Reformed Ruminations

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

truths I have gleaned from the treasure trove of Reformed theology

Some of the many crucial truths I have gleaned from the vast treasure trove of Reformed theology (to mix metaphors) are:

1. that God does not merely provide an opportunity for sinners to be saved, but He actually saves sinners, the three Persons of the Godhead concurring in the work of salvation - the Father electing, the Son redeeming, and the Holy Spirit applying redemption to the elect,

2. that nevertheless, the offer of the gospel is designed by God to be extended to sinners as sinners (without regard to whether or not they are elect), and that therefore all human beings without exception have a warrant to trust in Christ for their salvation.

3. that our justification is by sovereign grace alone, appropriated by faith alone, and judicially grounded on the finished work of Christ alone,

4. that God's revelation is covenantally structured, and that there are two types of covenants: law covenants and promise covenants,

5. that Christ not only endured the curse of God's wrath for our sins, but also merited our entitlement to heaven through His perfect obedience to God's Law,

6. that Christ reigns over the eternal Kingdom of God by His word and Spirit, but over the temporal kingdom of man by His providence,

7. that the nation of Israel was both a "republication" of the works-based economy that God had established with our first parents in the garden of Eden, and a typological prefiguration of the eternal Kingdom of Christ,

8. that Christ, as our federal Head who was "born under the Law" and perfectly fulfilled it, is both the Second Adam and the true Israel,

9. that the Old Testament account of Israel's exile and the prophetic promises of restoration typologically prefigure the sufferings and glory of Christ,

10. that while the substance of the covenant of grace extends to the elect only (the invisible church), its historical administration embraces all who profess the true religion and their children (the visible church), and that therefore, all these ought to receive the covenant sign (circumcision from Abraham to Christ; baptism after).

11. that biblical eschatology has an "already/not yet" structure,

12. that the Christian life is lived "in exile" and "in the wilderness" - in anticipation of our full possession of the promised heavenly inheritance,

13. that God's Kingdom is built and extended through the ministry of word and sacrament, not through any sort of attempt to "Christianize society,"

14. that in this age of inaugurated eschatology (between Christ's two advents), Christians ought to cooperate with unbelievers to build the temporal city of man, and

15. that only when Christ returns to judge the city of man and deliver His own will His Kingdom take on a geopolitical dimension (like Old Testament Israel) and extend over the whole (new) earth.

I could go on, but perhaps this list has grown long enough for the time being ... I may attempt to unpack some of this in future posts.

"about me"

Following is my facebook bio (mentioned in the initial post) that I couldn't reduce enough to fit the facebook word count. I will copy and paste it "as is," and then revise and expand it some (if I can figure out how) since I now have apparently endless freedom to do so. I am breaking it up into two posts, the second of which is essentially a list of some of the many really important things I have learned from Reformed thinkers.

My heritage is Jewish; my upbringing was liberal Jewish, but I was a practical atheist until I experienced a radical conversion to Christianity at the age of 27. A strong influence had been the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. I spent the next 15 years as basically your garden variety crypto-Arminian, anti-creedal, pietistic, baptistic, legalistic, individualistic, biblicist, activist, dispensationlist, culture warring American evangelical (and now I have to catch my breath ...).

Roughly four years ago, I experienced another radical conversion - to Reformed Christianity. I had been influenced by the likes of J.I. Packer, John Piper, and Francis Schaeffer - but the real revolution occurred for me through reading John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion (which is far and away the most pastoral and helpful work on the Christian life I have ever read). I followed this with readings from Martin Luther (On the Bondage of the Will), Jonathan Edwards (The Freedom of the Will, etc.), the Puritans and Reformed scholastics, the Reformed confessions, and contemporary Reformed thinkers.

Years ago, I aspired to be an illustrator, and I have a BFA in Illustration from Art Center College of Design. I work with a Christian non-profit organization (which I will refrain from naming here for the time being out of respect for the possibility that my co-workers may not want to be associated with some of the ideas expressed on this blog) that I have been involved with almost since becoming a Christian. Along the way, I got an MA in Intercultural Studies (missiology) from the Fuller School of World Mission. I am a member of an Orthodox Presbyterian church.

initial post ...

