tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61587675340240273422024-03-14T05:13:30.654+08:00Underdog TheologyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.comBlogger548125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-87988936886104068662018-04-30T12:16:00.001+08:002018-04-30T12:18:05.008+08:00Brant Hansen and Underdog Theology<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>I like Brant Hansen because he likes <i>underdog theology</i>.<br><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-31387919016891460532016-06-15T18:06:00.000+08:002016-06-15T18:08:24.450+08:00Kevin Giles vs. Fred Sanders on Eternal Subordination<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9LQIk7asA_w/V2EnFNe1J2I/AAAAAAAAEeo/iS4cxdCBawojt-NuiFKDl2ROqyUjlfrxQCLcB/s1600/gilessanders.jpg" /></div><br />
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The ff. are the 7 points (in his own words) that <b>Kevin Giles</b> made for rejecting any appeal to the immanent Trinity as the basis for either <i>complementarianism</i> or <i>egalitarianism</i>:<br />
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1.) The idea that the trinity prescribes human relations on earth is a very modern idea without historical precedence.<br />
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2.) The idea that the divine life in heaven prescribes human life and relations on earth is implausible. Where, we must ask, does God's perfect threefold relationship in heaven prescribe fallen human relations on earth? Nowhere in Scripture are we told to imitate divine, heavenly relations on earth. There is no biblical warrant for this idea whatsoever. Imitate Jesus? Yes. Imitate God's threefold relations in heaven? No.<br />
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3.) Specifically in regard to the man-woman relationship, to argue that the threefold divine relations in heaven prescribe the twofold man-woman relationship on earth, I think, is illogical.<br />
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4.) 1 Cor. 11:3 offers no convincing basis for this appeal to the Trinity.<br />
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5.) The idea of the Trinity speaks of the Father ruling over the Son is a denial of the full divinity of the Son and the unqualified lordship of Christ.<br />
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6.) To argue that the Son's eternal and necessary functional subordination does not imply ontological subordination is unconvincing.<br />
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7.) The idea of the Son as eternally subordinated to the Father is rejected by most contemporary Trinitarian scholars.</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-48676625447327674102016-06-14T19:31:00.000+08:002016-06-14T19:32:55.359+08:00Kevin Giles Weighs In on the EFS Debate—From 10 Years Ago!<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q1vZhqZj9vc/V1_qHa8wHLI/AAAAAAAAEeY/jAtsvIRBYUUNYwo0ZICD_7DaaKdBoBw5wCLcB/s1600/kevingiles.jpg" /></div><br />
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Click: <a href="http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/2008-4_323.pdf" target="_new"><b>The Evangelical Theological Society and the Doctrine of the Trinity</b></a><br />
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<center><embed border="1" height="760" src="http://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/2008-4_323.pdf" width="540"></embed></center></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-30507656438235643282016-05-23T13:41:00.000+08:002016-05-23T13:54:51.829+08:00Sin Is Undermining Christ as the Apple of the Father's Eye<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="211" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-peUnFW22tAc/V0KXW0ValgI/AAAAAAAAEeI/-np4QDM13TkF1bKKucJUc9kX4DYhoyY8ACLcB/s320/fatherson.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
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God is love. He does not possess love, but love is essentially externalized from Him. This externalization of love from the Father is the eternal generation of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Eternal Son of God. The Eternal Son of God is loved by the Father from all eternity. All <i>ad intra</i> and <i>ad extra</i> acts of the Father are loving acts towards the Son. All creation was made for the Son.<br />
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I believe it was this state of belovedness—this <i>glory</i>—of the Son that incited Satan's sin. Satan desired the glory of the Eternal Son of God as the apple of the Father's eye for himself. He coveted. He was proud enough to believe that he deserved it.<br />
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In man, sin is of a similar nature. Pride is widely regarded as the mother sin and the second table of the Decalogue reducible to the sin of covetousness. When Adam sinned, his disobedience was basically a refusal to have the image of the Eternal Son of God glorified in him. He wanted glory for himself.<br />
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The Father's wrath against sin is perhaps analogous to a human father's passionate displeasure towards all affronts to his child. The human father is considered a good father if he safeguards the well-being of his child. Remarkably, the archetypal Father safeguarded the Son's glory—His place of esteem—through the plan of redemption.<br />
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While Satan and sinful man were scrambling to get glory for themselves, Christ <i>"who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:6-11)</i>.<br />
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The irony of pouring wrath upon the Son if such wrath is predicated upon dishonoring Him is apparent. However, it is ultimately the glory of the Father in the Son that is at stake, and it is embedded in the incomprehensible love and wisdom of the Father in the Covenant of Redemption to redeem His glory in the Son through the humility of the incarnate Son's atoning work. And this pattern is replicated in every child of God. To glorify the Father in the glorification of His Son though humility is the <i>telos</i> of every human being—in fact, of all creation.<br />
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<i>"Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." (Ps. 2:12)</i><br />
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Get in league with the Boss' Son. Your eternal well-being depends on it.</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-72563339936737724702016-05-19T16:14:00.001+08:002016-05-19T16:40:44.753+08:00The Greater Grievance<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="257" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RzvqXBBDKH4/Vz11puhzS-I/AAAAAAAAEd4/HDP5ODIjPlwpDn8Kq795wvYH5n-0_91PgCLcB/s320/holy-spirit-1.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
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It is the Holy Spirit's work to convict of sin and apply comfort. And the Christian <i>can</i> resist these operations. But if it has become somewhat hipster-fashionable to wallow in the mire of despair, as if it somehow speaks of a deeper sort of piety, then it must be said that the latter offense is more grievous than the former.<br />
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In "Faith Seeking Assurance", Anthony Burgess writes:<br />
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<blockquote>It is a great sin to rebel against God’s Spirit, whether in the conviction of sin and duty or as comfort to counteract our doubt and distrust. Yes, the latter is a greater sin, for though the Spirit of God convinces and reproves us, yet its particular operation is to convince us of our adoption, thereby enabling us to call God 'Abba, Father.' Therefore, when we peevishly refuse the Spirit’s work within us, we do in a most eminent manner oppose the Spirit in His greatest glory.</blockquote><br />
The greater work of the Spirit is <i>positive</i>, i.e., as the Great Comforter of Christ's people. Therefore, to oppose Him in His greater work is the greater offense.<br />
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Far from breeding complacency, receiving the Spirit's comfort is actually the sharpest and most potent flesh-mortifying sword in the Christian's arsenal as it implies that the Christian has looked upon Christ in faith and has been ravished by His beauty and thus satisfied. Two opposing affections cannot comingle in the human heart, and therefore the Spirit's comfort is Christ loved and sin loathed—and sin loathed is sin mortified.<br />
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Mourn sin and look to Christ, look to Christ and then rejoice!</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-68625267256908960262016-05-18T15:13:00.000+08:002016-05-18T16:52:48.904+08:00The Doctrine of the Beatific Vision—Owen's Greatest Contribution<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d9aq3lzylmQ/VzwVbBHY-TI/AAAAAAAAEdo/zOw-LhV6Jj4XkuW5QTaVwaQfJyIJCgRAACLcB/s320/vision.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
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My favorite Avenger is the character called "The Vision." In the movie adaptation of the hit comic book series, the Vision was portrayed as being the possessor of the "mind stone", one of the Infinity gems that are the said to be the receptacles of all the power that is in the universe—and the object of Thanos' covetous inclinations. This makes the Vision very special indeed. But while he can do a lot of cool stuff—like alter his density to intangibility or diamond-hardness—this is not why I like him. I like him because he reminds me of John Owen's most important theological contribution (at least in reference to my own appreciation of it and its implications)—<i>the doctrine of the beatific vision</i>.<br />
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To be sure, John Owen was not the first to articulate this doctrine. It was the great Thomas Aquinas who gave prominence to the doctrine and Owen owes much of his thought on the subject to the former. However, Owen did in fact improve upon Aquinas' take on the BV. In a nutshell, Aquinas' notion of the BV consists in it being the human being's intellectual fruition as pertaining to the knowledge of God. As image-bearers, we have the capacity to know God and this knowing, maximally heightened as creaturely possible, will be our blessedness in glory. For Aquinas, the BV is still mediated by Christ through the Spirit.<br />
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While Owen does not particularly disagree with this, he extends, as it were, Aquinas' formulation and grounds the BV on Christ Himself as the object of this vision. When Aquinas seemingly gives Christ a <i>utilitarian</i> function in the BV, Owen makes Christ both the mediator and the essence of the BV. We behold God in the face of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. The saint's blessedness in glory, according to Owen, will be in marveling at and enjoying God's greatest work, the hypostatic union. And it gets better.<br />
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Francis Turretin, along with Aquinas, does not give the physical senses, even though glorified, any place in the BV, but Owen includes the physical sight of Christ as part of our blessedness. In other words, not only will we enjoy the <i>divinity</i> of Christ in heaven but His <i>humanity</i> as well.<br />
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In terms of the importance of the doctrine of the beatific vision for the Christian life this side of glory, Owen gives it the paramount place. He writes the ff. in "The Glory of Christ" (the last book he ever wrote):<br />
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<blockquote>No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight hereafter, who does not in some measure behold it by faith here in this world. Grace is a necessary preparation for glory, and faith for sight. Where the subject (the soul) is not previously seasoned with grace and faith, it is not capable of glory or vision. Nay, persons not disposed hereby unto it cannot desire it, whatever they pretend; they only deceive their own souls in supposing that so they do. Most men will say with confidence, living and dying, that they desire to be with Christ, and to behold his glory; but they can give no reason why they should desire any such thing, -- only they think it somewhat that is better than to be in that evil condition which otherwise they must be cast into for ever, when they can be here no more. If a man pretend himself to be enamoured on, or greatly to desire, what he never saw, nor was ever represented unto him, he does but dote on his own imaginations. And the pretended desires of many to behold the glory of Christ in heaven, who have no view of it by faith whilst they are here in this world, are nothing but self-deceiving imaginations.</blockquote><br />
We behold Christ by faith now through the means of grace and we shall behold Him by sight immediately in glory thereafter.<br />
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Looking to Christ by faith is an outflow of Spirit-regenerated and Spirit-enflamed affections. If we hunger and thirst for Him now and love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we shall surely be satisfied with being with Him and seeing Him face-to-face in glory for we have proven to be His friends while here on earth.<br />
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Click on the ff. for a very good lecture by <b>Suzanne McDonald</b> (contributor to <i>The Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen's Theology</i>, where she discusses the BV) on Owen's doctrine of the beatific vision: <a href="http://www.calvin.edu/meeter/publications/lectures/2008_mcdonald_lecture.htm" target="_new"><b>"Beholding God's Glory: John Owen and the 'Reforming' of the Beatific Vision"</b></a><br />
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Click on the ff. for quotes that can be used a devotional aids from Owen's "The Glory of Christ": <a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2015/10/highlights-of-john-owens-glory-of_27.html#more" target="_new"><b>Highlights of John Owen's "The Glory of Christ"</b></a></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-20537878902283444402015-11-25T18:09:00.000+08:002015-11-25T18:09:22.993+08:00The Unqualified Solomon?<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kesiy93alPA/VlWIWcQmWUI/AAAAAAAAEcw/Gp5eNZpQnpk/s320/kingsolomonwrite.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
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"The choice of Solomon as one of the writers of the Bible, at first sight startles, but on deeper study instructs. We would have expected a man of more exemplary life a man of uniform holiness. It is certain that in the main, the vessels which the Spirit used were sanctified vessels. 'Holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” But as they were all corrupt at first, so there were diversities in the operation whereby they were called and qualified for their work. There were diversities in the times, and degrees of their sanctification. Some were carried so near perfection in the body, that human eyes could no longer discern spot or wrinkle; in others the principle of grace was so largely overlaid with earthliness, that observers were left in doubt whether they had been turned to the Lord’s side at all. But the diversity in all its extent is like the other ways of God; and He knows how to make either extreme fall into its place in the concert of his praise. He who made Saul an apostle, did not disdain to use Solomon as a prophet. Very diverse were the two men, and very diverse their life course; yet in one thing they are perfectly alike. Together in glory now they know themselves to have been only sinners, and agree in ascribing all their salvation to the mercy of God.<br />
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Moreover, although good men wrote the Bible, our faith in the Bible does not rest on the goodness of the men who wrote it. The fatal facility with which men glide into the worship of men may suggest another reason why some of the channels chosen for conveying the mind of God were marred by glaring deficiencies. Among many earthen vessels, in various measures purged of their filthiness, may not the Divine Administrator in wisdom select for actual use some of the least pure, in order by that grosser argument to force into grosser minds the conviction that the excellency of the power is all of God?<br />
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If all the writers of the Bible had been perfect in holiness—if no stain of sin could be traced on their character, no error noted in their life, it is certain that the Bible would not have served all the purposes which it now serves among men. It would have been God-like indeed in matter and in mould, but it would not have reached down to the low estate of man—it would not have penetrated to the sores of a human heart. For engraving the life lessons of his word, our Father uses only diamonds: but in every diamond there is a flaw, in some a greater and in some a less; and who shall dare to dictate to the Omniscient the measure of defect that blinds Him to fling the instrument as a useless thing away?<br />
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When God would leave on my mind in youth the lesson that the pleasures of sin are barbed arrows, he uses that same Solomon as the die to indent it in. I mark the wisdom of the choice. I get and keep the lesson, but the homage of my soul goes to God who gave it, and not to Solomon, the instrument through which it came. God can make man’s wrath to praise him, and their vanity too. He can make the clouds bear some benefits to the earth, which the sun cannot bestow. He can make brine serve some purposes in nature which sweet water could not fulfil. So, practical lessons on some subjects come better through the heart and lips of the weary repentant king, than through a man who had tasted fewer pleasures, and led a more even life."<br />
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- <b>William Arnot</b>, <i>Studies in Proverbs (Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth)</i></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-59495772421086560552015-11-13T19:55:00.000+08:002015-11-13T19:57:22.386+08:00Isaac Ambrose on Faith and Obedience as Conditions of the CoG<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z92u4jbCO9g/VkXPOuRMRQI/AAAAAAAAEcc/XwkV_QK7B10/s320/IsaacAmbrose-001.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
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"In some sort, obedience, as well as faith, may be said to be a condition of the covenant of grace. I shall give you my thoughts in this distinction: obedience to all God’s commands, is either considered as a cause of life, or as a qualification. In the former sense, it cannot be a condition of the covenant of grace; but in the latter, it may. If by condition we understand whatsoever is required on our part, as precedent, concomitant, or subsequent, to the covenant of grace, repentance, faith, and obedience are all conditions: but if by condition we understand whatsoever is required on our part as the cause of the good promised, though only instrumental, why then faith is the only condition. Faith and obedience are opposed in the matter of justification and salvation; not that they cannot stand together, (for they are inseparably united,) but because they cannot meet together in one court, as the cause of justification or salvation. Now, when we speak of the condition of the covenant of grace, we intend such a condition as is among the number of true causes. Indeed, in the covenant of works obedience is required as the cause of life; but in the covenant of grace, though obedience must accompany faith, yet only faith is the cause of life contained in the covenant." (<i>Looking Unto Jesus</i>)</div><br><br><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-84923138590760042382015-10-27T17:14:00.000+08:002015-10-28T17:36:31.913+08:00Highlights of John Owen's "The Glory of Christ" (Part 3)<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yA1GJZUdvJs/ViCvf02ezYI/AAAAAAAAEbo/OlMhjBlFR2M/s320/johnowen.jpg" width="242" /></div><br />
Click here for: <a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2015/10/highlights-of-john-owens-glory-of.html" target="_new"><b>Part 1</b></a>, <a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2015/10/highlights-of-john-owens-glory-of_19.html" target="_new"><b>Part 2</b></a>.<br />
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<b>Chapter XI. The glory of Christ in the recapitulation of all things in him.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"Moreover, his being and goodness are the same. The goodness of God is the meetness of the Divine Being to be communicative of itself in its effects. Hence this is the first notion of the divine nature, -- infinite being and goodness, in a nature intelligent and self-subsistent."</li>
<li>"Being and goodness must be the first outward effects of the divine nature, which, being wrought by infinite power and wisdom, do represent unto us the glory of God in the creation of all things. Infinite being in self-subsistence, which is necessary in the first cause and spring of all things, -- infinite goodness to communicate the effect of this being unto that which was not, -- and infinite wisdom and power in that communication, -- are gloriously manifested therein."</li>
<li>"To suppose any other race of intellectual creatures, besides angels in heaven and men on earth, is not only without all countenance from any divine testimony, but it disturbs and disorders the whole representation of the glory of God made unto us in the Scripture, and the whole design of his wisdom and grace, as declared therein. Intellectual creatures not comprehended in that government of God and mystery of his wisdom in Christ which the Scripture reveals, are a chimera framed in the imaginations of some men, scarce duly sensible of what it is to be wise unto sobriety."</li>
<li>"There is no contemplation of the glory of Christ that ought more to affect the hearts of them that do believe with delight and joy, than this, of the recapitulation of all things in him. One view by faith of him in the place of God, as the supreme head of the whole creation. Moving, acting, guiding, and disposing of it, will bring in spiritual refreshment unto a believing refreshment unto a believing soul.<br />
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And it will do so the more, in that it gives a glorious representation of his divine nature also. For that any mere creature should thus be a head of life, motion, and power, as also of sovereign rule and disposal, of the whole new creation, with all things reduced into order thereby, is not only an impious, but a foolish imagination.<br />
