note the relationship between authority and obedience with baptism. The disciple moves from an environment of no Christological authority to one exercised through the Church.

3. Jesus foretold that the he would baptize his disciples with power (Acts 1:4-8). “Jesus means that the Holy Spirit will show His control of their lives with visible manifestations: the blowing of a violent wind, the appearance of tongues of fire, and speaking in foreign languages (ch. 2 ).” (Note the key word control!)

4. 1 Corinthians 12:13 teaches us that when we were saved we were baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit? “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether we are Jews or Greeks or slaves or free we were all made to drink of the one Spirit.” Now this seems very key, because all the other baptisms are events that we are aware of and experience. Here is something that happens to us, that is true, but none of us participated in. We were passive, just like Paul is teaching in Romans 6. This verse teaches that when we are saved God's Spirit plunges us into the universal Body of Christ. In other words, He takes us out of one environment and puts us in another.

But there is a clearer picture that asserts the same thing. Turn to Col 1:13: “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” When Christ saved us he moved us from one environment (sin and Satan) to another environment (Jesus). That word delivered or translated is the Greek word: methistano that means to change, remove (meta, implying "change," histemi, "to cause to stand"). Now return with us in your thinking to our earlier definition of the church. The Church is that group of people who “belong to the Lord”; who were “called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

5. Finally, in Mark 20:32 and following, Jesus is asked by James and John is they can sit at His right side in His kingdom. In verse 38, Jesus says, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to . . . be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" How does pouring work there? How does sprinkling work there? They cannot! Jesus was foretelling His suffering and death. His baptism was death -- going under the wrath of God.

Simply stated, the metaphor of baptism in the Bible cannot mean anything else but going under, dying to self, moving from one environment to another. It is simply striving after the wind to try to support any other mode of baptism as biblically sound.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.2.4. to 2.2.7.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 2.
MAN NOW DEPRIVED OF FREEDOM OF WILL, AND MISERABLY ENSLAVED.

2.2.18.

When Calvin speaks of the ability of the intellect in regard to kingdom issues he is talking about three things:

1. The knowledge of God,
2. The knowledge of His Fatherly grace toward us, meaning salvation, and
3. Living righteously in accordance with His Law.

Admittedly there are those who glean somewhat of an understanding of the first and third. Of the Law they seem to apprehend a good amount of it but have no ability to attain to it. But of the second, man is spiritually inept. "To the great truths, What God is in himself, and what he is in relation to us, human reason makes not the least approach."

2.2.19.

Very few of us speak like Calvin. He writes, "But since we are intoxicated with a false opinion of our own discernment, and can scarcely be persuaded that in divine things it is altogether stupid and blind, I believe the best course will be to establish the fact, not by argument, but by Scripture." Quoting John 1:4-5, Calvin notes that every human being has been given some light to comprehend God, but does not. Why? Because he or she is in darkness and does not comprehend the light. Thus the need of the New Birth (John 1:13) and the illumination of the Spirit of God.

2.2.20.

The truth of the matter is that none of this would be disputed if we would simply understand that no one, except the elect, has the grace to apprehend or comprehend these spiritual truths.

Psalm 36:9 (NASB95)
9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.

1 Corinthians 12:3 (NASB95)
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

John 3:27 (NASB95)
27 John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.

Deuteronomy 29:2-4 (NASB95)
2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4 "Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.

Jeremiah 24:7 (NASB95)
7 'I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

John 6:44 (NASB95)
44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

"It thus appears that none can enter the kingdom of God save those whose minds have been renewed by the enlightening of the Holy Spirit." (see 1 Cor 2:14)

2.2.21.

Ephesians 1:17-18 (NASB95)
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

"In other words, the minds of men have not capacity enough to know their calling. Let no prating Pelagian here allege that God obviates this rudeness or stupidity, when, by the doctrine of his word, he directs us to a path which we could not have found without a guide. David had the law, comprehending in it all the wisdom that could be desired, and yet not contented with this, he prays, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," (Ps. 119:18)."

2.2.22.