This blog is resulting from the fact that I exceeded the word limitations on facebook in the "about me" section. I got all excited about discussing my "conversion" from broad evangelicalism to the Reformed faith. Also, some friends encouraged me (so if this doesn't work out, I have people I can blame!). I have strong convictions and hope I can be forthright and yet not offend (no doubt a naive hope). I must say I am a bit embarrassed, and fear that this will turn out to be a feeble (and failed?) attempt to add to the world of Reformed blogdom. I'm not sure yet whether I'm ready for this, and am experiencing some fear and trepidation, but we shall see ...

Choice Quotes

The Apostle Paul on justification sola fide:

"But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness."
—Paul, Romans 4:5

The Apostle Paul on the contrasting federal headships of Adam and Christ:

"But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 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."
—Paul, Romans 5:15-19

Wilhelmus a Brakel on the importance of the doctrine of the covenant of works:

"We shall now speak of Adam as being in covenant with God—the covenant of works. Acquaintance with this covenant is of the greatest importance, for whoever errs here or denies the covenant of works, will not understand the covenant of grace, and will readily err concerning the mediatorship of the Lord Jesus. Such a person will very readily deny that Christ by His active obedience has merited a right to eternal life for the elect. This is to be observed with several parties who, because they err concerning the covenant of grace, also deny the covenant of works. Conversely, whoever denies the covenant of works, must rightly be suspected to be in error concerning the covenant of grace as well."
—Wilhelmus a Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service

Wilhelmus a Brakel on the two aspects of Christ's obedience:

"The active obedience of Christ in subjecting Himself under, and fulfilling, the law is not only a necessary requisite for Him who would be Mediator (all of which is true for Christ), but this active righteousness of Christ is a part of His satisfaction for His own. As He delivered them from all guilt and punishment by His passion, by His active obedience, fulfilling the law on their behalf, He has also merited a right unto eternal life for them. These two aspects coalesce in Christ and neither may nor can be separated from each other. Christ has merited salvation atoningly and has made atonement meritoriously. Likewise the elect, in being delivered from guilt and punishment, receive a right to eternal life, and in receiving that right are delivered from guilt and punishment. Nevertheless these two aspects of His humiliation—the atonement for guilt and punishment, and the meriting of eternal life—are not identical, but essentially differ from each other. The active and passive obedience of Christ are equally beneficial to the elect."
—Wilhelmus a Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service

C.H. Spurgeon on Calvinism:

“I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor.”
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon, A Defense of Calvinism

C.H. Spurgeon responding to the accusation that Calvinism leads to licentiousness:

“I ask the man who dares to say that Calvinism is a licentious religion, what he thinks of the character of Augustine, or Calvin, or Whitefield, who in successive ages were the great exponents of the system of grace; or what will he say of the Puritans, whose works are full of them? Had a man been an Arminian in those days, he would have been accounted the vilest heretic breathing, but now we are looked upon as the heretics, and they as the orthodox. … No doctrine is so calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God. Those who have called it ‘a licentious doctrine’ did not know anything at all about it. Poor ignorant things, they little knew that their own vile stuff was the most licentious doctrine under Heaven. If they knew the grace of God in truth, they would soon see that there was no preservative from lying like a knowledge that we are elect of God from the foundation of the world. There is nothing like a belief in my eternal perseverance, and the immutability of my Father’s affection, which can keep me near to Him from a motive of simple gratitude. … Of all men, those have the most disinterested piety, the sublimest reverence, the most ardent devotion, who believe that they are saved by grace, without works, through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God."
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon, A Defense of Calvinism

John Calvin on effectual calling:

"[I]n vain were light offered to the blind, did not that Spirit of understanding open the intellectual eye; so that he himself may be properly termed the key by which the treasures of the heavenly kingdom are unlocked, and his illumination, the eye of the mind by which we are enabled to see: hence Paul so highly commends the ministry of the Spirit (2 Cor. 3: 6), since teachers would cry aloud to no purpose, did not Christ, the internal teacher, by means of his Spirit, draw to himself those who are given him of the Father."
—John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 3.1.4