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Did we live more in the contemplation of this glory of Christ, and of the wisdom of God in this recapitulation of all things in him, there is not anything of our duty which it would not mind us of, nor anything of privilege which it would not give us a sense of, as might easily be demonstrated."</li>
<li>"Whatever there is of order, of beauty, of glory, in heaven above, or in earth beneath, it all ariseth from this new relation of the creation unto the Son of God. Whatever is not gathered into one, even in him, in its place, and according to its measure, is under darkness, disorder, and the curse."</li>
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<b>Chapter XII. Differences between our beholding the glory of Christ by faith in this world and by sight in heaven -- the first of them explained.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"On the account hereof we may say at present, how little a portion is it that we know of him! as Job speaks of God, chap. xxvi. 14. How imperfect are our conceptions of him! How weak are our minds in their management! There is no part of his glory that we can fully comprehend. And what we do comprehend, -- there is a comprehension in faith, Eph. iii. 18, -- we cannot abide in the steady contemplation of. For ever blessed be that sovereign grace, whence it is that He who 'commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ,' and therein of the glory of Christ himself; -- that he has so revealed him unto us, as that we may love him, admire him, and obey him: but constantly, steadily, and clearly to behold his glory in this life we are not able; 'for we walk by faith, and not by sight.'"</li>
<li>"This displaying of the glory of Christ, called the flourishing of himself, is by the promises of the Gospel, as they are explained in the ministry of the Word. In them are represented unto us the desirable beauties and glories of Christ. How precious, how amiable is he, as represented in them! How are the souls of believers ravished with the views of them! Yet is this discovery of him also but as through a lattice. We see him but by parts, -- unsteadily and unevenly."</li>
<li>"There will be use herein of our bodily eyes, as shall be declared. For, as Job says, in our flesh shall we see our Redeemer, and our eyes shall behold him, chap. xix. 25-27. That corporeal sense shall not be restored unto us, and that glorified above what we can conceive, but for this great use of the eternal beholding of Christ and his glory. Unto whom is it not a matter of rejoicing, that with the same eyes wherewith they see the tokens and signs of him in the sacrament of the supper, they shall behold himself immediately in his own person? But principally, as we shall see immediately, this vision is intellectual. It is not, therefore, the mere human nature of Christ that is the object of it, but his divine person, as that nature subsisteth therein. What is that perfection which we shall have (for that which is perfect must come and do away that which is in part) in the comprehension of the hypostatical union, I understand not; but this I know, that in the immediate beholding of the person of Christ, we shall see a glory in it a thousand times above what here we can conceive. The excellencies of infinite wisdom, love, and power therein, will be continually before us. And all the glories of the person of Christ which we have before weakly and faintly inquired into, will be in our sight for evermore."</li>
<li>"This immediate sight of Christ is that which all the saints of God in this life do breathe and pant after. Hence are they willing to be dissolved, or 'desire to depart, that they may be with Christ,' which is best for them, Phil. i. 23. They choose 'to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord,' 2 Cor. v. 8; or that they may enjoy the inexpressibly longed-for sight of Christ in his glory. Those who do not so long for it, whose souls and minds are not frequently visited with earnest desires after it, unto whom the thoughts of it are not their relief in trouble, and their chiefest joy, are carnal, blind, and cannot see afar off. He that is truly spiritual entertains and refresheth himself with thoughts hereof continually."</li>
<li>"Should the Lord Jesus appear now to any of us in his majesty and glory, it would not be unto our edification nor consolation. For we are not meet nor able, by the power of any light or grace that we have received, or can receive, to bear the immediate appearance and representation of them."</li>
<li>"And therefore those who dream of his personal reign on the earth before the day of judgment, unless they suppose that all the saints shall be perfectly glorified also (which is only to bring down heaven to the earth for awhile, to no purpose), provide not at all for the edification or consolation of the church. For no present grace, advanced unto the highest degree whereof in this world it is capable, can make us meet for an immediate converse with Christ in his unveiled glory."</li>
<li>"Grace renews nature; glory perfects grace; and so the whole soul is brought unto its rest in God."</li>
<li>"This view of the glory of Christ which we have now spoken unto is that which we are breathing and panting after; that which the Lord Christ prays that we may arrive unto; that which the apostle testifies to be our best; -- the best thing or state which our nature is capable of, -- that which brings eternal rest and satisfaction unto our souls."</li>
<li>"This beholding of the glory of Christ given him by his Father, is, indeed, subordinate unto the ultimate vision of the essence of God. What that is we cannot well conceive; only we know that the 'pure in heart shall see God.' But it has such an immediate connection with it, and subordination unto it, as that without it we can never behold the face of God as the objective blessedness of our souls. For he is, and shall be to eternity, the only means of communication between God and the church."</li>
<li>"As believers, beholding the glory of Christ in the blessed glass of the Gospel, are changed into the same image and likeness by the Spirit of the Lord; so these persons, beholding the beauty of the world and the things that are in it in the cursed glass of self-love, are in their minds changed into the same image. Hence perplexing fears, vain hopes, empty embraces of perishing things, fruitless desires, earthly, carnal designs, cursed, self-pleasing imaginations, feeding on, and being fed by, the love of the world and self, do abide and prevail in them. But we have not so learned Christ Jesus."</li>
</ul><br />
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<b>Chapter XIII. The second difference between our beholding the glory of Christ by faith in this world and by sight in heaven.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"It is impossible, whilst Christ is in the eye of our faith as proposed in the Gospel, but that we shall labour to be like him, and greatly love him. Neither is there any way for us to attain unto either of these, which are the great concernments of our souls, -- namely, to be like unto Christ, and to love him, -- but by a constant view of him and his glory by faith; which powerfully and effectually works them in us. All the doctrinal knowledge which we have of him is useless, -- all the view we have of his glory is but fancy, imagination, or superstition, which are not accompanied with this transforming power. And that which is wrought by it, is the increase and vigour of all grace; for therein alone our conformity unto him does consist. Growth in grace, holiness, and obedience, is a growing like unto Christ; and nothing else is so."</li>
<li>"For there is nothing more certain in Christian experience than this is, that while we do really by faith behold the glory of Christ, as proposed in the Gospel, the glory of his person and office, as before described, and so abide in holy thoughts and meditations thereof, especially in our private duties and retirements, all grace will live and thrive in us in some measure, especially love unto his person, and therein unto all that belongs unto him."</li>
<li>"Do any of us find decays in grace prevailing in us; -- deadness, coldness, lukewarmness, a kind of spiritual stupidity and senselessness coming upon us? Do we find an unreadiness unto the exercise of grace in its proper season, and the vigorous acting of it in duties of communion with God, and would we have our souls recovered from these dangerous diseases? Let us assure ourselves there is no better way for our healing and deliverance, yea, no other way but this alone, -- namely, the obtaining a fresh view of the glory of Christ by faith, and a steady abiding therein. Constant contemplation of Christ and his glory, putting forth its transforming power unto the revival of all grace, is the only relief in this case."</li>
<li>"Some will say, that this must be effected by fresh supplies and renewed communications of the Holy Spirit. Unless he fall as dew and showers on our dry and barren hearts, -- unless he cause our graces to spring, thrive, and bring forth fruit, -- unless he revive and increase faith, love, and holiness in our souls, -- our backslidings will not be healed, nor our spiritual state be recovered. Unto this end is he prayed for and promised in the Scripture. See Cant. iv. 16; Isa. xliv. 3, 4; Ezek. xi. 19; xxxvi. 26; Hos. xiv. 5, 6. And so it is. The immediate efficiency of the revival of our souls is from and by the Holy Spirit. But the inquiry is, in what way, or by what means, we may obtain the supplies and communications of him unto this end. This the apostle declares in the place insisted on: We, beholding the glory of Christ in a glass, 'are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord.' It is in the exercise of faith on Christ, in the way before described, that the Holy Spirit puts forth his renewing, transforming power in and upon our souls. This, therefore, is that alone which will retrieve Christians from their present decays and deadness."</li>
<li>"While men look for their chief refreshment and satisfaction in temporal things, it is impossible they should seek after those that are spiritual in a due manner. And it must be confessed, that when we have a due regard unto spiritual, evangelical consolations and joys, it will abate and take off our affections unto, and satisfaction in, present enjoyments, Phil. iii. 8, 9.<br />
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But there is no more sacred truth than this, that where Christ is present with believers, -- where he is not withdrawn for a season from them, where they live in the view of his glory by faith as it is proposed unto them in the Gospel, -- he will give unto them, at his own seasons such intimations of his love, such supplies of his Spirit, such holy joys and rejoicings, such repose of soul in assurance, as shall refresh their souls, fill them with joy, satisfy them with spiritual delight, and quicken them unto all acts of holy communion with himself."</li>
<li>"Now, the design of the Lord Christ, in thus withdrawing himself from us, and hiding his glory from our view, being the exercise of our grace, and to stir us up unto diligence in our inquiries after him, here lieth our guidance and direction in this case. Do we find ourselves lifeless in the spiritual duties of religion? Are we strangers unto the heavenly visits of consolation and joys, -- those visitations of God whereby he preserves our souls? Do we seldom enjoy a sense of the 'shedding abroad of his love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost?' We have no way of recovery but this alone, -- to this 'strong tower' must we turn ourselves as 'prisoners of hope,' -- unto Christ must we look, that we may be saved. It is a steady view or contemplation of his glory by faith alone that will bring in all these things in a lively experience into our hearts and souls."</li>
<li>"If we satisfy ourselves in mere notions and speculations about the glory of Christ as doctrinally revealed unto us, we shall find no transforming power or efficacy communicated unto us thereby. But when, under the conduct of that spiritual light, our affections do cleave unto him with full purpose of heart, our minds are filled with the thoughts of him and delight in him, and faith is kept up unto its constant exercise in trust and affiance on him, -- virtue will proceed from him to purify our hearts, increase our holiness, strengthen our graces, and to fill us sometimes 'with joy unspeakable and full of glory.'"</li>
<li>"Where light leaves the affections behind, it ends in formality or atheism; and where affections outrun light, they sink in the bog of superstition, doting on images and pictures, or the like. But where things go not into these excesses, it is better that our affections exceed our light from the defect of our understandings, than that our light exceed our affections from the corruption of our wills."</li>
<li>"This is the sum of what I do design. We have by faith a view of the glory of Christ. This view is weak and unsteady, from the nature of faith itself, and the way of its proposal unto us -- as in a glass, in comparison of what by sight we shall attain unto. But, moreover, where corrupt lusts or inordinate affections are indulged unto, where they are not continually mortified, where any one sin has a perplexing prevalence in the mind, faith will be so far weakened thereby, as that it can neither see nor meditate upon this glory of Christ in a due manner. This is the reason why the most are so weak and unstable in the performance of this duty; yea, are almost utterly unacquainted with it. The light of faith in the minds of men being impaired, clouded, darkened, by the prevalence of unmortified lusts, it cannot make such discoveries of this glory as otherwise it would do. And this makes the preaching of Christ unto many so unprofitable as it is.<br />
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Secondly, In the view of the glory of Christ which we have by faith, it will fill the mind with thoughts and meditations about him, whereon the affections will cleave unto him with delight. This, as was said, is inseparable from a spiritual view of his glory in its due exercise. Every one that has it, must and will have many thoughts concerning, and great affections to him. See the description of these things, Phil. iii. 8-10. It is not possible, I say, that we should behold the glory of his person, office, and grace, with a due conviction of our concernment and interest therein, but that our minds will be greatly affected with it, and be filled with contemplations about it. Where it is not so with any, it is to be feared that they 'have not heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape,' whatever they profess. A spiritual sight of Christ will assuredly produce love unto him; and if any man love him not, he never saw him, -- he knows him not at all. And that is no love which does not beget in us many thoughts of the object beloved. He, therefore, who is partaker of this grace, will think much of what Christ is in himself, -- of what he has done for us, -- of his love and condescension, -- of the manifestation of all the glorious excellencies of the divine nature in him, exerted in a way of infinite wisdom and goodness for the salvation of the church. Thoughts and meditations of these things will abound in us, if we are not wanting unto the due exercise of faith; and intense, inflamed affections unto him will ensue thereon; at least they will be active unto our own refreshing experience. And where these things are not in reality (though in some they may be only in a mean and low degree), men do but deceive their own souls in hopes of any benefit by Christ or the Gospel."</li>
<li>"Security is granted to be an evil destructive of the souls of men; but then it is supposed to consist only in impenitency for great and open sins: but to be neglective of endeavouring an experience of the power and grace of the gospel in our own souls, under a profession of religion, is no less destructive and pernicious than impenitency in any course of sin."</li>
<li>"But 'as for me,' saith David, 'I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness,' Ps. xvii. 15. It is Christ alone who is the likeness and image of God. When we awake in the other world, with our minds purified and rectified, the beholding of him shall be always satisfying unto us. There will be then no satiety, no weariness, no indispositions; but the mind, being made perfect in all its faculties, powers, and operations, with respect unto its utmost end, which is the enjoyment of God, is satisfied in the beholding of him for evermore. And where there is perfect satisfaction without satiety, there is blessedness for ever. So the Holy Spirit affirms of the four living creatures, in the Revelation, 'They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,' chap. iv. 8. They are continually exercised in the admiration and praises of God in Christ without weariness or interruption. Herein shall we be made like unto angels."</li>
<li>"Wherefore, the vision which we shall have in heaven of the glory of Christ is serene, -- always the same, always new and indeficient, wherein nothing can disturb the mind in the most perfect operations of a blessed life. And when all the faculties of the soul can, without any internal weakness or external hindrances, exercise their most perfect operations on the most perfect object, -- therein lies all the blessedness which our nature is capable of.<br />
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Wherefore, whenever in this life we attain any comfortable, refreshing view of the glory of Christ by the exercise of faith on the revelation of it, with a sense of our interest therein, we cannot but long after, and desire to come unto, this more perfect, abiding, invariable aspect of it."</li>
</ul><br />
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<b>Chapter XIV. Other differences between our beholding the glory of Christ by faith in this world and by sight in heaven.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"In the view which we have here of the glory of Christ by faith, we gather things, as it were, one by one, in several parts and parcels, out of the Scripture; and comparing them together in our minds, they become the object of our present sight, -- which is our spiritual comprehension of the things themselves. We have no proposal of the glory of Christ unto us by vision or illustrious appearance of his person, as Isaiah had of old, chap. vi. 1-4; or as John had in the Revelation, chap. i. 13-16. We need it not; -- it would be of no advantage unto us. For as unto the assurance of our faith, we have a word of prophecy more useful unto us than a voice from heaven, 2 Peter i. 17-19. And of those who received such visions, though of eminent use unto the church, yet as unto themselves, one of them cried out, 'Woe is me! I am undone;' and the other 'fell as dead at his feet.' We are not able in this life to bear such glorious representations of him, unto our edification."</li>
<li>"In the vision which we shall have above, the whole glory of Christ will be at once and always represented unto us; and we shall be enabled in one act of the light of glory to comprehend it. Here, indeed, we are at a loss; -- our minds and understandings fail us in their contemplations. It will not yet enter into our hearts to conceive what is the beauty, what is the glory of this complete representation of Christ unto us. To have at once all the glory of what he is, what he was in his outward state and condition, what he did and suffered, what he is exalted unto, -- his love and condescension, his mystical union with the church, and the communication of himself unto it, with the recapitulation of all things in him, -- and the glory of God, even the Father, in his wisdom, righteousness, grace, love, goodness, power, shining forth eternally in him, in what he is, has done, and does, -- all presented unto us in one view, all comprehended by us at once, is that which at present we cannot conceive. We can long for it, pant after it, and have some foretastes of it, -- namely, of that state and season wherein our whole souls, in all their powers and faculties, shall constantly, inseparably, eternally cleave by love unto whole Christ, in the sight of the glory of his person and grace, until they are watered, dissolved, and inebriated in the waters of life and the rivers of pleasure that are above for evermore. So must we speak of the things which we admire, which we adore, which we love, which we long for, which we have some foretastes of in sweetness ineffable, which yet we cannot comprehend."</li>
<li>"In the first operation of this light of glory, believers shall so behold the glory of Christ, and the glory of God in him, as that there with and thereby they shall be immediately and universally changed into his likeness. They shall be as he is, when they shall see him as he is. There is no growth in glory, as to parts; -- there may be as to degrees. Additions may be outwardly made unto what is at first received as by the resurrection of the body; but the internal light of glory and its transforming efficacy is capable of no degrees, though new revelations may be made unto it unto eternity. For the infinite fountain of life, and light, and goodness, can never be fathomed, much less exhausted. And what God spake on the entrance of sin, by the way of contempt and reproach, 'Behold, the man is become like one of us,' upbraiding him with what he had foolishly designed; -- on the accomplishment of the work of his grace, he says in love and infinite goodness, 'Man is become like one of us,' in the perfect restoration of our image in him. This is the first effect of the light of glory.<br />
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Faith also, in beholding the glory of Christ in this life, is accompanied with a transforming efficacy, as the apostle expressly declares, 2 Cor. iii. 18. It is the principle from whence, and the instrumental cause whereby, all spiritual change is wrought in us in this life; but the work of it is imperfect; -- first, because it is gradual, and then because it is partial.<br />
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(1.) As unto the manner of its operation, it is gradual, and does not at once transform us into the image of Christ; yes, the degrees of its progress therein are unto us for the most part imperceptible. It requires much spiritual wisdom and observation to obtain an experience of them in our own souls. 'The inward man is renewed day by day,' whilst we behold these invisible things, 2 Cor. iv. 16-18. But how? -- even as the outward man decays by age, which is by insensible degrees and alterations. Such is the transformation which we have by faith, in its present view of the glory of Christ. And according to our experience of its efficacy herein, is our evidence of its truth and reality in the beholding of him. No man can have the least ground of assurance that he has seen Christ and his glory by faith, without some effects of it in changing him into his likeness. For as on the touch of his garment by the woman in the Gospel, virtue went out from him to heal her infirmity; so upon this view of faith, an influence of transforming power will proceed from Christ unto the soul.<br />