As to this third area that falls within the category of spiritual knowledge -- the knowledge of works of righteousness, Calvin believes that mankind generally has more understanding of this area than any other. He takes that from Paul's statement in Romans 2:14-15. But the key question is, why is man endowed with such understanding? Why does man have a sense of righteousness about him? Answer? "The end of the natural law, therefore, is to render man inexcusable . . . by convicting men on their own testimony depriving them of all pretext for ignorance."

2.2.23.

A huge issue in this area of works of righteousness is the inability of humans to follow through on their convictions. We may believe something to be wrong in the abstract but when faced with favorable conditions in the particulars we tend to compromise.

Questions to Consider

1. Do unbelievers have some illumination concerning God?

2. How do we know men do not have spiritual understanding?

3. How far may a man become spiritually wise?

4. Can unregenerate men affirm the right ethical choice generally?

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.2.12 to 2.2.17

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 2.
MAN NOW DEPRIVED OF FREEDOM OF WILL, AND MISERABLY ENSLAVED.

2.2.12.

So desperate is our condition that Calvin referring to Augustine writes, ''all things which pertain to the blessed life of the soul are extinguished in him until he recover them by the grace of regeneration.'' These blessings include love for God and mankind; faith and righteousness. Restoration of these things are supernatural. Meanwhile all natural gifts and faculties are corrupt. This not only includes the intelligence but ''as to the will, its depravity is but too well known.'' (or is it!)

This does not mean the mind and will fail to function. It means they are corrupt. ''The will, because inseparable from the nature of man, did not perish, but was so enslaved by depraved lusts as to be incapable of one righteous desire." So what is the power or ability of the intellect? One thing that Calvin points out is that the intellect has, seemingly, a thirst for knowledge that is not eliminated by the Fall. This sets us apart from the animal kingdom. Where the mind is corrupt is that it not only fails in the ability to achieve the knowledge that it pursues, but it fails to discern which knowledge it should seek. "Hence, under the influence of a vain curiosity, it torments itself with superfluous and useless discussions, either not adverting at all to the things necessary to be known, or casting only a cursory and contemptuous glance at them."

2.2.13.

This is not to say that man is without intellect and wisdom. Man can gain greatly in these areas except that success is achieved in the lower venues of wisdom and not to the higher ones. "The distinction is, that we have one kind of intelligence of earthly things, and another of heavenly things." There is a sense because of the Divinely endowed propensity to society that mankind is still possessed with knowledge on the intricacies and management of societies base needs. Men differ on cultural norms and mandates, but "still, however, it is true, that some principle of civil order is impressed on all. And this is ample proof, that, in regard to the constitution of the present life, no man is devoid of the light of reason."

2.2.14.

Although we all differ in our abilities in the areas of art and culture, everyone has some capacity to these things. In addition we all have some capacity toward the inventive and creative. "But while these proofs openly attest the fact of a universal reason and intelligence naturally implanted, this universality is of a kind which should lead every individual for himself to recognise it as a special gift of God."

2.2.15.

"Therefore, in reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us, that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator." If the Spirit of God is the fountainhead of all truth and wisdom, we are counseled by Calvin "not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears." Whether we are seeing this in the arts, literature, sciences or industry, we should be capable of praising our God for the bountiful endowments of gifts and these are limited only because of the abject poverty of our souls.

2.2.16.

All these gifts of wisdom and ability, although lessor than the things of the kingdom, are given to us all for the common good. "If the Lord has been pleased to assist us by the work and ministry of the ungodly in physics, dialectics, mathematics, and other similar sciences, let us avail ourselves of it, lest, by neglecting the gifts of God spontaneously offered to us, we be justly punished for our sloth." We must remember though that these endeavors are polluted, not because they come from the Lord, but they are expressed through sinners like us. They are also "fleeting and vain whenever it is not based on a solid foundation of truth."

2.2.17.

It is somewhat of God's great kindness and mercy that He did not totally extinguish man's intellect and ability so that we would not have totally self-destructed after the Fall. "In short, in every distinguished act there is a special inspiration." Thus, although distorted, the image of God is expressed in all humans.