Theodore Beza on the distinction between the Law and the Gospel:

"[T]he Law and the Gospel are not contrary in that which concerns the essence of the righteousness with which we must be clothed in order to be accepted before God and to participate in eternal life; but they are contrary with regard to the means of having this righteousness. For the Law justly seeks in us this righteousness; it has no regard to what we can do but to what we ought to do (Gal 3:12). Man, indeed, by his own fault alone, has made himself unable to pay; nevertheless, he does not cease to be a debtor even if he is unable to pay. And consequently, the Law does us no wrong in demanding from us that which we owe, although we cannot pay it. But the Gospel, softening this righteous rigour as with the honey of God's mercy, teaches us to pay by Him who has made Himself our Surety, who has put Himself, I say, in our place and paid our debt, as principal debtor, and to the last farthing (Col. 2:13,14). So that the rigour of the Law which made us tremble in ourselves and struck us down completely, now confirms us and accepts us in Jesus Christ. For, since eternal life is due to those who have obeyed the Law perfectly, and Jesus Christ has fulfilled all righteousness in the name of those who should believe in Him and take hold of Him by faith (1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9), it follows that, even according to the rigour of the Law, salvation cannot fail those who, by faith, have become united and incorporated with Jesus Christ."
—Theodore Beza, The Christian Faith

Ebenezer Erskine on the danger of misconstruing the role of faith in the act of justification:

"Others again, will pretend to renounce all their works and duties, and own, with their mouths, that it is by faith in Christ only that they hope to be accepted: but though they own this with their mouth, yet still their hearts cleave fast to a covenant of works; they were never 'through the law, dead to the law'; and when nothing else will do, they will make their own act of believing the righteousness on which they lean for acceptance; which is still a seeking righteousness in themselves: whereas, if ever we be justified before God, we must have it in the Lord Jesus, saying, 'In him' will we 'be justified,' and 'in him alone' will we 'glory.' Faith carries the soul quite out of itself; yea, faith renounces its own act in the point of justification. All these, and many other rooms and lying refuges, have the devil and our own hearts devised, to lead us off from Christ. But, O sirs, believe it, these are but imaginary sanctuaries, and the hail will sweep them away. Nothing but the doing and dying of the Surety, apprehended by faith, will ever exalt you into favour and fellowship with God, or acquit you from the curse and condemnation of the broken law."
—Ebenezer Erskine, sermon on Psalm 89:16 entitled "The Believer Exalted in Imputed Righteousness"

Meredith G. Kline on the works principle in the creational covenant:

"A principle of works—do this and live—governed the attainment of the consummation-kingdom proferred in the blessing sanction of the creational covenant. Heaven must be earned. According to the terms stipulated by the Creator it would be on the ground of man’s faithful completion of the work of probation that he would be entitled to enter the Sabbath rest. If Adam obediently performed the assignment signified by the probation tree, he would receive, as a matter of pure and simple justice, the reward symbolized by the tree of life. That is, successful probation would be meritorious. With good reason then covenant theology has identified this probation arrangement as a covenant of works, thereby setting it in sharp contrast to the Covenant of Grace."
—Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue, p. 107

Meredith G. Kline on the active obedience of Christ:

"The active obedience of Jesus is his fulfilling the demands of the covenant probation. By the passive obedience of his atoning sacrifice he secures for us the forgiveness of sins. But he does more than clear the slate and reinstate us in Adam's original condition, still facing probation and able to fail. Jesus, the Second Adam, accomplishes the probationary assignment of overcoming the Devil, and by performing this one decisive act of righteousness he earns for us God's promised reward. By this achievement of active obedience he merits for us a position beyond probation, secure forever in God's love and the prospect of God's eternal home."
—Meredith G. Kline, Covenant Theology Under Attack

Meredith G. Kline on the importance of defining grace as demerited favor:

"Theologically it is of the greatest importance to recognize that the idea of demerit is an essential element in the definition of grace. In its proper theological sense as the opposite of law-works, grace is more than unmerited favor. That is, divine grace directs itself not merely to the absence of merit but to the presence of demerit. It addresses and overcomes violation of divine commandment. It is a granting of blessing, as an act of mercy, in spite of previous covenant breaking by which man has forfeited all claims to participation in the kingdom and has incurred God’s disfavor and righteous wrath. It bestows the good offered in the covenant’s blessing sanctions rather than the evil of the threatened curse even though man has done evil rather than good in terms of the covenant stipulations."
—Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue, p. 113

Meredith G. Kline on the works principle in the Mosaic economy:

"[C]ontradicting the contention that no divine covenants have ever been governed by the works principle is the irrefutable biblical evidence that the Mosaic economy, while an administration of grace on its fundamental level of concern with the eternal salvation of the individual, was at the same time on its temporary, typological kingdom level informed by the principle of works. Thus, for example, the apostle Paul in Romans 10:4ff. and Galatians 3:10ff. (cf. Rom 9:32) contrasts the old order of the law with the gospel order of grace and faith, identifying the old covenant as one of bondage, condemnation, and death (cf. 2 Cor 3:6-9; Gal 4:24-26). The old covenant was law, the opposite of grace-faith, and in the postlapsarian world that meant it would turn out to be an administration of condemnation as a consequence of sinful Israel’s failure to maintain the necessary meritorious obedience. Had the old typological kingdom been secured by sovereign grace in Christ, Israel would not have lost her national election. A satisfactory explanation of Israel’s fall demands works, not grace, as the controlling administrative principle."
—Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue, p. 109

Meredith G. Kline on the works principle as it governed Israel's retention of the promised land:

"What we have found then is that once the typological kingdom was inaugurated under the Mosaic Covenant, Israel’s retention of it was governed by a principle of works applied on a national scale. The standard of judgment in this national probation was one of typological legibility, that is, the message must remain reasonably readable that enjoyment of the felicity of God’s holy kingdom goes hand in hand with righteousness. Without holiness we do not see God. But if the ground of Israel’s tenure in Canaan was their covenant obedience, their election to receive the typological kingdom in the first place was emphatically not based on any merit of theirs (cf. Deut 9:5,6). Their original reception of this kingdom, as well as their restoration to it after the loss of their national election in Babylonian exile, is repeatedly attributed to God’s remembrance of his promissory commitments of grace to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exod 2:24; 3:6ff.; 6:2ff.; 32:13; Deut 9:27; 10:15; Lev 26:42), pointing to the coming Messiah and the new covenant."
—Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue, p. 323

Meredith G. Kline on the provisional nature of the old covenant kingdom of Israel:

"According to God’s promise rightly understood, the old covenant kingdom was only provisional. The sovereignty of God’s promise assured the development of the Abraham-Isaac-Jacob line into the people Israel who should experience the national election to become the holy kingdom in the promised land and so continue until Christ should come of them as to the flesh. But there was no guarantee of an unbroken continuance of this privileged national status within the premessianic period nor of a harmonious transition to the messianic, antitypical phase of the kingdom. For in the old covenant, which articulated the national election, it was stipulated that tenure in the enjoyment of the theocratic kingdom was predicated on national fidelity to the Lord. In this restricted sense and sphere a principle of works was introduced under the law economy. Unlike the individual election, which was purely a matter of God’s grace in Christ, the surety, the national election could, therefore, be lost. Or, coming at the matter from the opposite direction, the very fact that God finally repudiated the elect nation by desolating judgment compels us to recognize that a principle of works had been injected into the typological phase of fulfillment under the old covenant."
—Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue, p. 306

Reformed Ruminations

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

truths I have gleaned from the treasure trove of Reformed theology

"about me"

initial post ...

About Me

Blog Archive

Blogroll

Websites

Online Essays

Apologetics

Biblical Theology

Christ and Culture

Christian Life

Christology

Covenant Theology

Doctrine

Ecclesiology

Eschatology

Heresies

Justification

Law-Gospel Distinction

Ministry

Soteriology

Worship

Online Books

Reformed Confessions and Catechisms

Choice Quotes