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(2.) As unto the event, it is but partial. It does not bring this work unto perfection. The change wrought by it is indeed great and glorious; or, as the apostle speaks, it is 'from glory to glory,' in a progress of glorious grace: but absolute perfection is reserved for vision. As to divine worship, perfection was not by the law. It did many things preparatory unto the revelation of the will of God concerning it, but it 'made nothing perfect:' so absolute perfection in holiness, and the restoration of the image of God, is not by the Gospel, is not by faith; -- however, it gives us many preparatory degrees unto it, as the apostle fully declares, Phil. iii. 10-14."</li>
<li>"The way on our part whereby we shall receive these communications from God by Christ, which are the eternal springs of life, peace, joy, and blessedness, is this vision the sight whereof we speak. For, as it is expressly assigned thereunto in the Scripture, so whereas it contains the perfect operation of our minds and souls in a perfect state, on the most perfect object, it is the only means of our blessedness. And this is the true cause whence there neither is nor can be any satiety or weariness in heaven, in the eternal contemplation of the same glory. For not only the object of our sight is absolutely infinite, which can never be searched unto the bottom, yea, is perpetually new unto a finite understanding; but our subjective blessedness consisting in continual fresh communications from the infinite fulness of the divine nature, derived unto us through vision, is always new, and always will be so to eternity. Herein shall all the saints of God drink of the rivers of pleasure that are at his right hand, be satisfied with his likeness, and refresh themselves in the eternal springs of life, light, and joy for evermore.<br />
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This effect, -- that view, which we have by faith of the glory of Christ in this world, does not produce. It is sanctifying, not glorifying. The best of saints are far from a perfect or glorified state in this life; and that not only on the account of the outward evils which in their persons they are exposed unto, but also of the weakness and imperfection of their inward state in grace. Yet we may observe some things unto the honour of faith in them who have received it. As --<br />
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(1.) In its due exercise on Christ, it will give unto the souls of believers some previous participation of future glory, working in them dispositions unto, and preparation for, the enjoyment of it. <br />
(2.) There is no glory, no peace, no joy, no satisfaction in this world, to be compared with what we receive by that weak and imperfect view which we have of the glory of Christ by faith; yea, all the joys of the world are a thing of nought in comparison of what we so receive.<br />
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(3.) It is sufficient to give us such a perception, such a foretaste of future blessedness in the enjoyment of Christ, as may continually stir us up to breathe and pant after it. But it is not beatifical."</li>
</ul></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-26282120175593297152015-10-21T14:58:00.000+08:002015-10-21T14:58:47.760+08:00The Friendship of God<br><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"Let it be of great comfort to the saints that God is their father and friend and is always present with them and in them; that they live and move and have their being in Him who loves them with a great and everlasting love. Our earthly friends cannot be with us always; we are often called to part with them. But God is a friend who is always at hand, always with and in those who are His. Let those, therefore, who have given themselves to God and have chosen God to be their God consider this: You are in Him and are favorable to Him. He delights in you and always consults your good and seeks your welfare. You are in Him and no one can separate you from Him; wherever you are, you are still with God. This is a matter of consolation to such persons, whatever dangers and difficulties they are brought into, that they are with God. He is nigh at hand, so that they need not be terrified with any amazement; for they are in Him who orders all things and who loves them, so that He will surely take care of them and order all things well for them. If they pray to Him in their difficulty and beg His help, He is present to hear their prayers. They need not go far to seek Him nor cry aloud to make Him hear, but He is in them and hears the silent petitions of their hearts. If they are in solitude and are very much left alone, yet God is with them. None can banish them from the presence and society of God. A Christian never needs to be lonesome as long as he is in the company of such a one."<br />
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— <b>Jonathan Edwards</b>, <i>God Is Everywhere Present</i>, pp. 217–18<br />
</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-85877391054366885942015-10-20T15:37:00.000+08:002015-10-20T15:37:54.870+08:00Martin Bucer on Good Works as Secondary Cause of Salvation<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GuoDbK_er7M/ViXuqxrve7I/AAAAAAAAEcI/2Pb4tz9FHq4/s320/bucerjustification.jpg" width="229" /></div><br />
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<a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2011/07/who-did-john-calvin-consider-as-his.html" target="_new"><b>Martin Bucer</b></a> was John Calvin's "father in the faith."<br />
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The ff. is sourced from Brian Lugioyo's <b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Martin-Bucers-Doctrine-Justification-Reformation/dp/0195387368" target="_new">Martin Bucer's Doctrine of Justification: Reformation Theology and Early Modern Irenicism (Oxford Studies in Historical Theology)</a></i></b>:<br />
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By faith alone means that in faith Christians contemplate Christ, and because faith comes with the bestowal of the Spirit of Christ, they become possessed by him so that believers now live in him and he in them. In this sense of mutual inhabitation, Christians are allowed to cooperate with God in salvation, since these works are not their own but the work of Christ in them. This agency is expressed in Bucer primarily in terms of the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, [285] being clothed in Christ, [286] participation in Christ, [287] being in communion with Christ, and so forth. [288] If a believer “does any good, it results from the fact that he is a creation of God, created for good works, works which God himself prepares, makes and performs, so that he rewards in us gifts which are already his.” [289] Hence, Bucer follows Augustine’s view that “when God crowns our merits, he crowns nothing but his own gifts.” [290] Merit is not the result of works but the result of the believer cooperating with the Spirit who works within the believer:<br />
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<blockquote>Nevertheless, when God wants us to cooperate with him by good works for our salvation, or rather, even to “work it out” (<i>κατεργάζεσθαι</i>) [Phil. 2:10] and has thus determined to repay us according to our deeds, there is brought about also in its own way our justification; that is, eternal life is assigned to us as a result of works. But this is the case only when through our election and the purpose of God formed before the ages, there is already assigned to us before the foundation of the world this life of God as a result of the grace of God and the merit of Christ [Ephesians 1 and 3]. This life moreover is assigned to us through faith, that is, after we believe in Christ and have in some way become already possessed of him. This of course comes about at that blessed beginning of faith which belongs to the sons of God through the Spirit, who is the pledge of this inheritance. For good works are the fruit of this faith and of the Spirit. [291]</blockquote><br />
Works are in a sense a cooperating cause, which Bucer speaks about as a secondary cause elsewhere.<a name='more'></a><br />
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In his <i>conciliatio</i> in regard to Romans 2:11–16, Bucer explains the nature of election, faith, and works as <i>triplex iustificatio</i>, that is, God assigns eternal life to Christians in three ways: [292]<br />
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<blockquote>The first is that by which he destines us to eternal life and it exists solely by his goodness and regard for the merit of Christ . . . . The second way is that by which he already reveals eternal life in some way and grants that one enjoy it, by the gift of his Spirit, in which we cry “Abba Father.” This justification exists in addition by reason of our faith, but that too is something which God out of his free goodness gives, and brings about by his Spirit in us. The third way is when he now reveals actually and fully the eternal life or even blessings which we enjoy, no longer only by faith and hope. Our deeds contribute to this justification, but they too are the gifts and works of the free goodness of God. [293]</blockquote><br />
The first <i>iustificatio</i> is equated with election and acts as the foundation for the following two <i>iustificationes</i>, that is, faith and works. [294] As he states thereafter, “The sole goodness of God and merit of Christ is the prime and in itself entire cause.” [295] God’s divine benevolence is the primary and sole cause of salvation; his election enables the elect to do good works, which then function only as secondary causes.<br />
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Later on, in reference to Romans 4:1–8, Bucer speaks of a <i>prima iustificatio</i>, that is, “absolution from all impiety,” [296] and a <i>secundaria iustificatio</i>, [297] “which is a result of works.” [298] This latter <i>iustificatio</i> is in reference to various places in scripture where God states that he will not justify the wicked (Exod. 23:7). Again Bucer makes the distinction between the prime cause, God’s goodwill, and all other secondary causes, which is similar to Aquinas’s distinction between a prime cause and a middle cause that is enveloped within the prime cause. [299] God’s goodwill as the prime cause of salvation does not exclude our cooperation in works as secondary middle causes, [300] only because good works are contingent on God’s goodwill, the prime cause, demonstrating here Bucer’s teaching of <i>Allwirksamkeit</i>. The allowance for cooperation in one’s salvation in this secondary sense does not weaken the prime cause.<br />
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That good works act as secondary causes of salvation is clearly demonstrated by Bucer when he interprets a passage that seems to inherently contradict salvation by works, for example, the case of the thief on the cross. [301] Because in Bucer’s thought works are subordinately necessary for salvation, the thief could enter heaven only if he had done good works inspired by the Spirit, which would then be rewarded. The careless observer may surmise that the thief did not have time to accomplish a good work, for he died there on a cross, unable to do anything but have faith and die, but this is to understand good works in a rather limited way. [302] Bucer states:<br />
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<blockquote>For suppose that somebody lived in the most ungodly manner throughout his entire life. The Lord however converts him at the end of his life just as he did with the thief who was crucified with our Savior. Now as soon as he has embraced the goodness of God by faith, his mind truly burns for the glory of God. If he can do nothing else, he confesses his sins to the glory of God, and urges others to repent. Even if he cannot do it by prayer, he does it by groans and sighs. In this he now has good works according to which he may be justified, that is, for which he may be judged to deserve admission to the inheritance of eternal life. [303]</blockquote><br />
Good works are essential for the reward of salvation.<br />
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It ought to also be mentioned that good works are not only a secondary cause of salvation but also signs of that very salvation, since good works are usually visible. On this account Bucer states that men can judge believers as just on account of the fact that they recognize the <i>iutitia</i> of the believer. [304] This is not understood as a justification by men; rather, when believers are inspired by faith toward <i>iustitia</i> , these works of <i>iustitia</i> are seen by those around who can judge those works as righteous. [305] They give evidence of one’s election. [306] Justification is a visibly realized doctrine founded on the dictum that “to know the good is to do the good”; to have true faith is to love your neighbor; to contemplate the <i>iustitia Dei</i> is to necessarily pursue <i>iustitia</i>.<br />
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Justification is <i>sola fide</i>. The gift of faith, understood as a deeper inbreathing enabling one to contemplate true <i>iustitia</i>, leads a man or woman to pursue this <i>iustitia</i> in works. These works are a product of the gift of faith, which leads Bucer to maintain that believers are saved by works produced automatically from true faith. In this light he defends the Augustinian definition of justification by faith that works through love, stating: “But let no one be offended at his [Augustine’s] describing love of one’s neighbour as the definition of faith, a definition in term of the effect.” [307]<br />
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God chooses to forgive those whom he chooses. As evidence of this election he bestows upon them faith, or the fuller breath of the Holy Spirit. This gift of faith that comes with the bestowal of the Spirit reveals <i>iustitia</i> resulting in a derivative <i>iustitia</i>. Thus it is in this manner that Bucer holds together an imputed and imparted aspect in his doctrine of justification.<br />
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<i>Footnotes:</i><br />
285. BRom (1536), 12; (1562), 12; CP 162.<br />
286. BRom (1536), 290; (1562), 322; CP 290; “Now, the death of our sins and the life of God are so perfectly presented that we are said to be buried into death of Christ, incorporated into Christ, clothed with Christ. Therefore, as we can expect no more perfect presentation of Christ, given symbolically for the apprehension of faith, so also it is most inappropriate to repeat our baptism.”<br />
287. BRom (1536), 296; (1562), 330; CP 305.<br />
288. BRom (1536), 292; (1562), 324; CP 294; “Moreover, since the faith whereby we embrace these promises of salvation cannot exist apart from the Spirit of Christ and some degree of communion in the nature of Christ, that is to say, in the life of God and in true virtue, the Lord, the one mediator between God and men who is always in the midst of his people and always at work by his Spirit in the holy ministrations of his word and symbols, has likewise always bestowed through the sacraments together with the imparting of the Father’s favour his Spirit, but according to a set measure which has varied in accordance with the age.”<br />
289. BRom (1536), 120; (1562), 105; “Si quid benefacit, id inde est, quod fi gmentum Dei est, ad bona opera conditus, et ea, quae Deus ipse praeparat, facit, et perfi cit, ut sua iam in nobis dona remuneret.”<br />
290. Augustine, Epistola CXCIV , 19; PL 33, 880; “cum Deus coronat merita nostra, nihil aliud coronat quam munera sua.”<br />
291. BRom (1536), 129–130; (1562), 119; “Nihilominus tamen, cum Deus velit nos sibi bonis operibus ad nostram salutem cooperati, imo etiam eam perfi cere, κ α τ ε ρ γ ά ζ ε σ θ α ι , Philipp. 2. ac ita statuerit nobis secundum nostra facta rependere, fi t etiam suo modo iustifi catio nostri, hoc est, adiudicatur nobis vita aeterna, ex operibus, sed tum, quando iam haec nobis vita Dei, ex gratia Dei, et Christo merito ante conditum mundum adiudicata est per electionem nostri, et propositum Dei ante saecula factum. Ephe. 1. & 3. adiudicata item per fi dem, hoc est postquam credentes Christo, eius iam compotes aliquo modo facti sumus, felici scilicet illo fi dei initio, quod est per spiritum fi liorum Dei, qui arrabo est huius haereditatis. Sunt enim bona opera, huius fi dei et<br />
spiritus fructus.”<br />
292. BRom (1536), 130; (1562), 119; “Triplex itaque est nostri iustifi catio, hoc est, trifariam nobis Deus vitam aeternam adiudicat.” For an extended hermeneutical treatment on Bucer’s concept of triplex iustifi catio , see David C. Fink’s article “‘The Doers of the Law Will Be Justified.’”<br />
293. BRom (1536), 130; (1562), 119; “Prima est, qua vitam aeternam nobis destinat, ea constat utique sola ipsius bonitate, et respectu meriti Christi . . . . Altera, qua vitam aeternam iam aliquo modo exhibet, et frui ea donat, donato suo Spiritu, in quo clamamus Abba pater. Haec iustifi catio constat praeterea etiam fi de nostra, sed quam ipsam quoque nobis Deus ex sua gratuita bonitate donat, et suo in nobis spiritu effi cit. Tertia, cum iam re ipsa, et plene vitam aeternam, vel etiam bona, quibus in hac vita fruimur, exhibet, non iam fi de tantum et spe. Ad hanc iustifi cationem concurrunt facta, sed ea ipsa quoque gratuitae bonitatis Dei dona et opera sunt.” In De Vera Reconciliatione [172(v)–173(r)], Bucer talks of a threefold justification as well; however, there, the fi rst justification is understood as the forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, and communion with the Father and Son; the second justification corresponds to the new life of the believer lived with love and virtues; and the third is the justification by which good works are confi rmed and rewarded. <br />
294. On this point Fink believes that the Scotist-Occamist aspect of acceptio divina is infl uencing Bucer’s thought, in that there is such a close association between election or predestination and justification. He states, “Whatever Bucer’s relationship to the Thomistic theology of his former Dominican order may have been, there can be little doubt that for him, ‘the heart of our salvation, that is, our justification,’ derives from an act of will on the part of God . . . .Justification is thus primarily God’s act of acceptance” (“‘The Doers of the Law Will Be Justified,’” 508–509).<br />
295. BRom (1536), 130; (1562), 119; “prima et per se totaque causa est, sola Dei bonitas, et Christi meritum . . . ”<br />
296. BRom (1536), 218; (1562), 232; “prima iustifi catione, hoc est, ab omni impietate absolutione . . . ”<br />
297. Bucer’s use of secundaria hints not to a following ( secunda ) but to an inferior or second-rate justification that highlights the superiority of the first. In the Expositio that precedes this discussion, he correlates this secondary justification to James, stating: “Illud Iacobi dictum est de secundaria iustificatione, quae consequitur opera, non de primaria et substantiali, de qua hic Paulus.” BRom (1536), 213; (1562), 224.<br />
298. BRom (1536), 218; (1562), 232; “secundaria, quae iusta opera fi t.”<br />
299. ST 1a q.19 a.7; “voluntas Dei, cum sit causa prima, non excludit causas medias.”<br />
300. See also BRom (1532), 401; (1562), 461; CP 146; “But a fi rst cause does not preclude the functioning of second causes. God does indeed act in us in everything, and acts upon us too according to his good pleasure, but he does so in such a way that he causes us to act, so that by his action we come to understand an issue, exercise choice, accept or reject, and set our physical powers in motion.”<br />
301. Luke 23:43.<br />
302. Faith is the chief good work. See BRom (1536), 215–216; (1562), 229; “Credere sane opus est, et omnium bonorum operum caput, quare Dei opus, hoc est.”<br />
303. BRom (1536), 119; (1562), 105; “Nam fac esse, vixerit aliquis impientissime per omnem vitam, Dominus vero in extremo eum ad se convertat, ita ut fecit latroni, qui fuit crucifi xus cum servatore, iam simul atque is fi de dei bonitatem amplexus est, mens eius vere ardet in gloriam dei si nihil aliud potest, confi tetur tamen in gloriam Dei sua peccata, hortatur alios ad poenitentiam, etiam si oratione nequeat, facit id gemitibus et suspiriis. Sic iam habet bona opera, secundum quae iustifi cetur, hoc est, pro quibus iudicetur, esse ad haereditatem admittendus vitae aeternae.”<br />
304. See Barnikol, “Bucers Lehre,” 123–126.<br />
305. BRom (1536), 10; (1562), 10; “Non quod nostri iustitifi catio hominum quoque iudicio nitatur, verum quod quos Deus iustos habet, id est, quibus peccata remittit, hos simul suo spiritu ita adfl et, ut soli ex animo iustitiae studeant, et quamvis in multis continuo et ipsi delinquant, soli tamen quicquid in orbe est iustitiae, obtineant, et hominum iudicio adeo se iustos adprobent, ut cum rem habent cum incredulis, iudicium sibi fi eri orent pro sua innocentia et iustitia.”<br />
306. See BRom (1536), 360; (1562), 412; CP 101.<br />
307. BRom (1536), 22; (1562), 22; CP 196.<br />
</span></span><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-47772102080983790532015-10-19T18:35:00.001+08:002015-10-19T19:08:38.835+08:00The Vision of Christ and the Necessity of Good Works<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cK3QqRM0H_k/ViTG-XtlKII/AAAAAAAAEb4/4hOhnfntUNQ/s320/looking-unto-jesus.jpg" width="320" /></div><br />
<br />
The first thesis in Luther's famous 95 states that all of the Christian life is characterized by repentance. Repentance, by its very nature, necessarily includes faith in its exercise. This faith, to be true faith, can only have one object of focus, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Putting faith in Christ is synonymous to looking unto Him (Heb. 12:2), and this vision of Christ transforms the beholder into His image and likeness (faith now conforms progressively [2 Cor. 3:18], while actual sight in glory conforms instantly [1 John 3:2]).<a name='more'></a><br />
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As John Owen says in "The Glory of Christ":<br />
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<blockquote>"That which at present I design to demonstrate is, that the beholding of the glory of Christ is one of the greatest privileges and advancements that believers are capable of in this world, or that which is to come. It is that whereby they are first gradually conformed unto it, and then fixed in the eternal enjoyment of it. For here in this life, beholding his glory, they are changed or transformed into the likeness of it, 2 Cor. iii. 18; and hereafter they shall be 'for ever like unto him,' because they 'shall see him as he is,' 1 John iii. 1, 2. Hereon do our present comforts and future blessedness depend. This is the life and reward of our souls. 'He that has seen him has seen the Father also,' John xiv. 9. For we discern the 'light of the knowledge of the glory of God only in the face of Jesus Christ,' 2 Cor. iv. 6."<br />