Questions to Consider

1. What does virtually every human being possess?

2. What is a natural gift?

3. If we regard the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of truth, what follows?

4. What should our response be to the great accomplishments of non-believers?

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Baptism - Part 7

Saint Justin Martyr (also Justin the Martyr, Justin of Caesarea, Justin the Philosopher, Latin Iustinus Martyr or Flavius Iustinus) (100–165) was an early Christian apologist and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size.

His First Apology was an early work of Christian apologetics addressed by Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. It is dated to the period 150-155. We note Chapter 61 in this ancient article.

Chapter 61. Christian baptism

I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we had been made new through Christ; lest, if we omit this, we seem to be unfair in the explanation we are making. As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Unless you be born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." John 3:5 Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all. And how those who have sinned and repent shall escape their sins, is declared by Esaias the prophet, as I wrote above; he thus speaks: "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do well; judge the fatherless, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, says the Lord. And though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you refuse and rebel, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." Isaiah 1:16-20

Justin writes that the baptismal candidate is to be taken to a place "where there is water". Early Christians often had their assemblies in houses. Certainly there was water enough in any house to sprinkle or pour. This instruction of Justin would be absolutely unnecessary if sprinkling and pouring were normative. This is clearly an indication that the baptismal candidate was immersed. It would appear irrelevant and unnecessary otherwise.

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.2.8. to 2.2.11.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 2.
MAN NOW DEPRIVED OF FREEDOM OF WILL, AND MISERABLY ENSLAVED.

2.2.8.

Calvin contests somewhat with Augustine, even though he admits that Augustine is right in his basic treatment of the subject. It appears that Augustine makes light of the name "free will" but at the same time holds to an orthodox understanding. Augustine would say that:

a. Without God's Spirit there is no such thing as free will.
b. Free will was lost the moment man sinned.
c. Man's will is lost.
d. Man's lost will can do nothing in the pursuit of righteousness.
e. No will is free other than the will freed by God's grace.
f. Righteousness completed in the flesh is not righteousness.
g. Righteousness completed by the "freed" will of man glorifies God.

In fact Augustine says, "How much soever miserable men presume to plume themselves on free will before they are made free, or on their strength after they are made free, they do not consider that, in the very expression free will, liberty is implied. 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,' (2 Cor. 3:17)."

The ultimate point is this: if we as sinners are aware of the biblical truth that we are slaves to sin, how can a sinner, unaided by the Spirit ever say their will is free?

Again Augustine says it so well: "The will is indeed free, but not freed-free of righteousness, but enslaved to sin . . That man is not free from righteousness save by the choice of his will, and is not made free from sin save by the grace of the Saviour."

2.2.9.

It may appear that Calvin is unkind to all the early writers except Augustine. But having reviewed their works he rightly concludes their own ambiguity when he comments, "At one time they teach, that man having been deprived of the power of free Will must flee to grace alone; at another, they equip or seem to equip him in armour of his own."

This is consistent with my experience. Those who propose free will, being Christians, often reflect inconsistencies, ambiguities in their speech. We cannot hold to total depravity and free will. We cannot hold to being children of wrath and free will. It is simply not tenable. As stated elsewhere the desire to hold on to this abhorrent doctrine is nothing short of pride.

2.2.10.

Calvin is right when he writes, "He who is most deeply abased and alarmed, by the consciousness of his disgrace, nakedness, want, and misery, has made the greatest progress in the knowledge of himself." Further, I would add that he who truly knows himself cannot embrace free will. Proponents of free will are simply displaying the opposite. Their will bound and enslaved to pursue what they do not have. This was the extent of original sin.

"None are admitted to enjoy the blessings of God save those who are pining under a sense of their own poverty."

2.2.11.

Calvin profoundly asserts that the foundation of all virtuous philosophy and biblical Christianity is humility. Of a truth, all mankind can own and take some glory in is that he is of himself a sinner of the worst kind worthy of God's wrath. "When any one knows that he is nothing in himself, and has no help from himself, the weapons within himself are broken, and the war is ended . . . Under the blinding of which he thinks of himself more highly than he ought to think, he may see himself as he really is, by looking into the faithful mirror of Scripture."

Questions to Consider

1. Why is Calvin not impressed with the early writers other than Augustine? How does that fit with Ephesians 4:14?

2. When a man is utterly cast down in himself, what has he gained?

3. What is the problem with a man retaining to himself some of the honor found in "free will"?

4. Who may receive God's blessings?

5. What does Calvin say are the three chief precepts of the Christian religion?

6. In order for our war with God to be over, what must happen?

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Baptism - Part 6

The Shepherd of Hermas (sometimes just called The Shepherd) is a Christian work of the second century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and occasionally considered canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers. The Shepherd had great authority in the second and third centuries. It was cited as Scripture by Irenaeus and Tertullian and was bound with the New Testament in the Codex Sinaiticus, and it was listed between the Acts of the Apostles and the Acts of Paul in the stichometrical list of the Codex Claromontanus. Some early Christians, however, considered the work apocryphal.

The work comprises five visions, twelve mandates, and ten parables. It relies on allegory and pays special attention to the Church, calling the faithful to repent of the sins that have harmed it.

The book was originally written in Rome, in the Greek language, but a Latin translation was made very shortly afterwards. Some say this was done by the original author as a sign of the authenticity of the translation, though others dispute this. Only the Latin version has been preserved in full; of the Greek, the last fifth or so is missing.

The evidence for the place and date of this work are in the language and theology of the work. The reference to Clement of Rome suggests a date between 88 and 97 for at least the historicised setting of the first two visions. Since Paul sent greetings to a Hermas, a Christian of Rome (Romans 16:14), a minority have followed Origen of Alexandria's opinion that he was the author of this religious allegory. However, textual criticism, the nature of the theology, and the author's apparent familiarity with Revelation and other Johannine texts, set the date of composition securely in the 2nd century.

The Shepherd of Hermas
Roberts-Donaldson English Translation

CHAPTER XVI

"Explain to me a little further, sir," I said. "What is it that you desire?" he asked. "Why, sir," I said, "did these stones ascend out of the pit, and be applied to the building of the tower, after having borne these spirits? "They were obliged," he answered, "to ascend through water in order that they might be made alive; for, unless they laid aside the deadness of their life, they could not in any other way enter into the kingdom of God. Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For," he continued, "before a man bears the name of the Son of God s he is dead; but when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they arise alive. And to them, accordingly, was this seal preached, and they made use of it that they might enter into the kingdom of God." "Why, sir," I asked, "did the forty stones also ascend with them out of the pit, having already received the seal?" "Because," he said, "these apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, after falling asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, preached it not only to those who were asleep, but themselves also gave them the seal of the preaching. Accordingly they descended with them into the water, and again ascended. [But these descended alive and rose up again alive; whereas they who had previously fallen asleep descended dead, but rose up again alive. ] By these, then, were they quickened and made to know the name of the Son of God. For this reason also did they ascend with them, and were fitted along with them into the building of the tower, and, untouched by the chisel, were built in along with them. For they slept in righteousness and in great purity, but only they had not this seal. You have accordingly the explanation of these also."

Here the author speaks of "going down into the water" and "coming up" afterward. It can only be too obvious that the phraseology in this 2nd Century document refer to the two activities of immersion: going down and rising up.

Hermas' theology also confirms that baptism typifies the death of one's former life and entering into new life.

Hermas believed in immersion.

Calvin: Institutes Chapers 2.2.4. to 2.2.7.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 2.
MAN NOW DEPRIVED OF FREEDOM OF WILL, AND MISERABLY ENSLAVED.

2.2.4.

Calvin is careful not to brandish Christian writers unfairly. He does think though that many of them drew very near to secular theorists. He suggests that they tried "to reconcile the doctrine of Scripture with the dogmas of philosophy." Undoubtedly that seems to be the role of some authors. He quotes a number of them and their affinity to the doctrine of free will. One quotation that is incredibly contemporary is this: ""Let us bring what is our own, God will supply the rest." How modern is that? God only helps those who help themselves! But what if you are dead and cannot help yourself?