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"No man can by faith take a real view of this glory, but virtue will proceed from it in a transforming power to change him 'into the same image,' 2 Cor. iii. 18."<br />
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"Some men speak much of the imitation of Christ, and following of his example; and it were well if we could see more of it really in effect. But no man shall ever become 'like unto him' by bare imitation of his actions, without that view or intuition of his glory which alone is accompanied with a transforming power to change them into the same image."<br />
<br />
"But herein it is required that we rest not in the notion of this truth, and a bare assent unto the doctrine of it. The affecting power of it upon our hearts is that which we should aim at. Wherein does the blessedness of the saints above consist? Is it not herein, that they behold and see the glory of God in Christ? And what is the effect of it upon those blessed souls? Does it not change them into the same image, or make them like unto Christ? Does it not fill and satiate them with joy, rest, delight, complacency, and ineffable satisfaction? Do we expect, do we desire, the same state of blessedness? It is our present view of the glory of Christ which is our initiation thereinto, if we are exercised in it, until we have an experience of its transforming power in our souls."</blockquote><br />
So if, as Luther says, all of the Christian life is faith and repentance, and this faith is nothing but looking unto Jesus Christ, and this looking unto Christ necessarily conforms the beholder into His image and likeness, then we can say that all of the Christian life is a growth in the good works brought about by conformity to the image of Christ. The absence of good works implies that one is not looking unto Christ, for it is precisely by looking unto Him that good works are produced, and if you are not looking unto Christ, you are not saved.<br />
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Who can deny that looking unto Christ is necessary unto salvation? As Jonathan Edwards writes:<br />
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<blockquote>"Perseverance is acknowledged by Calvinian divines, to be necessary to salvation. Yet it seems to me, that the manner in which it is necessary has not been sufficiently set forth. It is owned to be necessary as a sine qua non: and also, that though it is not that by which we first come to have a title to eternal life, yet it is necessary in order to the actual possession of it, as the way to it; that it is as impossible we should come to it without perseverance, as it is impossible for a man to go to a city or town, without travelling throughout the road that leads to it. But we are really saved by perseverance; so that salvation has a dependence on perseverance, as that which influences in the affair, so as to render it congruous that we should be saved. Faith (on our part) is the great condition of salvation; it is that by which we are justified and saved. But in this faith, the perseverance that belongs to it is a fundamental ground of the congruity that faith gives to salvation. Perseverance indeed comes into consideration, even in the justification of a sinner, as one thing on which the fitness of acceptance to life depends. For, God has respect to perseverance as being virtually in the first act. And it is looked upon as if it were a property of that faith by which the sinner is then justified. God has respect to continuance in faith; and the sinner is justified by that, as though it already were; because by divine establishment it shall follow; and so it is accepted, as if it were a property contained in the faith that is then seen. Without this, it would not be congruous that a sinner should be justified at his first believing; but it would be needful that the act of justification should be suspended till the sinner had persevered in faith. There is the same reason why it is necessary that the union between Christ and the soul should remain in order to salvation, as that it should be begun; for it is begun to the end that it might remain. And if it could be begun without remaining, the beginning would be in vain. The soul is saved no otherwise than by union with Christ, and so is fitly looked upon as his. It is saved in him; and in order to that, it is necessary that the soul now be in him, even when salvation is actually bestowed, and not merely that it should once, have been in him; and therefore God, in justifying a sinner, even in the first act of faith, has respect to the congruity between justification and perseverance of faith. So that perseverance is necessary to salvation, not only as a sine qua non, or as the way to possession; but it is necessary even to the congruity of justification." ('Of the Perseverance of Saints')</blockquote><br />
And Stephen Charnock:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"The reason why God puts his Spirit into the heart is to preserve us from departing from him, Jer. 32:40. As Christ was true and faithful to God in the end of his coming, so will the Spirit be faithful to God in the end of his being put into the heart. It is the same Spirit which, being upon Christ, enabled him to the performance of his charge, Isa. 11:1, 2, and made him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, to establish him in faithfulness and obedience to God in his mediatory work. The same Spirit is in us, to establish us in the fear of God, to keep that principle of God’s fear put into our hearts alive. And as the Spirit performed his office fully upon the human nature of Christ, so it will not be deficient in us according to our measure. Consider the Spirit every way, and this work of preserving grace will appear to be his business. What Christ doth by his proxy may well be interpreted to be his own act." ('A Discourse Proving Weak Grace Victorious (Mat. 12:20)')</blockquote><br />
What is perseverance but the Spirit constantly invigorating the faith that incessantly looks unto Christ, which looking always produces the good works of the image of Christ.<br />
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The necessity of good works unto salvation is predicated upon the necessity of persevering in looking unto Christ.<br />
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<blockquote>"Moreover, when Scripture intimates that the good works of believers are causes why the Lord does them good, we must still understand the meaning so as to hold unshaken what has previously been said—viz. that the efficient cause of our salvation is placed in the love of God the Father; the material cause in the obedience of the Son; the instrumental cause in the illumination of the Spirit, that is, in faith; and the final cause in the praise of the divine goodness. In this, however, there is nothing to prevent the Lord from embracing works as inferior causes. But how so? In this way: Those whom in mercy he has destined for the inheritance of eternal life, he, in his ordinary administration, introduces to the possession of it <b>by means of good works</b>." (John Calvin, Inst. 3.14.21)</blockquote></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-39653343800982072072015-10-19T14:25:00.000+08:002015-10-19T19:08:02.608+08:00Highlights of John Owen's "The Glory of Christ" (Part 2)<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yA1GJZUdvJs/ViCvf02ezYI/AAAAAAAAEbo/OlMhjBlFR2M/s320/johnowen.jpg" width="242" /></div><br />
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Click <a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2015/10/highlights-of-john-owens-glory-of.html" target="_new"><b>here</b></a> for Part 1.<br />
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<b>Chapter VI. The glory of Christ in the discharge of his mediatory office.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"It is our duty to endeavour after freedom, willingness, and cheerfulness in all our obedience. Obedience has its formal nature from our wills. So much as there is of our wills in what we do towards God, so much there is of obedience, and no more. Howbeit we are, antecedently unto all acts of our own wills, obliged unto all that is called obedience. From the very constitution of our natures we are necessarily subject unto the law of God."</li>
<li>"He unto whom prayer was made, prayed himself night and day. He whom all the angels of heaven and all creatures worshipped, was continually conversant in all the duties of the worship of God. He who was over the house, diligently observed the meanest office of the house. He that made all men, in whose hand they are all as clay in the hand of the potter, observed amongst them the strictest rules of justice, in giving unto every one his due; and of charity, in giving good things that were not so due. This is that which renders the obedience of Christ in the discharge of his office both mysterious and glorious."</li>
<li>"We might here look on him as under the weight of the wrath of God, and the curse of the law; taking on himself, and on his whole soul, the utmost of evil that God had ever threatened to sin or sinners. We might look on him in his agony and bloody sweat, in his strong cries and supplications, when he was sorrowful unto the death, and began to be amazed, in apprehensions of the things that were coming on him, -- of that dreadful trial which he was entering into. We might look upon him conflicting with all the powers of darkness, the rage and madness of men, -- suffering in his soul, his body, his name, his reputation, his goods, his life; some of these sufferings being immediate from God above, others from devils and wicked men, acting according to the determinate counsel of God. We might look on him praying, weeping, crying out, bleeding, dying, -- in all things making his soul an offering for sin; so was he 'taken from prison, and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off from the land of the living: for the transgression,' says God, 'of my people was he smitten,' Isa. liii. 8. But these things I shall not insist on in particular, but leave them under such a veil as may give us a prospect into them, so far as to fill our souls with holy admiration."</li>
<li>"How glorious is the Lord Christ on this account, in the eyes of believers! When Adam had sinned, and thereby eternally, according unto the sanction of the law, ruined himself and all his posterity, he stood ashamed, afraid, trembling, as one ready to perish for ever, under the displeasure of God. Death was that which he had deserved, and immediate death was that which he looked for. In this state the Lord Christ in the promise comes unto him, and says, Poor creature! how woeful is thy condition! how deformed is thy appearance! What is become of the beauty, of the glory of that image of God wherein thou wast created? how hast thou taken on thee the monstrous shape and image of Satan? And yet thy present misery, thy entrance into dust and darkness, is no way to be compared with what is to ensue. Eternal distress lies at the door. But yet look up once more, and behold me, that thou mayest have some glimpse of what is in the designs of infinite wisdom, love, and grace. Come forth from thy vain shelter, thy hiding-place I will put myself into thy condition. I will undergo and bear that burden of guilt and punishment which would sink thee eternally into the bottom of hell. I will pay that which I never took; and be made temporally a curse for thee, that thou mayest attain unto eternal blessedness. To the same purpose he speaks unto convinced sinners, in the invitation he gives them to come unto him."</li>
</ul><a name='more'></a><br />
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<b> Chapter VII. The glory of Christ in his exaltation after the accomplishment ofthe work of mediation in this world.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"So much as we know of Christ, his sufferings, and his glory, so much do we understand of the Scripture, and no more.<br />
<br />
These are the two heads of the mediation of Christ and his kingdom, and this is their order which they communicate unto the church, -- first sufferings, and then glory: 'If we suffer, we shall also reign with him,' 2 Tim. ii. 12. They do but deceive themselves who design any other method of these things. Some would reign here in this world; and we may say, with the apostle, 'Would you did reign, that we might reign with you.' But the members of the mystical body must be conformed unto the Head. In him sufferings went before glory; and so they must in them. The order in the kingdom of Satan and the world is contrary hereunto. First the good things of this life, and then eternal misery, is the method of that kingdom, Luke xvi. 25."</li>
<li>"But yet this is not that properly wherein the glory of Christ in his exaltation, after his humiliation and death, does consist. The things that belong unto it may be reduced unto the ensuing heads.<br />
<br />
1. It consisteth in the exaltation of the human nature, as subsisting in the divine person, above the whole creation of God in power, dignity, authority, and rule, with all things that the wisdom of God has appointed to render the glory of it illustrious. I have so largely insisted on the explication and confirmation of this part of the present glory of Christ, in the exposition of Heb. i. 2, 3, that I have nothing more to add thereunto.<br />
<br />
2. It does so in the evidence given of the infinite love of God the Father unto him, and his delight in him, with the eternal approbation of his discharge of the office committed unto him. Hence he is said 'to sit at the right hand of God,' or at 'the right hand of the majesty on high.' That the glory and dignity of Christ in his exaltation is singular, the highest that can be given to a creature, incomprehensible; -- that he is, with respect unto the discharge of his office, under the eternal approbation of God; -- that, as so gloriously exalted, he is proclaimed unto the whole creation, -- are all contained in this expression.<br />
<br />
3. Hereunto is added the full manifestation of his own divine wisdom, love, and grace, in the work of mediation and redemption of the church. This glory is absolutely singular and peculiar unto him. Neither angels nor men have the least interest in it. Here, we see it darkly as in a glass; above, it shines forth in its brightness, to the eternal joy of them who behold him."</li>
<li>"This is the sole foundation of all our meditations herein. The glory that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the real actual possession of in heaven can be no otherwise seen or apprehended in this world, but in the light of faith fixing itself on divine revelation. To behold this glory of Christ is not an act of fancy or imagination. It does not consist in framing unto ourselves the shape of a glorious person in heaven. But the steady exercise of faith on the revelation and description made of this glory of Christ in the Scripture, is the ground, rule, and measure, of all divine meditations thereon."</li>
</ul><br />
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<b>Chapter VIII. Representations of the glory of Christ under the Old Testament.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"A few days, a few hours spent in the frame characterised in it, is a blessedness excelling all the treasures of the earth; and if we, whose revelations of the same glory do far exceed theirs, should be found to come short of them in ardency of affection unto Christ, and continual holy admiration of his excellencies, we shall one day be judged unworthy to have received them."</li>
<li>"He was as yet God only; but appeared in the assumed shape of a man, to signify what he would be. He did not create a human nature, and unite it unto himself for such a season; only by his divine power he acted the shape of a man composed of what ethereal substance he pleased, immediately to be dissolved. So he appeared to Abraham, to Jacob, to Moses, to Joshua, and others; as I have at large elsewhere proved and confirmed. And hereon, also, because he was the divine person who dwelt in and dwelt with the church, under the Old Testament, from first to last, in so doing he constantly assumes unto himself human affections, to intimate that a season would come when he would immediately act in that nature. And, indeed, after the fall there is nothing spoken of God in the Old Testament, nothing of his institutions, nothing of the way and manner of dealing with the church, but what has respect unto the future incarnation of Christ. And it had been absurd to bring in God under perpetual anthropopathies, as grieving, repenting, being angry, well pleased, and the like, were it not but that the divine person intended was to take on him the nature wherein such affections do dwell."</li>
<li>"Of the same nature was his glorious appearance on mount Sinai at the giving of the law, Exod. xix.; -- for the description thereof by the Psalmist, Ps. lxviii. 17, 18, is applied by the apostle unto the ascension of Christ after his resurrection, Eph. iv. 8. Only, as it was then full of outward terror, because of the giving of the fiery law, it was referred unto by the Psalmist as full of mercy, with respect unto his accomplishment of the same law. His giving of it was as death unto them concerned, because of its holiness, and the severity of the curse wherewith it was attended; his fulfilling of it was life, by the pardon and righteousness which issued from thence."</li>
<li>"Nor can we read, study, or meditate on the writings of the Old Testament unto any advantage, unless we design to find out and behold the glory of Christ, declared and represented in them. For want hereof they are a sealed book to many unto this day."</li>
</ul><br />
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<b>Chapter IX. The glory of Christ in his intimate conjunction with the church.</b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>"There is a greater, a more intimate conjunction, a nearer relation, a higher mutual interest, between Christ and the church, than ever was or can be between any other persons or relations in the world, whereon it became just and equal in the sight of God that he should suffer for us, and that what he did and suffered would be imputed unto us."</li>
<li>"In his cross were divine holiness and vindictive justice exercised and manifested; and through his triumph, grace and mercy are exerted to the utmost. This is that glory which ravisheth the hearts and satiates the souls of them that believe. For what can they desire more, what is farther needful unto the rest and composure of their souls, than at one view to behold God eternally well pleased in the declaration of his righteousness and the exercise of his mercy, in order unto their salvation? In due apprehensions hereof let my soul live; -- in the faith hereof let me die, and let present admiration of this glory make way for the eternal enjoyment of it in its beauty and fulness."</li>
</ul><br />
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<b> Chapter X. The glory of Christ in the communication of himself unto believers.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"This, therefore, is herein the glorious order of divine communications. From the infinite, eternal spring of wisdom, grace, goodness and love, in the Father, -- all the effects whereof unto this end were treasured up in the person and mediation of the Son, -- the Holy Spirit, unto whom the actual application of them is committed, communicates life, light, power, grace, and mercy, unto all that are designed parts of the new creation. Hereon does God glorify both the essential properties of his nature, -- his infinite wisdom, power, goodness, and grace, -- as the only eternal spring of all these things, and also his ineffable glorious existence in three persons by the order of the communication of these things unto the church, which are originally from his nature. And herein is the glorious truth of the blessed Trinity, -- which by some is opposed, by some neglected, by most looked on as that which is so much above them as that it does not belong unto them, -- made precious unto them that believe, and becomes the foundation of their faith and hope. In a view of the glorious order of those divine communications, we are in a steady contemplation of the ineffable glory of the existence of the nature of God in the three distinct persons of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."</li>
<li>"He gives and communicates unto them his Holy Spirit; -- the Holy Spirit as peculiarly his, as granted unto him of the Father, as inhabiting in him in all fulness. This Spirit -- abiding originally as to his person, and immeasurably as unto his effects and operations, in himself -- he gives unto all believers, to inhabit and abide in them also, John xiv. 14-20; 1 Cor. vi. 17; Rom. viii. 9. Hence follows an ineffable union between him and them. For as in his incarnation he took our nature into personal union with his own; so herein he takes our persons into a mystical union with himself. Hereby he becomes ours, and we are his."</li>
<li>"But the same divine nature it is that is in him and us; for, through the precious promises of the Gospel, we are made partakers of his Divine nature. It is not enough for us that he has taken our nature to be his, unless he gives us also his nature to be ours; -- that is, implants in our souls all those gracious qualifications, as unto the essence and substance of them, wherewith he himself in his human nature is endued. This is that new man, that new creature, that divine nature, that spirit which is born of the Spirit, that transformation into the image of Christ, that putting of him on, that worship of God whereunto in him we are created, that the Scripture so fully testifieth unto, John iii. 6; Rom vi. 3-8; 2 Cor. iii. 18; v. 17; Eph. iv. 20-24; 2 Peter i. 4."</li>
</ul></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-14472219047485106142015-10-16T16:07:00.003+08:002015-10-19T19:07:12.979+08:00Highlights of John Owen's "The Glory of Christ" (Part 1)<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yA1GJZUdvJs/ViCvf02ezYI/AAAAAAAAEbo/OlMhjBlFR2M/s320/johnowen.jpg" width="242" /></div><br />
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This will be the first post in a series of posts that will contain all the portions of John Owen's <i>Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ in His Person, Office, and Grace</i>—or "The Glory of Christ" for short—that I highlighted.<br />
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This work by Owen is significant by virtue of the topic treated and the fact that it was the last book he ever wrote, thus reflecting the knowledge and wisdom of a mature, battle-worn faith that is now about to graduate into sight:<br />