All these writers and proponents of free will have but one goal: to make a defense for humanity. How does Calvin define this odious doctrine of free will? Answer? "It is a power of reason to discern between good and evil; of will, to choose the one or other." "Thomas Aquinas says (Part 1 Quast. 83, Art. 3), that the most congruous definition is to call free will an elective power, combining intelligence and appetite, but inclining more to appetite."

2.2.5. "The schools, however, have adopted a distinction which enumerates three kinds of freedom (see Lombard, lib. 2 Dist. 25); the first, a freedom from necessity; the second, a freedom from sin; and the third, a freedom from misery: the first naturally so inherent in man, that he cannot possibly be deprived of it; while through sin the other two have been lost. I willingly admit this distinction, except in so far as it confounds necessity with compulsion."

2.2.6. Many free will theorists will concede that our will requires the grace of God to help any of us perform righteously. Where Calvin differs is that this grace is given to all without distinction. Indeed the elect through the manifold grace of the New Birth are given what is necessary to choose right.

As the the distinction between the grace of "willing" and the grace of "doing", Calvin shows that there is much confusion over this. Some say (as they do today), "It is free to those who enjoy the faculty of reason to depart from grace, so that the not departing is a reward, and that which cannot be done without the co-operation of the Spirit is imputed as merit to those whose will might have made it otherwise." These opponents say that grace can be resisted and can only be cooperated with.

2.2.7.

Calvin is concerned about the term "free will". He does not want debate over minor issues. He readily accepts, as do we, the truth that man's will is required to be exercised in a voluntary fashion. "Man is said to have free will, not because he has a free choice of good and evil, but because he acts voluntarily, and not by compulsion." Those who hear the term "free will" often "immediately imagine that he is the master of his mind and will in such a sense, that he can of himself incline himself either to good or evil." That is why the term is wrong.

Questions to Consider

1. Does Calvin believe that the church fathers handled the idea of free will scripturally?

2. What was the reason for this?

3. What is necessary before men can do good works truly?

4. What does Calvin think about "contentions about words"?

5. Why then does he reject the words free will so strongly?

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Baptism - Part 5

The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek treatise with some features of an epistle containing twenty-one chapters. Many scholars today believe it was probably written in the years 70 – 132, and addressed to Christian Gentiles. Internal evidence in the letter places it writing after A.D. 70 and before A.D. 132. The main point of the author is to show that the Jews misunderstood the Mosaic Laws because they took it literally and not through the lens of Christ and His Cross. The author believes that the Old Testament foreshadowed the Gospel. He also addresses the question of baptism and whether it also was typified in the Old Testament. Note what the author writes in Barnabas 11:

THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS
Translated by J.B. Lightfoot.

Barnabas 11:8
Ye perceive how He pointed out the water and the cross at the same
time. For this is the meaning; Blessed are they that set their hope
on the cross, and go down into the water; for He speaketh of the
reward at his proper season; then, saith He, I will repay. But now
what saith He? His leaves shall not fall off; He meaneth by this
that every word, which shall come forth from you through your mouth
in faith and love, shall be for the conversion and hope of many.

Barnabas 11:11
This He saith, because we go down into the water laden with sins and
filth, and rise up from it bearing fruit in the heart, resting our
fear and hope on Jesus in the spirit. And whosoever shall eat of
these shall live forever; He meaneth this; whosoever, saith He,
shall hear these things spoken and shall believe, shall live forever.

Notice what the writer says in 11:8 and 11:11 referring to those who "go down into the water". This can only mean immersion.

The author attempts to show that only Christians understand the true meaning of the Scriptures (10.12) and that they are the true and intended heirs of God's covenant. In short, the Epistle of Barnabas is a good and early example of what became the dominant method of interpreting the Bible in the early and medieval church. Attempts for Christians to understand baptism in forms of pouring or even infant baptism are a far cry from interpreting Scripture in a Christian, New Covenant sense. Immersion does that uncompromisingly.

Free Will

Click on Image to Enlarge!

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 1.1.9. to 2.2.3.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 1.
THROUGH THE FALL AND REVOLT OF ADAM, THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE MADE ACCURSED AND DEGENERATE. OF ORIGINAL SIN.

2.1.9

It can be easily shown that the entire being is possessed with sin. Not only did Adam's sensual appetite move him to this transgression, but his corrupted spiritual worship and sinful pride, along with his foolish mentality were all evident. Romans 3 is nothing short of a comprehensive description of "original sin". Also in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes:

"So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind." (Ephesians 4:17-23, NASB95)

Such sin demands a new nature. That is man's plight.

2.1.10.

And in all this we cannot blame God for our sinful acts. "The blame of our ruin rests with our own carnality, not with God, its only cause being our degeneracy from our original condition."

Ecclesiastes 7:29 reminds us: "Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices."

2.1.11.

"We say, then, that man is corrupted by a natural viciousness, but not by one which proceeded from nature." Man is naturally corrupt but he did not assume his sinfulness by nature.

CHAPTER 2.
MAN NOW DEPRIVED OF FREEDOM OF WILL, AND MISERABLY ENSLAVED.

2.2.1.

Why is it important for the Christian to understand 'original sin'? Answer? "Having seen that the dominion of sin, ever since the first man was brought under it, not only extends to the whole race, but has complete possession of every soul . . . we have been deprived of all liberty . . .." Our sinfulness as people causes us to be unable to properly see our own sinfulness. Another point that Calvin makes as we enter the subject of the will is that we always remember that "man cannot arrogate any thing, however minute, to himself, without robbing God of his honour."

Calvin's approach is to show that mankind has no good within himself and then show us how one aspires to the goodness he does not have. His approach is highly revealing. If you believe that you have certain goodness in you then you will never aspire to what you think you possess. Our ultimate failure was not to glorify God through obedient worship, we should not continue the foolishness by not admitting our absolute bankruptcy of soul.

Augustine is quoted as saying that "free will is more destroyed than established by its defenders." In defending our free will we again admit our original sin through pride.

2.2.2.

To agree that the essence of a man resides in his mind or heart, how far does it's influence extend? The opponents of the day tended to exalt reason as that which governs the individual. They thought of the will as an intermediate agent that is also governed by informed reason.

2.2.3.

But how hard is it to ensure that reason reigns? In any case the summary of those who adopt free will is to say that: "human reason is sufficient for right government; that the will, which is inferior to it, may indeed be solicited to evil by sense, but having a free choice, there is nothing to prevent it from following reason as its guide in all things." This is incredibly insightful. These men are not saying that their will is free, but they are saying that their minds are sovereign. What idolatry! What blasphemy!

Questions to Consider

1. How far does original sin extend in a man?

2. In what way is sin unnatural?

3. In what way is sin natural?

4. Do you agree or disagree with Augustine when he said that "free will is more destroyed than established by its defenders"?

Baptism - Part 4

What is the Didache? The Didache which in Greek means Teaching; and is the common name of a brief early Christian treatise dated around 100 A.D. The text, parts of which may have constituted the first written catechism, has three main sections dealing with Christian lessons, rituals such as baptism and Eucharist, and Church organization. It has never really been treated as part of the New Testament, although there is some speculation that it was written before parts of the New Testament were completed.

The book contains much that every Christian will recognize.

* It begins with the commandments to return good for evil, to turn the other cheek, and to forgive.

* The Lord's Prayer is the model for Christian prayer, and it is assumed that the reader already knows it from a written source.

* The Lord's Table is the principal act of worship. The words are similar to today's.

* Christians are expected to contribute financially, but there is no strict standard.

* Worship is on "The Lord's Day" (i.e., Sunday).

* The community expects the world as we know it to end supernaturally and begin a new kind of human history. The faithful will be saved, evidently by Christ (here called "the rock of offense").