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<blockquote>"There are some facts which impart peculiar interest to these Meditations. They were drawn up, according to the author's own statement, 'for the exercise of his own mind,' in the first instance; and illustrate, accordingly, the scope and tenor of his Christian experience. They form, moreover, his dying testimony to the truth, -- and to the truth, with peculiar emphasis, as it 'is in Jesus;' for they are the substance of the last instructions which he delivered to his flock; and they constitute the last work which he prepared for the press. It is instructive to peruse the solemn musings of his soul when 'weakness, weariness, and the near approaches of death,' were calling him away from his earthly labours; and to mark how intently his thoughts were fixed on the glory of the Saviour, whom he was soon to behold 'face to face.' On the day of his death, Mr Payne, who had the charge of the original publication of this treatise, on bidding Dr Owen farewell, said to him, 'Doctor, I have just been putting your book on the Glory of Christ to the press.' 'I am glad,' was Owen's reply, 'to hear that that performance is put to the press; but, O brother Payne, the long looked-for day is come at last, in which I shall see that glory in another manner than I have ever done yet, or was capable of doing in this world.'" (William H. Goold, <i>Prefatory note.</i>)</blockquote><br />
I can see these posts as being profitable to the reader as a devotional or as an introduction to Owen's theology of the <i>beatific vision</i>. May they serve to make Christ more glorious and beautiful—and thus desirable—to us as we look to Him now in faith, and thereafter in sight.<a name='more'></a><br />
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<b>Preface to the reader.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"The revelation made of Christ in the blessed Gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, and more filled with rays of divine wisdom and goodness, than the whole creation and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion.<br />
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This, therefore, deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them. For if our future blessedness shall consist in being where he is, and beholding of his glory, what better preparation can there be for it than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the revelation that is made in the Gospel, unto this very end, that by a view of it we may be gradually transformed into the same glory?"</li>
<li>"Those who engage this nature in the service of sensual lusts and pleasures, -- who think that its felicity and utmost capacities consist in their satisfaction, with the accomplishment of other earthly, temporal desires, -- are satisfied with it in its state of apostasy from God; but those who have received the light of faith and grace, so as rightly to understand the being and end of that nature whereof they are partakers, cannot but rejoice in its deliverance from the utmost debasement, into that glorious exaltation which it has received in the person of Christ. And this must needs make thoughts of him full of refreshment unto their souls. Let us take care of our persons, -- the glory of our nature is safe in him."</li>
<li>"Heaven and earth may pass away, but there shall never be a dissolution of the union between God and our nature any more. He did it, therefore, by assuming it into a substantial union with himself, in the person of the Son. Hereby the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in it bodily, or substantially, and eternally. Hereby is its relation unto God eternally secured."</li>
<li>"He it is who in himself has given us a pledge of the capacity of our nature to inhabit those blessed regions of light, which are far above these aspectable heavens. Here we dwell in tabernacles of clay, that are "crushed before the moth," -- such as cannot be raised, so as to abide one foot-breadth above the earth we tread upon. The heavenly luminaries which we can behold appear too great and glorious for our cohabitation. We are as grasshoppers in our own eyes, in comparison of those gigantic beings; and they seem to dwell in places which would immediately swallow up and extinguish our natures. How, then, shall we entertain an apprehension of being carried and exalted above them all? to have an everlasting subsistence in places incomprehensibly more glorious than the orbs wherein they reside? What capacity is there in our nature of such a habitation? But hereof the Lord Christ has given us a pledge in himself. Our nature in him is passed through these aspectable heavens, and is exalted far above them. Its eternal habitation is in the blessed regions of light and glory; and he has promised that where he is, there we shall be, and that for ever.<br />
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Other encouragements there are innumerable to stir us up unto diligence in the discharge of the duty here proposed, -- namely, a continual contemplation of the glory of Christ, in his person, office, and grace. Some of them, the principal of them which I have any acquaintance with, are represented in the ensuing Discourse. I shall therefore here add the peculiar advantage which we may obtain in the diligent discharge of this duty; which is, -- that it will carry us cheerfully, comfortably, and victoriously through life and death, and all that we have to conflict withal in either of them."</li>
<li>"It is a woeful kind of life, when men scramble for poor perishing reliefs in their distresses. This is the universal remedy and cure, -- the only balsam for all our diseases. Whatever presseth, urgeth, perplexeth, if we can but retreat in our minds unto a view of this glory, and a due consideration of our own interest therein, comfort and supportment will be administered unto us."</li>
<li>"One real view of the glory of Christ, and of our own concernment therein, will give us a full relief in this matter. For what are all the things of this life? What is the good or evil of them in comparison of an interest in this transcendent glory? When we have due apprehensions hereof, -- when our minds are possessed with thoughts of it, -- when our affections reach out after its enjoyments, -- let pain, and sickness, and sorrows, and fears, and dangers, and death, say what they will, we shall have in readiness wherewith to combat with them and overcome them; and that on this consideration, that they are all outward, transitory, and passing away, whereas our minds are fixed on those things which are eternal, and filled with incomprehensible glory."</li>
<li>"It is the way and means of conveying a sense of God's love unto our souls; which is that alone where ultimately we find rest in the midst of all the troubles of this life; as the apostle declares, Rom. v. 2-5. It is the Spirit of God who alone communicates a sense of this love unto our souls; it is 'shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.' Howbeit, there are ways and means to be used on our part, whereby we may be disposed and made meet to receive these communications of divine love. Among these the principal is the contemplation of the glory of Christ insisted on, and of God the Father in him. It is the season, it is the way and means, at which and whereby the Holy Ghost will give a sense of the love of God unto us, causing us thereon to 'rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.'"</li>
<li>"None has come from the dead to inform us of the state of the other world; yea, God seems on purpose so to conceal it from us, that we should have no evidence of it, at least as unto the manner of things in it, but what is given unto faith by divine revelation. Hence those who died and were raised again from the dead unto any continuance among men, as Lazarus, probably knew nothing of the invisible state. Their souls were preserved by the power of God in their being, but bound up as unto present operations."</li>
<li>"How is it like to be after the few moments which, under the pangs of death, we have to continue in this world? Is it an annihilation that lies at the door? Is death the destruction of our whole being, so as that after it we shall be no more? So some would have the state of things to be. Is it a state of subsistence in a wandering condition, up and down the world, under the influence of other more powerful spirits that rule in the air, visiting tombs and solitary places, and sometimes making appearances of themselves by the impressions of those more powerful spirits; as some imagine from the story concerning Samuel and the witch of Endor, and as it is commonly received in the Papacy, out of a compliance with their imagination of purgatory? Or is it a state of universal misery and woe? a state incapable of comfort or joy? Let them pretend what they please, who can understand no comfort or joy in this life but what they receive by their senses; -- they can look for nothing else. And whatever be the state of this invisible world, the soul can undertake nothing of its own conduct after its departure from the body. It knows that it must be absolutely at the disposal of another.<br />
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Wherefore no man can comfortably venture on and into this condition, but in the exercise of that faith which enables him to resign and give up his departing soul into the hand of God, who alone is able to receive it, and to dispose it into a condition of rest and blessedness. So speaks the apostle, 'I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him again that day.'"</li>
<li>"But Jesus Christ it is who does immediately receive the souls of them who believe in him. So we see in the instance of Stephen. And what can be a greater encouragement to resign them into his hands, than a daily contemplation of his glory, in his person, his power, his exaltation, his office, and grace? Who that believes in him, that belongs unto him, can fear to commit his departing spirit unto his love, power, and care? Even we also shall hereby in our dying moments see by faith heaven opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God ready to receive us. This, added unto the love which all believers have unto the Lord Jesus, which is inflamed by contemplation of his glory, and their desires to be with him where he is, will strengthen and confine our minds in the resignation of our departing souls into his hand."</li>
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<b>Chapter I. The explication of the text.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"This alone, which is here prayed for, will give them such satisfaction, and nothing else. The hearts of believers are like the needle touched by the loadstone, which cannot rest until it comes to the point whereunto, by the secret virtue of it, it is directed. For being once touched by the love of Christ, receiving therein an impression of secret ineffable virtue, they will ever be in motion, and restless, until they come unto him, and behold his glory. That soul which can be satisfied without it, -- that cannot be eternally satisfied with it, -- is not partaker of the efficacy of his intercession."</li>
<li>"That which at present I design to demonstrate is, that the beholding of the glory of Christ is one of the greatest privileges and advancements that believers are capable of in this world, or that which is to come. It is that whereby they are first gradually conformed unto it, and then fixed in the eternal enjoyment of it. For here in this life, beholding his glory, they are changed or transformed into the likeness of it, 2 Cor. iii. 18; and hereafter they shall be 'for ever like unto him,' because they 'shall see him as he is,' 1 John iii. 1, 2. Hereon do our present comforts and future blessedness depend. This is the life and reward of our souls. 'He that has seen him has seen the Father also,' John xiv. 9. For we discern the 'light of the knowledge of the glory of God only in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6."</li>
<li>"No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight hereafter, who does not in some measure behold it by faith here in this world. Grace is a necessary preparation for glory, and faith for sight. Where the subject (the soul) is not previously seasoned with grace and faith, it is not capable of glory or vision. Nay, persons not disposed hereby unto it cannot desire it, whatever they pretend; they only deceive their own souls in supposing that so they do. Most men will say with confidence, living and dying, that they desire to be with Christ, and to behold his glory; but they can give no reason why they should desire any such thing, -- only they think it somewhat that is better than to be in that evil condition which otherwise they must be cast into for ever, when they can be here no more. If a man pretend himself to be enamoured on, or greatly to desire, what he never saw, nor was ever represented unto him, he does but dote on his own imaginations. And the pretended desires of many to behold the glory of Christ in heaven, who have no view of it by faith whilst they are here in this world, are nothing but self-deceiving imaginations."</li>
<li>"Yea, the soul is disturbed, not edified, in all contemplations of future glory, when things are proposed unto it whereof in this life it has neither foretaste, sense, experience, nor evidence. No man ought to look for anything in heaven, but what one way or other he has some experience of in this life. If men were fully persuaded hereof, they would be, it may be, more in the exercise of faith and love about heavenly things than for the most part they are. At present they know not what they enjoy, and they look for they know not what."</li>
<li>"No man can by faith take a real view of this glory, but virtue will proceed from it in a transforming power to change him 'into the same image,' 2 Cor. iii. 18."</li>
<li>"The constant contemplation of the glory of Christ will give rest, satisfaction, and complacency unto the souls of them who are exercised therein. Our minds are apt to be filled with a multitude of perplexed thoughts; -- fears, cares, dangers, distresses, passions, and lusts, do make various impressions on the minds of men, filling them with disorder, darkness, and confusion. But where the soul is fixed in its thoughts and contemplations on this glorious object, it will be brought into and kept in a holy, serene, spiritual frame. For "to be spiritually-minded is life and peace." And this it does by taking off our hearts from all undue regard unto all things below, in comparison of the great worth, beauty, and glory of what we are conversant withal. See Phil. iii. 7-11. A defect herein makes many of us strangers unto a heavenly life, and to live beneath the spiritual refreshments and satisfactions that the Gospel does tender unto us."</li>
<li>"The enjoyment of God by sight is commonly called the beatifical vision; and it is the sole fountain of all the actings of our souls in the state of blessedness: which the old philosophers knew nothing of; neither do we know distinctly what they are, or what is this sight of God. Howbeit, this we know, that God in his immense essence is invisible unto our corporeal eyes, and will be so to eternity; as also incomprehensible unto our minds. For nothing can perfectly comprehend that which is infinite, but what is itself infinite. Wherefore the blessed and blessing sight which we shall have of God will be always 'in the face of Jesus Christ.' Therein will that manifestation of the glory of God, in his infinite perfections, and all their blessed operations, so shine into our souls, as shall immediately fill us with peace, rest, and glory."</li>
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<b>Chapter II. The glory of the person of Christ, as the only representative of God unto the church.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"The glory of God comprehends both the holy properties of his nature and the counsels of his will; and 'the light of the knowledge' of these things we have only 'in the face' or person 'of Jesus Christ.'"</li>
<li>"This is the original glory of Christ, given him by his Father, and which by faith we may behold. He, and he alone, declares, represents, and makes known, unto angels and men, the essential glory of the invisible God, his attributes and his will; without which, a perpetual comparative darkness would have been the whole creation, especially that part of it here below.<br />
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This is the foundation of our religion, the Rock whereon the church is built, the ground of all our hopes of salvation, of life and immortality: all is resolved into this, -- namely, the representation that is made of the nature and will of God in the person and office of Christ. If this fail us, we are lost for ever; if this Rock stand firm, the church is safe here, and shall be triumphant hereafter."</li>
<li>"Not to see the wisdom of God, and the power of God, and consequently all the other holy properties of his nature, in Christ, is to be an unbeliever.<br />
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The essence of faith consists in a due ascription of glory to God, Rom. iv. 20. This we cannot attain unto without the manifestation of those divine excellencies unto us wherein he is glorious. This is done in Christ alone, so as that we may glorify God in a saving and acceptable manner. He who discerns not the glory of divine wisdom, power, goodness, love, and grace, in the person and office of Christ, with the way of the salvation of sinners by him, is an unbeliever."</li>
<li>"And it is at this day not want of wit, but hatred of the mysteries of our religion, which makes so many prone to forego all supernatural revelation, and to betake themselves unto a religion declared, as they suppose, by reason and the light of nature; -- like bats and owls, who, being not able to bear the light of the sun, betake themselves unto the twilight, to the dawnings of light and darkness."</li>
<li>"Men may talk what they please of a light within them, or of the power of reason to conduct them unto that knowledge of God whereby they may live unto him; but if they had nothing else, if they did not boast themselves of that light which has its foundation and original in divine revelation alone, they would not excel them who, in the best management of their own reasonings, 'knew not God,' but waxed vain in their imaginations."</li>
<li>"Herein is the Lord Christ glorious. And this is that which I shall now speak unto, -- namely, how we may behold the glory of Christ in the representation and revelation that is made of God and his glory, in his person and office, unto all that do believe. For it is not so much the declaration of the nature of the things themselves, wherein the glory of Christ does consist, as our way and duty in the beholding of them, which at present is designed."</li>
<li>"We may inquire, What shall we, what do we see in him? Do we see him as 'the image of the invisible God," representing him, his nature, properties, and will unto us? Do we see him as the 'character,' the 'express image of the person of the Father,' so that we have no need of Philip's request, 'Lord, show us the Father?' because having seen him, we have seen the Father also, John xiv. 9."</li>
<li>"Infinite wisdom is one of the most glorious properties of the divine nature; it is that which is directive of all the external works of God, wherein the glory of all the other excellencies of God is manifested: wherefore the manifestation of the whole glory of God proceeds originally from infinite wisdom."</li>
<li>"If we have any interest in God, if we have any hopes of blessedness in beholding of his glory unto eternity, we cannot but desire a view (such as is attainable) of this infinite, manifold wisdom of God in this life. But it is in Christ alone that we can discern anything of it; for him has the Father chosen and sealed to represent it unto us. All the treasures of this wisdom are hid, laid up, and laid out in him; -- herein lies the essence and form of faith. Believers by it do see the wisdom of God in Christ, in his person and office, -- Christ the wisdom of God. Unbelievers see it not, as the apostle argues, 1 Cor. i. 22-24."</li>
<li>"We no way deny or extenuate the manifestation that is made of the wisdom of God in the works of creation and providence. It is sufficient to detect the folly of atheism and idolatry; and was designed of God unto that end. But its comparative insufficiency -- with respect unto the representation of it in Christ as to the ends of knowing God aright and living unto him -- the Scripture does abundantly attest."</li>
<li>"Divine love is not to be considered only in its effects, but in its nature and essence; and so it is God himself, for 'God is love.' And a blessed revelation this is of the divine nature; it casts out envy, hatred, malice, revenge, with all their fruits, in rage, fierceness, implacability, persecution, murder, into the territories of Satan."</li>
<li>"How, then, shall we know, wherein shall we behold, the glory of God in this, that he is love? The apostle declares it in the next words, 1 John iv. 9, 'In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.' This is the only evidence given us that "God is love." Hereby alone is the divine nature as such made known unto us, -- namely, in the mission, person, and office of the Son of God; without this, all is in darkness as unto the true nature and supreme operation of this divine love.<br />
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Herein do we behold the glory of Christ himself, even in this life. This glory was given him of the Father, -- namely, that he now should declare and evidence that 'God is love;' and he did so, 'that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.' Herein we may see how excellent, how beautiful, how glorious and desirable he is, seeing in him alone we have a due representation of God as he is love; which is the most joyful sight of God that any creature can obtain."</li>
<li>"The sum of the whole is this: If you would behold the glory of Christ as the great means of your sanctification and consolation, as the only preparation for the beholding of his glory in eternal blessedness, consider what of God is made known and represented unto you in him, wherein God purposed and designed to glorify himself in him. Now, this is all that may be known of God in a saving manner, -- especially his wisdom, his love, his goodness, grace, and mercy, whereon the life of our souls does depend; -- and the Lord Christ being appointed the only way and means hereof, how exceeding glorious must he be in the eyes of them that do believe!"</li>
<li>"Wherefore, in the contemplation of this glory consists the principal exercise of faith."</li>
<li>"Some men speak much of the imitation of Christ, and following of his example; and it were well if we could see more of it really in effect. But no man shall ever become "like unto him" by bare imitation of his actions, without that view or intuition of his glory which alone is accompanied with a transforming power to change them into the same image."</li>