"The Didache" is a summary of standards for Christian behavior. The intended audience is people who were not from Jewish backgrounds. The book is very simple, like a class lecture handout. It is not a literary production like the books of the New Testament. It reflects the controversies of the apostolic age. The Greek text is from the Codex Heirosolymitanus, which is itself dated 1056. It was discovered in 1875 in Constantinople in the library of the patriarch of Jerusalem by Philotheos Bryennios, the Greek Orthodox archbishop of Nicomedia. A few fragments had been known previously.

For our concerns, the Didache also gives us clear insight into how the early church understood baptism. In Section 7 we can read the English translation:

Chapter 7. Concerning Baptism.

"And concerning baptism, baptize this way: Having first said all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in living water. But if you have no living water, baptize into other water; and if you cannot do so in cold water, do so in warm. But if you have neither, pour out water three times upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism let the baptizer fast, and the baptized, and whoever else can; but you shall order the baptized to fast one or two days before."

We note that baptism is administered in the Name of the Triune God "in living water". This is understood as running water -- a river. It also gives liberty. "If you have no living water" the Didache allows for baptism in cold water or if that is not available: warm water. There is certainly an implication that one is to go into water whether it be living water or whether it be standing water such as a pool or cistern. There is an allowance for pouring or affusion but it is in the event that there is neither running water or standing water. This gives us a clear view that the early church must have had.

Later in the document we see that the early church viewed baptism as an essential pre-requisite to being recognized as a member of Christ's Body. For example:

Chapter 9. The Eucharist.

"But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, 'Give not that which is holy to the dogs.'"

What does the Didache teach about baptism? Answer?

Membership is by baptism, using the same formula as today. Water must be used. Immersion is best. Pouring is sometimes permissible.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Living For God's Glory - Joel R. Beeke

Pg. 41

"To be Reformed, then, is to be concerned with the complete character of the Creator-creature relationship. It is to view all of life coram Deo, that is, lived before the face of God. As Warfield wrote: "The Calvinist is the man who sees God: God in nature, God in history, God in grace. Everywhere he sees God in His mighty stepping, everywhere he feels the working of His mighty arm, the throbbing of His mighty heart. The Calvinist is the man who sees God behind all phenomena and in all that occurs recognizes the hand of God, working out His will. [The Calvinist] makes the attitude of the soul to God in prayer its permanent attitude in all its life activities; [he] casts himself on the grace of God alone, excluding every trace of dependence on self from the whole work of his salvation."

You can purchase "Living For God's Glory" at https://store.ligonier.org/product.asp?idDept=B&idCategory=TH&idProduct=LIV03BH

Calvin: Institutes Chapters 2.1.4. to 2.1.8.

INSTITUTES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION

By
John Calvin

BOOK SECOND.

OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE REDEEMER,
IN CHRIST, AS FIRST MANIFESTED
TO THE FATHERS, UNDER THE LAW, AND
THEREAFTER TO US UNDER THE GOSPEL.

CHAPTER 1.
THROUGH THE FALL AND REVOLT OF ADAM, THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE MADE ACCURSED AND DEGENERATE. OF ORIGINAL SIN.

2.1.4.

God's displeasure toward Adam and Eve must have been based on conditions that are far more important that which fruit to eat and which to not eat. It was far more than some sensual issue. No, as Calvin says, "The prohibition to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a trial of obedience, that Adam, by observing it, might prove his willing submission to the command of God." God intent appears to keep Adam content within the parameters of God's will and to do so keep him within everlasting life and to avoid everlasting death. Calvin quotes Augustine who sums it up this way: "Pride was the beginning of all evil, because, had not man's ambition carried him higher than he was permitted, he might have continued in his first estate."

This prideful disobedience was essentially a revolt against God brought to pass because man believed a lie. "Hence infidelity was at the root of the revolt." From this evil came selfish ambition, pride and ingratitude.

"The strongest curb to keep all his affections under due restraint, would have been the belief that nothing was better than to cultivate righteousness by obeying the commands of God, and that the highest possible felicity was to be loved by him."

2.1.5.