<li>"Is Christ, then, thus glorious in our eyes? Do we see the Father in him, or by seeing of him? Do we sedulously daily contemplate on the wisdom, love, grace, goodness, holiness, and righteousness of God, as revealing and manifesting themselves in him? Do we sufficiently consider that the immediate vision of this glory in heaven will be our everlasting blessedness? Does the imperfect view which we have of it here increase our desires after the perfect sight of it above?"</li>
<li>"Nothing is more fully and clearly revealed in the gospel, than that unto us Jesus Christ is 'the image of the invisible God;' that he is the character of the person of the Father, so as that in seeing him we see the Father also; that we have 'the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in his face alone,' as has been proved. This is the principal fundamental mystery and truth of the Gospel; and which if it be not received, believed, owned, all other truths are useless unto our souls. To refer all the testimonies that are given hereunto to the doctrine which he taught, in contradistinction unto his person as acting in the discharge of his office, is anti-evangelical, anti-christian, -- turning the whole Gospel into a fable."</li>
<li>"He is no Christian who believes not that faith in the person of Christ is the spring of all evangelical obedience; or who knows not that faith respects the revelation of the glory of God in him."</li>
<li>"Reckon in your minds, that this beholding of the glory of Christ by beholding the glory of God, and all his holy properties in him, is the greatest privilege whereof in this life we can be made partakers. The dawning of heaven is in it, and the first-fruits of glory; for this is life eternal, to know the Father, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent, John xvii. 3. Unless you value it, unless you esteem it as such a privilege, you will not enjoy it; and that which is not valued according unto its worth is despised. It is not enough to think it a privilege, an advantage; but it is to be valued above other things, according unto its greatness and excellency. 'Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears,' Job xxviii. 22. And if we do no more, we shall die strangers unto it; we are to 'cry after this knowledge, and lift up our voice for this understanding,' if we design to attain it."</li>
<li>"The principal of them is fervent prayer. Pray, then, with Moses, that God would show you this his glory; pray with the apostle, that 'the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened to behold it;' pray that the 'God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.' Fill your minds with spiritual thoughts and contrivances about them. Slothful and lazy souls never obtain one view of this glory; the 'lion in the way' deters them from attempting it. Being carnal, they abhor all diligence in the use of spiritual means, such as prayer and meditation on things unto them uneasy, unpleasing, and difficult. Unto others the way partakes of the nature of the end; the means of obtaining a view of the glory of Christ are of the same kind, of the same pleasantness, with that view itself in their proportion."</li>
<li>"But herein it is required that we rest not in the notion of this truth, and a bare assent unto the doctrine of it. The affecting power of it upon our hearts is that which we should aim at. Wherein does the blessedness of the saints above consist? Is it not herein, that they behold and see the glory of God in Christ? And what is the effect of it upon those blessed souls? Does it not change them into the same image, or make them like unto Christ? Does it not fill and satiate them with joy, rest, delight, complacency, and ineffable satisfaction? Do we expect, do we desire, the same state of blessedness? It is our present view of the glory of Christ which is our initiation thereinto, if we are exercised in it, until we have an experience of its transforming power in our souls."</li>
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<b>Chapter III. The glory of Christ in the mysterious constitution of his person.</b><br />
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<ul><li>"Let us get it fixed on our souls and in our minds, that this glory of Christ in the divine constitution of his person is the best, the most noble, useful, beneficial object that we can be conversant about in our thoughts, or cleave unto in our affections.<br />
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What are all other things in comparison of the 'knowledge of Christ?' In the judgment of the great apostle, they are but 'loss and dung,' Phil. iii. 8-10. So they were to him; and if they are not so to us we are carnal.<br />
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What is the world, and what are the things thereof, which most men spend their thoughts about, and fix their affections on? The Psalmist gives his judgment about them, in comparison of a view of this glory of Christ, Ps. iv. 6, 'Many say, Who will show us any good?' -- Who will give and help us to attain so much in and of this world as will give rest and satisfaction unto our minds? That is the good inquired after. But, saith he, 'Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.' The light of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus is that satisfactory good alone which I desire and seek after."</li>
<li>"Look unto the things of this world, -- wives, children, possessions, estates, power, friends, and honour; how amiable are they! how desirable unto the thoughts of the most of men! But he who has obtained a view of the glory of Christ, will, in the midst of them all, say, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none on earth that I desire besides thee,' Ps. lxxiii. 25; 'For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?' Ps. lxxxix. 6."</li>
<li>"This principle is always to be retained in our minds in reading of the Scripture, -- namely, that the revelation and doctrine of the person of Christ and his office, is the foundation whereon all other instructions of the prophets and apostles for the edification of the church are built, and whereinto they are resolved; as is declared, Eph. ii. 20-22. So our Lord Jesus Christ himself at large makes it manifest, Luke xxiv. 26, 27, 45, 46. Lay aside the consideration hereof, and the Scriptures are no such thing as they pretend unto, -- namely, a revelation of the glory of God in the salvation of the church; nor are those of the Old Testament so at this day unto the Jews, who own not this principle, 2 Cor. iii. 13-16. There are, therefore, such revelations of the person and glory of Christ treasured up in the Scripture, from the beginning unto the end of it, as may exercise the faith and contemplation of believers in this world, and shall never, during this life, be fully discovered or understood; and in divine meditations of these revelations does much of the life of faith consist."</li>
<li>"Then do we find food for souls in the word of truth, then do we taste how gracious the Lord is therein, then is the Scripture full of refreshment unto us as a spring of living water, -- when we are taken into blessed views of the glory of Christ therein. And we are in the best frame of duty, when the principal motive in our minds to contend earnestly for retaining the possession of the Scripture against all that would deprive us of it, or discourage us from a daily diligent search into it, is this, -- that they would take from us the only glass wherein we may behold the glory of Christ. This is the glory of the Scripture, that it is the great, yea, the only, outward means of representing unto us the glory of Christ; and he is the sun in the firmament of it, which only has light in itself, and communicates it unto all other things besides."</li>
<li>"The mind must be spiritual and holy, freed from earthly affections and encumbrances, raised above things here below, that can in a due manner meditate on the glory of Christ. Therefore are the most strangers unto this duty, because they will not be at the trouble and charge of that mortification of earthly affections, -- that extirpation of sensual inclinations, -- that retirement from the occasions of life, which are required whereunto."</li>
<li>"Let your occasional thoughts of Christ be many, and multiplied every day. He is not far from us; we may make a speedy address unto him at any time. So the apostle informs us, Rom. x. 6-8, 'Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above;) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)' For 'the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart.' The things that Christ did were done at a distance from us, and they are long since past. But, saith the apostle, 'The word' of the Gospel wherein these things are revealed, and whereby an application is made of them unto our souls, is nigh unto us, even in our hearts; that is, if we are true believers, and have mixed the word with faith, -- and so it exhibiteth Christ and all the benefits of his mediation unto us. If, therefore, this word is in our hearts, Christ is nigh unto us. If we turn at any time into ourselves to converse with the word that abideth in us, there we shall find him ready to receive us into communion with himself; that is, in the light of the knowledge of Christ which we have by the word, we may have sudden, occasional thoughts of him continually: and where our minds and affections are so filled with other things that we are not ready for converse with him who is thus nigh unto us by the word, we are spiritually indisposed."</li>
<li>"The Lord Christ is pleased sometimes to withdraw himself from the spiritual experience of believers; as to any refreshing sense of his love, or the fresh communications of consolatory graces. Those who never had experience of any such thing, who never had any refreshing communion with him, cannot be sensible of his absence; -- they never were so of his presence. But those whom he has visited, -- to whom he has given of his loves, -- with whom he has made his abode, -- whom he has refreshed, relieved, and comforted, -- in whom he has lived in the power of his grace, -- they know what it is to be forsaken by him, though but for a moment. And their trouble is increased, when they seek him with diligence in the wonted ways of obtaining his presence, and cannot find him. Our duty, in this case, is to persevere in our inquiries after him, in prayer, meditation, mourning, reading and hearing of the Word, in all ordinances of divine worship, private and public, in diligent obedience, -- until we find him, or he return unto us, as in former days."</li>
<li>"If, therefore, we would behold the glory of Christ, the present direction is, that on all occasions, and frequently when there are no occasions for it by the performance of other duties, we would abound in thoughts of him and his glory."</li>
<li>"When faith can no longer hold open the eyes of our understandings unto the beholding the Sun of Righteousness shining in his beauty, nor exercise orderly thoughts about this incomprehensible object, it will betake itself unto that holy admiration which we have spoken unto; and therein it will put itself forth in pure acts of love and complacency."</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<b>Chapter IV. The glory of Christ in his susception of the office of a mediator --first in his condescension.</b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>"Wherefore, the infinite, essential greatness of the nature of God, with his infinite distance from the nature of all creatures thereby, causeth all his dealings with them to be in the way of condescension or humbling himself. So it is expressed, Isa. lvii. 15, 'Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.' He is so the high and lofty one, and so inhabiteth eternity, or existeth in his own eternal being, that it is an act of mere grace in him to take notice of things below; and therefore he does it in an especial manner of those whom the world does most despise."</li>
<li>"How glorious, then, is the condescension of the Son of God in his susception of the office of mediation! For if such be the perfection of the divine nature, and its distance so absolutely infinite from the whole creation, -- and if such be his self-sufficiency unto his own eternal blessedness, as that nothing can be taken from him, nothing added unto him, so that every regard in him unto any of the creatures is an act of self-humiliation and condescension from the prerogative of his being and state, -- what heart can conceive, what tongue can express, the glory of that condescension in the Son of God, whereby he took our nature upon him, took it to be his own, in order unto a discharge of the office of mediation on our behalf?"</li>
<li>"Although he was then on earth as the Son of man, yet he ceased not to be God thereby; -- in his divine nature he was then also in heaven."</li>
<li>"This, then, is the foundation of the glory of Christ in this condescension, the life and soul of all heavenly truth and mysteries, -- namely, that the Son of God becoming in time to be what he was not, the Son of man, ceased not thereby to be what he was, even the eternal Son of God."</li>
<li>"But had we the tongue of men and angels, we were not able in any just measure to express the glory of this condescension; for it is the most ineffable effect of the divine wisdom of the Father and of the love of the Son, -- the highest evidence of the care of God towards mankind. What can be equal unto it? what can be like it? It is the glory of Christian religion, and the animating soul of all evangelical truth. This carrieth the mystery of the wisdom of God above the reason or understanding of men and angels, to be the object of faith and admiration only. A mystery it is that becomes the greatness of God, with his infinite distance from the whole creation, -- which renders it unbecoming him that all his ways and works should be comprehensible by any of his creatures, Job xi. 7-9; Rom. xi. 33-36.<br />
<br />
He who was eternally in the form of God, -- that is, was essentially so, God by nature, equally participant of the same divine nature with God the Father; 'God over all, blessed for ever;' who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth, -- he takes on him the nature of man, takes it to be his own, whereby he was no less truly a man in time than he was truly God from eternity. And to increase the wonder of this mystery, because it was necessary unto the end he designed, he so humbled himself in this assumption of our nature, as to make himself of no reputation in this world, -- yea, unto that degree, that he said of himself that he was a worm, and no man, in comparison of them who were of any esteem.<br />
<br />
We speak of these things in a poor, low, broken manner, -- we teach them as they are revealed in the Scripture, -- we labour by faith to adhere unto them as revealed; but when we come into a steady, direct view and consideration of the thing itself, our minds fail, our hearts tremble, and we can find no rest but in a holy admiration of what we cannot comprehend. Here we are at a loss, and know that we shall be so whilst we are in this world; but all the ineffable fruits and benefits of this truth are communicated unto them that do believe."</li>
<li>"He is herein a sanctuary, an assured refuge unto all that betake themselves unto him. What is it that any man in distress, who flies whereunto, may look for in a sanctuary? A supply of all his wants, a deliverance from all his fears, a defence against all his dangers, is proposed unto him therein. Such is the Lord Christ herein unto sin-distressed souls; he is a refuge unto us in all spiritual diseases and disconsolations, Heb. vi. 18. See the exposition of the place. [4] Are we, or any of us, burdened with a sense of sin? are we perplexed with temptations? are we bowed down under the oppression of any spiritual adversary? do we, on any of these accounts, 'walk in darkness and have no light?' One view of the glory of Christ herein is able to support us and relieve us.<br />
<br />
Unto whom we betake ourselves for relief in any case, we have regard to nothing but their will and their power. If they have both, we are sure of relief. And what shall we fear in the will of Christ as unto this end? What will he not do for us? He who thus emptied and humbled himself, who so infinitely condescended from the prerogative of his glory in his being and self-sufficiency, in the susception of our nature for the discharge of the office of a mediator on our behalf, -- will he not relieve us in all our distresses? will he not do all for us we stand in need of, that we may be eternally saved? will he not be a sanctuary unto us? Nor have we hereon any ground to fear his power; for, by this infinite condescension to be a suffering man, he lost nothing of his power as God omnipotent, -- nothing of his infinite wisdom or glorious grace. He could still do all that he could do as God from eternity. If there be any thing, therefore, in a coalescency of infinite power with infinite condescension, to constitute a sanctuary for distressed sinners, it is all in Christ Jesus. And if we see him not glorious herein, it is because there is no light of faith in us.<br />
<br />
This, then, is the rest wherewith we may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshment. Herein is he 'a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' Hereon he says, 'I have satiated the weary soul, and have refreshed every sorrowful soul.' Under this consideration it is that, in all evangelical promises and invitations for coming to him, he is proposed unto distressed sinners as their only sanctuary."</li>
<li>"But my exhortation is unto diligence in the contemplation of this glory of Christ, and the exercise of our thoughts about it. Unless we are diligent herein, it is impossible we should be steady in the principal acts of faith, or ready unto the principal duties of obedience. The principal act of faith respects the divine person of Christ, as all Christians must acknowledge. This we can never secure (as has been declared) if we see not his glory in this condescension: and whoever reduceth his notions unto experience, will find that herein his faith stands or falls. And the principal duty of our obedience is self-denial, with readiness for the cross. Hereunto the consideration of this condescension of Christ is the principal evangelical motive, and that whereinto our obedience in it is to be resolved; as the apostle declares, Phil. ii. 5-8. And no man does deny himself in a due manner, who does it not on the consideration of the self-denial of the Son of God. But a prevalent motive this is thereunto. For what are the things wherein we are to deny ourselves, or forego what we pretend to have a right unto? It is in our goods, our liberties, our relations, -- our lives. And what are they, any or all of them, in themselves, or unto us, considering our condition, and the end for which we were made? Perishing things, which, whether we will or no, within a few days death will give us an everlasting separation from, under the power of a fever or an asthma, &c., as unto our interest in them. But how incomparable with respect hereunto is that condescension of Christ, whereof we have given an account! If, therefore, we find an unwillingness in us, a tergiversation in our minds about these things, when called unto them in a way of duty, one view by faith of the glory of Christ in this condescension, and what he parted from therein when he "made himself of no reputation," will be an effectual cure of that sinful distemper.<br />
<br />
Herein, then, I say, we may by faith behold the glory of Christ, as we shall do it by sight hereafter. If we see no glory in it, if we discern not that which is matter of eternal admiration, we walk in darkness. It is the most ineffable effect of divine wisdom and grace. Where are our hearts and minds, if we can see no glory in it? I know in the contemplation of it, it will quickly overwhelm our reason, and bring our understanding into a loss: but unto this loss do I desire to be brought every day; for when faith can no more act itself in comprehension, when it finds the object it is fixed on too great and glorious to be brought into our minds and capacities, it will issue (as we said before) in holy admiration, humble adoration, and joyful thanksgiving. In and by its acting in them does it fill the soul with 'joy unspeakable, and full of glory.'"</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<b>Chapter V. The glory of Christ in his love.</b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>"Herein is he glorious, in a way and manner incomprehensible; for in the glory of divine love the chief brightness of glory does consist. There is nothing of dread or terror accompanying it, -- nothing but what is amiable and infinitely refreshing."</li>
<li>"In this condition, the first act of love in Christ towards us was in pity and compassion. A creature made in the image of God, and fallen into misery, yet capable of recovery, is the proper object of divine compassion. That which is so celebrated in the Scripture, as the bowels, the pity, the compassion of God, is the acting of divine love towards us on the consideration of our distress and misery. But all compassion ceaseth towards them whose condition is irrecoverable. Wherefore the Lord Christ pitied not the angels that fell, because their nature was not to be relieved. Of this compassion in Christ, see Heb. ii. 14-16; Isa. lxiii. 9."</li>
<li>"It is hence evident, that this glorious love of Christ does not consist alone in the eternal acting of his divine person, or the divine nature in his person. Such, indeed, is the love of the Father, -- namely, his eternal purpose for the communication of grace and glory, with his acquiescence therein; but there is more in the love of Christ. For when he exercised this love he was man also, and not God only. And in none of those eternal acts of love could the human nature of Christ have any interest or concern; yet is the love of the man Christ Jesus celebrated in the Scripture."</li>
<li>"Wherefore this love of Christ which we inquire after is the love of his person, -- that is, which he in his own person acts in and by his distinct natures, according unto their distinct essential properties. And the acts of love in these distinct natures are infinitely distinct and different; yet are they all acts of one and the same person. So, then, whether that act of love in Christ which we would at any time consider, be an eternal act of the divine nature in the person of the Son of God; or whether it be an act of the human, performed in time by the gracious faculties and powers of that nature, it is still the love of one and the selfsame person, -- Christ Jesus."</li>