The curse of Adam's sin has rightfully befallen all creation including all his offspring. "This is the hereditary corruption to which early Christian writers gave the name of Original Sin, meaning by the term the depravation of a nature formerly good and pure." One makes all guilty. This is the primary failure of Pelagianism and modern-day Arminianism. All men are through and through guilty. "All of us, therefore, descending from an impure seed, come into the world tainted with the contagion of sin."

The dilemma we all face is this as found in Job 14:4, "Who can make the clean out of the unclean?"

2.1.6.

"We thus see that the impurity of parents is transmitted to their children, so that all, without exception, are originally depraved." Romans 5:19-20,

"19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. 20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

Just as Adam ruined all of us, so by God's great mercy and grace we can be restored. This restoration can only occur through a new creation -- a new birth into a new race of people whose root and progenitor is the Last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. "Therefore the gate of life is closed against all until they have been regenerated."

2.1.7.

How this sin and guilt is transmitted, whether it be by the soul or not, one cannot be sure. But we can be sure that "when he [Adam] was divested, his nature was left naked and destitute that he having been defiled by sin, the pollution extends to all his seed." From corrupt roots, corrupt branches spring out. This is by sovereign decree of God that Adam's sin is imputed to all of his children. Even godly parents give birth to unregenerate sinners. "Guilt is from nature, whereas sanctification is from supernatural grace."

2.1.8.

So we now come to a definition of this term previously mentioned as "original sin". "Original sin, then, may be defined a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all the parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which in Scripture are termed works of the flesh." We must note that this condition makes us completely condemned before God and deserving of only wrath. We must also note that we are personally guilty even though Adam's sin is passed to us. A child in the womb is individually and personally guilty before God. "Even infants bringing their condemnation with them from their mother's womb, suffer not for another's, but for their own defect. For although they have not yet produced the fruits of their own unrighteousness, they have the seed implanted in them." Also, this sin continues to progress giving rise to more fruits of unrighteousness. "For our nature is not only utterly devoid of goodness, but so prolific in all kinds of evil, that it can never be idle."

"Everything which is in man, from the intellect to the will, from the soul even to the flesh, is defiled and pervaded with this concupiscence [1]; or, to express it more briefly, that the whole man is in himself nothing else than concupiscence."

Questions to Consider

1. Was Adam's sin simply gluttony?

2. When you and I sin, what is the root definition of that sin?

3. When are children deemed condemned before God?

_____________________________________________

[1] Concupiscence: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin concupiscentia, from Latin concupiscent-, concupiscens, present participle of concupiscere to desire ardently, from com- + cupere to desire

Baptism - Part 3

As James Renihan writes, in the Foreward to this excellent work: Baptism in the Early Church, "In theological debate, history should never be the final judge; that place is reserved for Scripture. History may, however make a significant contribution to the discussion . . ..

The authors, Professors Hendrick F. Stander & Johannes P. Louw are recognized authorities in the field of patristic studies. Professor Stander is currently head of Greek at the Department of Ancient Languages at the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and has written over 400 books and articles. Professor Louw was also head of Greek at the University of Pretoria until his retirement and has published around 120 articles an books. Neither of these authors are baptists. They are Presbyterian by conviction -- paedobaptists.

The practice of baptism remains a hotly debated issue in the modern church and many scholars have used early church practice as evidence for their own views. As a result of misleading accounts gleaned from modern secondary works, many Christians have been left confused and with unanswered questions on the subject. Responding to the need for Christians to read the primary texts for themselves, the authors have compiled a valuable source book of the writings, art and tombstone inscriptions of the Church Fathers which is objective, scholarly and accessible to all.

"The oldest writings emphasizes these basic notions by focusing on the relevance of water and the cross of Christ . . . Going down into the baptismal water symbolized participation in the death of Christ on the cross and performed, at the same time, a washing away of sins, so that the person emerging from the water is performatively cleansed and regenerated symbolically, by the sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ." (Page 180-181)

The evidence for the first three centuries of the Christian Church is that Believers practiced baptism by immersion. In future postings I will take you to some literature from the earlier centuries to support that.