<li>"The illustrious brightness wherewith this glory shines in heaven, the all-satisfying sweetness which the view of it gives unto the souls of the saints there possessed of glory, are not by us conceivable, nor to be expressed. Here, this love passeth knowledge, -- there, we shall comprehend the dimensions of it. Yet even here, if we are not slothful and carnal, we may have a refreshing prospect of it; and where comprehension fails, let admiration take place."</li>
<li>"Be not satisfied with general notions concerning the love of Christ, which represent no glory unto the mind, wherewith many deceive themselves. All who believe his divine person, profess a valuation of his love, -- and think them not Christians who are otherwise minded; but they have only general notions, and not any distinct conceptions of it, and really know not what it is. To deliver us from this snare, peculiar meditations on its principal concerns are required of us. As, --<br />
<br />
(1.) Whose love it is, -- namely, of the divine person of the Son of God. He is expressly called God, with respect unto the exercise of this love, that we may always consider whose it is, 1 John iii. 16, 'Hereby perceive we the love [of God], because he laid down his life for us.'<br />
<br />
(2.) By what ways and means this wonderful love of the Son of God does act itself, -- namely, in the divine nature, by eternal acts of wisdom, goodness, and grace proper thereunto; and in the human, by temporary acts of pity or compassion, with all the fruits of them in doing and suffering for us. See Eph. iii. 19; Heb. ii. 14, 15; Rev. i. 5.<br />
<br />
(3.) What is the freedom of it, as to any desert on our part, 1 John iv. 10. It was hatred, not love, that we in ourselves deserved; which is a consideration suited to fill the soul with self-abasement, -- the best of frames in the contemplation of the glory of Christ.<br />
<br />
(4.) What is the efficacy of it in its fruits and effects, with sundry other considerations of the like nature."</li>
<li>"Christ is the meat, the bread, the food of our souls. Nothing is in him of a higher spiritual nourishment than his love, which we should always desire.<br />
<br />
In this love is he glorious; for it is such as no creatures, angels or men, could have the least conceptions of, before its manifestation by its effects; and, after its manifestation, it is in this world absolutely incomprehensible."</li>
</ul></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-1726965723881041232015-10-14T19:13:00.002+08:002015-10-15T17:32:36.060+08:00Start Workin' Like Bradley<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oDcnpMZKlY4/Vh438r4EBrI/AAAAAAAAEbY/C4qTIx5o_0E/s320/covenantcommandment.jpg" width="213" /></div><br />
<br />
It seems that <i>good works</i> as it relates to <i>final salvation/final judgment</i> is once again the talk of the town. Therefore, I am pleased to have in my hands this book by <a href="http://www.bradleyggreen.com/" target="_new"><b>Bradley G. Green</b></a> entitled, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Covenant-Commandment-Obedience-Faithfulness-Christian/dp/0830826343" target="_new"><i>Covenant and Commandment (Works, Obedience, and Faithfulness in the Christian Life)</i></a>.<br />
<br />
The ff. is from the Introduction, and it portends a book that is bound to be both clarifying and enabling:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Among the heirs of the Protestant Reformation there has been an emphasis on salvation by grace in general and sola fide (by faith alone) in particular. These were proper biblical recoveries during the Reformation era. It was important for the church to recover the central truth that we are justified by God, that this is an act of God’s grace, and that faith – apart from works – is the means by which we are justified. It is striking that evangelicals have had to ‘fight’ the battle of justification many times, and this issue continues to divide Protestants and Catholics today in intriguing ways. Related to the question of justification is a key issue in biblical interpretation and evangelical church life: the nature of works, obedience or faithfulness in the Christian life. While evangelicals can generally agree that one enters into a covenant relationship with the God of the Bible by grace (even solely by grace) apart from works, there is often much more disagreement over how to construe the nature of works, or obedience, inside this covenantal relationship. My argument is that in the new covenant, works are a God-elicited and necessary part of the life of the converted person, a constant theme in the New Testament (John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; Rom. 2:13–14; 11:22; 1 Cor. 15:2; Phil. 2:12–13; Heb. 3:6; 3:14; 4:14; 1 John 2:3–6; 3:24; 5:3; Rev. 12:17; 14:12). In short, ‘works’ are ‘necessary’ for salvation because part of the ‘newness’ of the new covenant is actual, grace-induced and grace-elicited obedience by true members of the new covenant. When the New Testament documents are read against Old Testament texts such as Jeremiah 31:31–34 and Ezekiel 36:22–29 (cf. Ezek. 11:19; 18:31), this obedience is seen as a promised component of the new covenant.<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
The heirs of the Reformation have struggled at times to affirm the necessity of obedience conceptually while simultaneously affirming passionately sola fide. As Berkouwer wrote, ‘One who has pondered the far-reaching significance of the “sola-fide” doctrine – justification by faith alone – is immediately faced with the question of whether this cardinal concept does not make all further discussion superfluous.’1 My contention is that indeed there are resources within Scripture that affirm both sola fide and the necessity of works, obedience and faithfulness. <br />
<br />
Berkouwer’s note, perhaps, rings true with those of us in evangelical churches. We are rightly concerned to affirm a central truth like sola fide, but have not always articulated what it means to live obedience-filled lives, and to see practical faithfulness as a part of what it means to be a Christian. I suspect that some of our difficulty arises from simply saying that Jesus paid it all, while also saying that we must do something. This is understandable, but it is unwise not to address this issue. Indeed, there are solid biblical grounds for affirming a biblical theology of grace-filled and grace-elicited works, obedience and faithfulness as essential components of membership in the new covenant – that is, of being a Christian. <br />
<br />
It is important to be clear what is being argued and what is not being argued. All throughout the New Testament documents there is the expectation of actual obedience. This obedience is generally linked to ‘faith’ or to loving Jesus truly. It might be possible to argue that some of these texts should be read as commanding obedience, without necessarily meaning that obedience is possible. We might call this a (hyper, although truncated) ‘Lutheran’ reading. But it is very unlikely that all of the New Testament commands or expectations of real obedience can be read that way. One is simply begging the question to read all of the New Testament texts calling for obedience in such a manner.<br />
<br />
Also, I am not arguing that these ‘works’ or acts of obedience are somehow autonomous. I argue, following Philippians 2:12–13, that we truly do act, work and obey, and that at the same time it is God who is truly, efficaciously and actually eliciting and bringing about this obedience. I will also argue that this power for obedience is – ultimately – something that flows from the cross, from the gospel itself (cf. Heb. 10:10, 14), and is linked to our union with Christ. The New Testament teaches that members of the new covenant are marked by an actual obedience, a real internal change and holiness.2<br />
<br />
‘Works’ or ‘obedience’ appears to be expected in the new covenant. As John Owen writes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>there is another kind of sanctification and holiness, wherein this separation to God is not the first thing done or intended, but a consequent and effect thereof. This is real and internal, by the communicating of a principle of holiness unto our natures, attended with its exercise in acts and duties of holy obedience unto God. This is that which, in the first place, we inquire after.3</blockquote><br />
Similarly, as J. C. Ryle wrote, ‘Saving faith and real converting grace will always produce some conformity to the image of Jesus (Col. 3:10).’4 Martin Luther could write of the one who trusts Christ, ‘It is therefore impossible that sin should remain in him. This righteousness is primary; it is the basis, the cause, the source of all our own actual righteousness.’5 Luther continues, ‘the second kind of righteousness [real growth in holiness] is our proper righteousness, not because we alone work it, but because we work with that first and alien righteousness.’ 6 Indeed, ‘this [second kind of ] righteousness is the product of the righteousness of the first type, actually its fruit and consequence’.7<br />
<br />
There is a real and meaningful and necessary obedience – a changed life that includes my obedience – in the here and now. This is not a perfect obedience or perfect law-keeping, but it is real obedience, an obedience that (1) flows from the cross, (2) is a partial fulfilment of the promised blessings of the new covenant (e.g. from Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:26–27), and (3) is sovereignly and graciously elicited by the God of holy Scripture (e.g. Phil. 2:12–13).8<br />
<br />
The summary of my argument in this monograph is as follows.<br />
<br />
Chapter 1 briefly surveys a number of New Testament passages where we see the centrality of works, obedience and faithfulness in the life of the Christian. I summarize these in several categories, which of course cannot help being somewhat artificial and imperfect.<br />
<br />
In chapter 2 I attempt to do two things. First, I look at key Old Testament passages where a new covenant is foreshadowed and/or obedience from the heart is pictured as a coming reality. In particular, I turn to a number of Old Testament texts, primarily texts in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. We see the promise of a new covenant, and one of the features of this new covenant is the reality of Spirit-induced, efficaciously wrought heart-obedience. Secondly, I look at key New Testament texts that in some way affirm the reality of the new covenant and pick up on the Old Testament promises of a new covenant and the kinds of promises of obedience from the heart portrayed in the Old Testament.<br />
<br />
What we see is that the New Testament writers recognize these same new covenant themes – that is, there is certainly something very new about the new covenant. And clearly, they see the new covenant as an existing reality during the first century. Interestingly, we see a number of passages and themes from the Old Testament, particularly from Jeremiah and Ezekiel, surfacing time and again in the New Testament.<br />
<br />
In chapter 3 I broach some of the key biblical-theological issues a study like this must face. First, I raise the hermeneutical question of continuity and discontinuity across the canon – a question that can be dealt with meaningfully only over the course of the entire book. Secondly, I raise the perennial issue (at least for Protestants) of the law–gospel relationship, as well as the question of the salvation of Old Testament saints. Thirdly, I raise the issue of how best to think of grace existing across the entire canon.<br />
<br />
Chapter 4 takes up the issue of the relationship of the atonement to works, obedience and faithfulness. While it is imperative to think through the relationship of the atonement to the initiation or beginning of salvation, we also must think through the relationship of the atonement to the ongoing life of the Christian – an ongoing life that by necessity includes works, obedience and faithfulness.<br />
<br />
Chapter 5 explores union with Christ, and its relationship to works, obedience and faithfulness. In particular, we are united to Christ by faith alone, apart from works, and because of this union Christ is being formed in us. So we should expect to see works, obedience and faithfulness in the life of the Christian.<br />
<br />
Chapter 6 engages the thorny issue of judgment according to works. While justification is a past-tense reality for the Christian, there is also a future judgment according to works.<br />
<br />
Chapter 7, the final and summative chapter, introduces several issues that have virtually begged for treatment throughout the book. In particular, I turn to the nature of the covenant in Eden, the believer’s relationship to Adam and his transgression, and the relationship between Christ’s obedience and our obedience.</blockquote></div><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
<i>Footnotes:</i><br />
1 Berkouwer 1952: 17.<br />
2 I am indebted to David Peterson and his excellent work Possessed by God: A New Testament Theology of Sanctification and Holiness (1995). He argues persuasively that NT teaching on sanctification emphasizes what is sometimes called definitive, or positional, sanctification. While I agree that definitive or positional sanctification is often in mind when the NT deals with sanctification, I argue that a real and transformative change occurs in the new covenant believer. The believer demonstrates actual obedience. This real obedience is rooted in and flows from definitive sanctification.<br />
3 Owen 1965, 3: 370.<br />
4 Ryle 2002: 132.<br />
5 Luther 1962: 88.<br />
6 Ibid.<br />
7 Ibid. 89. Luther elsewhere writes, ‘If we believe in Christ, we are considered absolutely just for His sake, in faith. Later, after the death of His flesh, in the other life, we shall attain perfect righteousness and have within us the absolute righteousness which we now have only by imputation through the merit of Christ’ (quoted in Piper 2002: 13). Luther says that after physical death, believers obtain ‘absolute righteousness’. He does not clarify whether there is any real and meaningful and necessary obedience in the life of the believer whose sins have been imputed to Christ, and to whom Christ’s perfect righteousness has been imputed. 8 Turretin (1997, 2: 702–705) asks the question, in his Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ‘Are good works necessary for salvation?’ His answer: ‘we affirm’. They are not required in a meritorious sense, but are nonetheless necessary for salvation. Turretin writes, ‘Are they required as the means and way for possessing salvation? This we hold’ (702). Indeed, ‘Although the proposition concerning the necessity of good works to salvation’ can certainly be misunderstood and misapplied, ‘it can be retained without danger if properly explained’ (702–703). Again, ‘although works may be said to contribute nothing to the acquisition of salvation, still they should be considered necessary to the obtainment of it, so that no one can be saved without them . . . ’. Turretin is clear: ‘Although God by his special grace wishes these duties of man to be his blessings (which he carries out in them), still the believer does not cease to be bound to observe it, if he wishes to be a partaker of the blessings of the covenant’ (703). For Turretin, Christ frees us to obey him: ‘Christ, by freeing us from the curse and rigor of the law, still did not free us from the obligation to obedience, which is indispensable from the creature. Grace demands the same thing’ (704). Works are necessary to the obtaining of glory, ‘For since good works have the relation of the means to the end (Jn. 3:5, 16; Matt. 5:8); of the “way” to the goal (Eph. 2:10; Phil. 3:14); of the “sowing” to the harvest (Gal. 6:7, 8); of the “first fruits” to the mass (Rom. 8:23); of labor to the reward (Matt. 20:1); of the “contest” to the crown (2 Tim. 2:4; 4:8), everyone sees that there is the highest and an indispensable necessity of good works for obtaining glory. It is so great that it cannot be reached without them (Heb. 12:14; Rev. 21:27)’ (705).<br />
</span></span></blockquote><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-47564993880743012102014-10-31T17:11:00.000+08:002014-10-31T17:21:33.512+08:00Dr. Ron Gleason and Reformation Day 2014<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uYxaBoaPH_k/VFNRNpnnLQI/AAAAAAAAESU/Jc2iqGqaf1A/s1600/rongleason.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_new"><img border="1" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uYxaBoaPH_k/VFNRNpnnLQI/AAAAAAAAESU/Jc2iqGqaf1A/s1600/rongleason.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
In the following video, taken at the Talbot School of Theology on the occassion of Reformation Day 2012, Dr. Ron Gleason (author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Herman-Bavinck-Churchman-Statesman-Theologian/dp/1596380802/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414745742&sr=8-1&keywords=Herman+Bavinck%3A+Pastor%2C+Churchman%2C+Statesman%2C+and+Theologian" target="_new"><i>Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman, and Theologian</i></a>) gives a good and solid lecture on the basic tenets that undergirded the Reformation.<br />
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However, what impressed me the most was what he said at the <i>7:15</i> mark:<br />
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<blockquote>"In 1980, the Lord called me to take the casket of my 4-month old son and put it into the ground as my last earthly duty as his father. And I recall going back to our home in the Netherlands, to a little village in Kampen, and literally just falling back on the bed and wiping the tears, and that verse came to my mind and I said, 'This, too, Lord?' And he said, 'Yes, this, too. This will mold you and shape you into a better person, a better Christian. This will conform you more to the image of Christ. You will be able to comfort others with the comfort with which I am going to comfort you.'"</blockquote><br />
I was reminded of an old post:<br />
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<blockquote><i>"John Calvin lost his wife and son.<br />
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John Owen had eleven children. All died in early youth, except one daughter.<br />
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Francis Turretin had four children. Only one survived."</i> (<a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2012/10/personal-tragedy-to-apostasy.html" target="_new"><b>Underdog Theology: Personal Tragedy to Apostasy, Oct. 29, 2012</b></a>)</blockquote></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-36214578022171544712014-10-27T16:37:00.000+08:002014-10-27T16:37:17.055+08:00H vs. H on the Imitatio Christi<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9aWtPojf0vw/VE4DVvQ4ndI/AAAAAAAAESE/d1pMKSiq0Uc/s1600/keep-calm-and-imitatio-christi.png" height="320" width="274" /></div><br />
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"Michael Horton so wants his readers to focus on Christ instead of imitation that he encourages an emphasis on the wickedness of characters, running them through Romans 3. This is an important aspect of Christian interpretation, but it is not the only way in which the New Testament uses characters (indeed, a majority of references are not concerned to show 'all have sinned'). To fit the biblical data to his interpretation, Horton tries to downplay this emphasis in his interpretation of the more famous passages illustrating the use of characters as examples: 'The so-called ‘Hall of Heroes’ in Hebrews 11 is misnamed. The writer consistently mentions that they overcame by faith in Christ, not by their works.'[34] But faith is never pitted against works. Rather, Abraham and Rahab (to take two) are commendable because they had the sort of faith that worked. Their appearance in Hebrews parallels their appearance in James, where they are commended neither simply for what they believed, nor for what they did apart from faith, but for what was done on the basis of belief (Jas 2:14-16), since faith without works is worthless. Contra Horton, the heroes are held out as examples precisely because they acted in obedience and faithfulness on the basis of God’s character and in response to his promises and commands. These characters overcame and persevered by faith and by works.<br />
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We can contrast the biblical emphasis on finding Jesus and examples within Scripture with Horton’s puzzling comments that appear to limit the imitation of Old Testament characters to mere belief in Jesus and God’s promises. '[Abraham’s] willingness to sacrifice Isaac was not an example for us, but was an occasion for God to foreshadow Christ as the ram caught in the thicket so that Isaac—and the rest of us—could go free.'[35] Horton sets up a false dichotomy between two approaches to interpretation: the passage either points to Christ, or the passage shows us a faithful model. But what if the New Testament takes Genesis 22 in both directions? Should we not follow the New Testament’s approach? We certainly do not imitate Abraham by sacrificing our children. But as we have seen, imitation is not rote, indiscriminate mimicry, but 'creative imitation' informed by Scripture.[36] The New Testament authors use Abraham as a model of faith and obedience (not least in Gen 18:17-19; 22:1-24; Heb 11:17; Jas 2:14-26). Abraham does not merely believe. Trusting God to raise the dead, he acts in obedience (Heb 11:19).[37] What’s more, Abraham’s obedience is crucial to the original meaning of the text, given the role that it plays in describing the covenant relationship between himself and God (Gen 22:1, 16-17)." (<b>Jason Hood</b>, <i>Imitating God in Christ: Recapturing a Biblical Pattern</i>)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Footnotes</i>:</span><br style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">[34] <b>Michael Horton</b>, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2008), pp. 149-50. He adds on pp. 142-43, “The Old Testament saints were not heroes of faith and obedience but sinners who, despite their own wavering, were given the faith to cling to God’s promise.” Faith is a gift, but Horton’s approach veers in the direction of a monergistic approach to interpretation, where God’s work is all that counts and human work is downplayed, irrelevant or entirely negative.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">[35] <b>Ibid.</b>, p. 149.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">[36] <b>Vanhoozer</b>, Drama of Doctrine, and Jimmy Agan, “Toward a Hermeneutic of Imitation: The Imitation of Christ in the Didascalia Apostolorum,” Presbyterion 37 (2011): 42-43.</span><br style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">[37] <b>Michael Allen</b>, “Imitating Jesus,” Modern Reformation 18, no. 2 (2009): 27-30, correctly sees that in Heb 11, saints from Abel to Jesus have their obedience “described in multiple ways. They are to be imitated as those whose belief impelled radical obedience (11:6).” Both Horton and his Westminster Seminary California colleague S. M. Baugh deny that characters in Heb 11 function as exemplars in any respect save for faith in a saving God; see Baugh, “The Cloud of Witnesses in Hebrews 11,” Westminster Theological Journal 68, no. 1 (2002): 132. Contrast Calvin on Hebrews 11, Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews, trans. William B. Johnston (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963), p. 187. I owe the Baugh and Calvin references and analysis to R. Michael Allen, The Christ’s Faith: A Dogmatic Account (New York: T & T Clark, 2009), p. 324 n. 794, who identifies Baugh’s argument as a “reductionistic” account that “creates fissures where none need exist.”</span></span></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-49212050886050570332014-10-24T16:36:00.001+08:002014-10-24T18:32:40.513+08:00Tiptonian Recapitulation vs. Meritorious Republication (And the Effectiveness of Gesticular Pedagogy)<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KNNDoVm-p38/VEoO0bS35ZI/AAAAAAAAER0/2wMVTf0UiCM/s1600/tiptonanimated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_new"><img border="1" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KNNDoVm-p38/VEoO0bS35ZI/AAAAAAAAER0/2wMVTf0UiCM/s1600/tiptonanimated.jpg" height="262" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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I would liken Dr. Lane Tipton's lecture (entitled "Redemptive History, Merit, and the Sons of God") at the 2014 Reformed Forum conference to Dream Theater's stint at the Budokan—technical, precise, and <i>O, so nice!</i><br />
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He invoked nuanced readings of portions of Meredith Kline's last published work, "God, Heaven, and Har Magedon," to bring home the point that Israel's role in the Mosaic administration of the Covenant of Grace as the <i>typological</i> son of God (contrasted with Adam as <i>protological</i> and Christ as <i>eschatological</i>) was not grounded on a republication of a <i>meritorious</i> Covenant of Works but a recapitulation of Adam's sin, fall, and exile, acting pedagogically to further manifest the utter necessity of the appearance of the eschatological Son of God!<br />
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<blockquote>"There's a distinction between the recapitulation of the sin-fall-exile of Adam on the one side and the republication of a merit principle for maintaining the land in Canaan on the other side...The problem with Israel was not that it violated a republished Covenant of Works that was given to Adam, nor was it that Israel violated a covenantal arrangement totally devoid of grace at the national level. The problem lies in the fact that Israel reenacts the sin and fall and exile of Adam by apostasy from the Covenant of Grace." (Lane Tipton, 'Redemptive History, Merit, and the Sons of God')</blockquote><br />
Abraham typified Christ positively by virtue of the reward of a holy people on account of the former's evangelical obedience.<br />
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Israel typified Christ negatively by virtue of the forfeiture of the holy land on account of the former's lack of evangelical obedience.<br />
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As the substance, Christ's person and work merited a holy people and a holy land, i.e., the glorified elect living in a New Earth.<br />
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What does all of this mean to me, this side of Christ's resurrection and ascension? It does highlight the fact that <i>evangelical obedience</i>, as incumbent upon the people of God and far from being an affront to the all-sufficiency of Christ's person and work, is actually a natural outworking of my union with Him.<br />
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It also means that when <i>D. G. Hart</i> mockingly refers to the "Obedience Boys," he actually honors them. Hehehe.</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-82199944825782105722014-09-22T11:06:00.000+08:002014-09-22T11:06:01.770+08:00Zwingli the Flattener<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RR9HSAyCzh0/VB-Q-xyNheI/AAAAAAAAERk/-lgwJSRzi4M/s1600/zwingli.jpg" /></div><br />
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<blockquote>"The death of Adam is not only a bodily death, even though that also came with time, for the passage 'then you will certainly die' means the following: <b><i>the loss of the grace and friendship of God, the loss of the indwelling, ruling or leading of the spirit of God</i></b>, the loss of the perfect order of human nature, and the fall into sin." (<b>Huldrych Zwingli</b>, <i>Short Christian Instruction [1523]</i>, emphasis mine)</blockquote><br />
You can't lose what you didn't have prior.<br />
</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-29256666309224581222014-09-17T19:33:00.000+08:002014-09-17T19:51:35.214+08:00Grace in Turretin's CoW<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Xp_z5G8o5yQ/VBlw5OSQgeI/AAAAAAAAERI/AQTPz33oQAI/s1600/beachturretin.jpg" height="186" width="320" /></div><br />
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<a href="http://www.midamerica.edu/faculty/fulltime/beach.htm" target="_new"><b>Dr. J. Mark Beach</b></a> of Mid-America Reformed Seminary, in <a href="http://www.calvin.edu/library/database/dissertations/Beach_J._Mark.pdf" target="_new"><b>his PhD dissertation</b></a> (undersigned by Dr. Richard A. Muller) presented to Calvin Theological Seminary, finds grace in Francis Turretin's conception of the Covenant of Works. <br />
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What now??!! LOL.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cKuBncRIQhM/VBlwZxhwSLI/AAAAAAAAERA/lT8u1IzgzKQ/s1600/jmarkbeachgraceinturretincov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_new"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cKuBncRIQhM/VBlwZxhwSLI/AAAAAAAAERA/lT8u1IzgzKQ/s1600/jmarkbeachgraceinturretincov.jpg" height="2807" width="480" /></a></div><br />
<i>Christ and the Covenant: Francis Turretin's Federal Theology As a Defense of the Doctrine of Grace</i>, pp. 86-90</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-2377383188072220032014-09-17T14:34:00.001+08:002014-09-17T15:15:23.184+08:00Prelapsarian Grace in the CoW—A No Tread Zone?<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QGeeu0GOh5A/VBkqzHQzATI/AAAAAAAAEQw/SDipCpiAgOQ/s1600/mullerprrd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_new"><img border="1" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QGeeu0GOh5A/VBkqzHQzATI/AAAAAAAAEQw/SDipCpiAgOQ/s1600/mullerprrd.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div><br />
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Was there an element of <i>grace</i> in the CoW? If, as <a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-holy-spirit-as-eschatological-reward.html" target="_new"><b>John Owen states</b></a>, Adam had the Holy Spirit, was not this an indication of grace? Does this view constitute a <i>"flattening of the COW and COG [that] will actually get you somewhere... where Christians should never tread"</i>? What if divine grace was actually part of God's essential attributes? Should Christians really <i>not go there</i>?<br />
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Let's allow Dr. <b>Richard A. Muller</b> to provide some precision here:</div><a name='more'></a><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.25in 0.25in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">C. Divine Grace and Favor</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">1. The grace of God in the thought of the Reformers.</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Although the Reformers held firmly to a doctrine of salvation by grace alone, virtually none of them wrote a separate treatise on grace—nor, indeed, is there a <i>locus</i> on grace in Musculus, Calvin, or Vermigli. Of the major Reformers of their era, only Melanchthon and Bullinger provided topical discussions of the grace of God. Still, the absence of extended discussions of “grace” as a divine attribute does not mark a radical point of discontinuity with the Reformed orthodox. The definitions and the polemics of the Reformers do understand grace in the ultimate sense as lodged or grounded in God—and not merely as a matter of divine favor exercised <i>ad extra</i>. Melanchthon’s definition is one of the few that refers grace strictly to the economy of salvation, understanding it as “the free remission of sins” or the free unmerited mercy of God. Bullinger, by way of contrast, looks as much to the nature of God as to the work of salvation, defining grace as “the favor and goodness of the eternal Godhead, wherewith he, according to his incomprehensible goodness, doth gratis, freely, for Christ’s sake embrace, call, justify, and save us mortal men.”<sup>508</sup> Similarly, Calvin (whose full definitions of grace appear, not in the <i>Institutes</i>, but in the commentaries) identifies grace as the unmerited or undeserved goodness of God and insists on the absurdity of certain scholastic definitions of grace that identify it as “nothing else but a quality infused into the hearts of men: for grace, properly speaking, is in God; and what is in us is the effect of grace.”<sup>510</sup> In addition, when Calvin understands the biblical text as referring “grace” restrictively to the saving work of God, he can offer the qualification that “the term grace denotes here not the favor of God, but by metonymy, the gifts that he bestows on men gratuitously”—and since “metonymy” is a figure of speech that names the effect for the cause, Calvin clearly assumes that the basic meaning of grace is the <i>favor Dei</i> itself.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">2. The Reformed orthodox doctrine of the <i>gratia Dei</i>.</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Although by far the larger discussion of divine grace belongs to the soteriology of Reformed orthodoxy, the theologians of the late sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries also consistently place the <i>gratia Dei</i> among the divine affections. Divine grace, as indicated both in the doctrine of the divine attributes and in the developing Reformed covenant theology of the seventeenth century, is not merely the outward favor of God toward the elect, evident only in the post-lapsarian dispensation of salvation; rather is it one of the perfections of the divine nature. It is a characteristic of God’s relations to the finite order, apart from sin, in the act of divine condescension to relate to finite creatures. Beyond this, it is a characteristic of the divine being itself, at the very foundation of God’s relationship with finite, temporal beings. God, in other words, is eternally “capable of manifesting His benevolence to creatures apart form any merit”—“even if there were no creature” in existence.<sup>513</sup> As is the case with the other divine attributes,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0.25in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God’s <i>Graciousness</i> is an essential property, whereby he is in and of himself most gracious and amiable, Psalm 145:8. God is only gracious in and of himself, and whatsoever is amiable and gracious, is so from him.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since grace is in God “affectively” as an affection of the will and its operates effectively in the creatures who are the objects of God’s favor, it refers both to the inward <i>actus</i> or capacity in God for gracious or favorable relation to the creature and to the outward relationship of God to creatures as characterized by the undeserved divine benevolence. Thus, <i>gratia Dei</i> is that perfection or attribute according to which God, out of a totally gracious and unmerited love, is conceived as willing to communicate himself to his creatures. Considered as affective, as <i>ratione actus interni in Deo</i>, grace is a propensity of the divine will—while considered as effective it is the gifts of the Spirit graciously given to us by God, either the ordinary gifts of faith, hope, and love or the extraordinary gifts bestowed upon the church for its edification. The former, more fully described, is God’s grace<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0.25in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">by which he is induced to communicate himself to the creature, freely and of his own accord; not from desert or debt, or any other cause outside of himself; and not to add anything to himself, but for the benefit of the object of this grace. For <i>grace</i> is nothing else but unmerited favor; it is always opposed to merit.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The relationship between grace and love is, moreover, made explicit by the orthodox: “Grace is that by which God is capable of being loved in himself and by which he favors and blesses his creatures.” This distinction between the inward grace by which God favors the creature and the outward blessing of grace yields, also, a distinction between “decretive” and “executive” grace, modeled on the often-used distinction between the eternal decree and its execution in time, and indicating “the eternal purpose of God concerning our election before the foundation of the world” and exercise or execution in the calling, justification, and sanctification of the elect.<sup>520<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This twofold distinction can also yield a threefold meaning of grace: it can indicate, with reference to the decree or the “affective” inward grace of God, “God’s favor, by which he chose us from eternity unto life,” and, with reference to the outward executive or effective grace, either the temporal favor granted when God receives us in Christ, or the further effects of grace, namely, the blessings bestowed upon believers in Christ. This latter division of the effective grace of God follows out the breadth of the biblical usage—where the word “grace” has several connotations. These, the Reformed indicate, need to be carefully defined in order to avoid misrepresentation.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The effective grace of God can be divided into two categories—the gift itself and the receipt of the gift. Brakel, without comment, identifies these categories with the older scholastic language of <i>gratia gratis dans</i>, grace giving graciously, and <i>gratia gratis data</i>, grace graciously given. Fully acknowledging the source of the distinction, Rijssen comments that the “scholastics” describe effective grace as <i>gratia gratis faciens</i> and <i>gratia gratis data</i>. He indicates specifically that Reformed orthodoxy can appropriate the older vocabulary, redefining it to conform to the principle of <i>sola fidei</i>: this grace given by God cannot make us agreeable to God except insofar as the grace and righteousness (<i>justitia</i>) of Christ imputed to us does so; or, better said, the <i>gratia gratum faciens</i>, “grace working graciously,” or, as it is sometimes called, <i>gratia gratum dans</i>, is the gracious favor of God that turns toward us, not on grounds of our merit, but because of the gracious work accomplished for us in Christ. The <i>gratia gratis data</i>, or “grace graciously given,” indicates all of the means necessary to salvation and all of the benefits of Christ that are given to us in this life. Grace can also be distinguished into sufficient and efficient grace, Wendelin notes, but the distinction is disputed by Maccovius.<sup>525<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is also good ground for concluding that the modern conception of “common grace” finds its root more in the period of Reformed orthodoxy that in the era of Calvin and his contemporaries, given that many of the orthodox theologians were willing to define the <i>gratia Dei</i> as a bounty or graciousness extending to all creation. While God is gracious to all, his grace is particularly bestowed upon those who are his in Christ: “God’s free favor is the cause of our salvation, and of all the means tending thereunto, Rom. 3:24 & 5:15, 16; Eph. 1:5, 6 & 2:4. Rom 9:16; Titus 3:5, Heb. 4:16; Rom 6:23; 1 Cor. 12:4, 9. The gospel sets forth the freeness, fulness, and the powerfulness of God’s grace to his Church, therefore it is called the <i>Gospel of the grace of God</i>, Acts. 20:24.” This grace is such that it is given freely without desert and it is “firm and unchangeable, so that those which are once beloved, can never be rejected, or utterly cast off, Psalm 77:10.”<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God’s effective grace given to us indicates all the gifts bestowed by the Spirit. Thus, in Rijssen’s analysis, the principle of justification by faith has caused the equation of the scholastic terms <i>gratia gratis data</i> and <i>gratia gratis faciens</i>—for the orthodox, forensic understanding of justification relates all righteousness to Christ and all virtue in the believer to the imputation of Christ’s righteousness and the consequent bestowal of gifts by the Spirit. The medieval categories enter, here, by way of clarification of doctrine: Rijssen both finds them useful as ways of describing the effective grace of God and senses the need for clarifying their application. Had not Rome continued to distinguish between <i>gratia gratis data</i> as the initial gift and <i>gratia gratis faciens</i> as the subsequent gift contingent on acceptance of just grace, Rijssen might well have omitted mention of the terms altogether: the point of his argument is that the terms are two ways of looking at the same thing.<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Arminians, too, mistake the meaning of God’s grace. Leigh calls them “patrons of man’s free will, and enemies of God’s free grace.” They claim that a man can come to merit God’s grace and that God gives “effectual grace” to all men, even to “the wicked which shall never be saved, to Judas as well as to Paul.” The Arminians, it seems, would forget that “effectual grace” is grace which obtains an effect!<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The doctrine of God’s grace is, therefore, a doctrine of great practical import, in that it moves men to seek God’s favor:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0.25in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The holy Patriarchs often desired to find grace in the eyes of the Lord. It is better than life to him that hath it; it is the most satisfying content in the world, to have the seal firmly settled in the apprehension of God’s goodness to him in Christ. It will comfort and stablish the soul in the want of all outward things, in the very hour of death. It is attainable; those that seek God’s face shall find him.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leigh, even in this presentation of the divine attributes, takes the opportunity to develop a view of Christian life seeking the divine grace. Consciousness of one’s own sinfulness, meditation upon the law, consideration of “the gracious promises of God” and of “the grace of God in Christ,” confession of sin “with full purpose of amendment,” and pray for grace:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0.25in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This stays our hearts when we apprehend our own unworthiness … We should acknowledge that all grace in us doth come from him the fountain of grace, and we should go boldly to the throne of grace, and beg grace of him for ourselves and others, Heb. 4:16. <i>Paul</i> in all his Epistles saith, <i>grace be unto you</i>. We should take heed of encouraging ourselves in sin, because God is gracious; this is to turn God’s grace into wantonness. We should frequent the Ordinances, where God is graciously present, and ready to bestow all his graces on us; the word begets grace, prayer increaseth it, and the Sacraments seal it.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Related to God’s grace are a series of other affections that appear variously in the Reformed orthodox theology—patience, long-suffering, compassion, condescension. Patience and longsuffering are the willingness of God to moderate “his anger toward creatures, and either defers punishment or for a moment withholds his wrath.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0.25in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">God is <i>Patient</i>, Psalm 103:8; Job 21:7. God’s patience is that whereby he bears the reproach of sinners and defers their punishments; or it is the most bountiful will of God, whereby he doth long bear with sin which he hateth, sparing sinners, not minding their destruction, but that he might bring them to repentance. See Acts 13:18.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even so God both endures “with much longsuffering” the sins of the reprobate and, at the same time, is patient with the elect prior to their conversion, willing their repentance rather than their immediate destruction because of sin. It is, thus, “the most bountiful will of God not suffering his displeasure suddenly to rise against his creatures offending, to be avenged of them, but he doth warn them beforehand, lightly correct and seek to turn them unto him.”<sup>535</sup> The divine compassion, similarly, is the disposition of God to deliver creatures from their misery. It is manifest when “the object of the divine goodness of love [is] involved in misery, such as man who is a sinner and subject to death.” God’s humility or condescension, “by which God descends to our capacity, and graciously provides for our weakness,” is exemplified in “God’s familiar conversing and conference with <i>Moses</i> and <i>Abraham</i> interceding for Sodom, with <i>David</i> and others, and especially the incarnation of Christ.” The point very much reflects the assumption of the Reformers, particularly evident in Calvin, that God consistently accommodates himself to human capacity, both ontically and noetically: namely, God condescends or accommodates himself in order to relate to finite humanity, and he also does so in the form of his revelation in Scripture. This point of continuity, including its emphasis on the incarnation as the preeminent example of divine condescension, is significant if only because it is typically overlooked by the older scholarship.<sup>538<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6158767534024027342#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></a></sup><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<div id="ftn1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6158767534024027342#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><sup><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></sup></a> Muller, R. A. (2003). <i>Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics: The Rise and Development of Reformed Orthodoxy; Volume 3: The Divine Essence and Attributes</i> (pp. 569–574). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.</span><o:p></o:p></div></div></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-4113054791532128542014-08-28T17:10:00.000+08:002014-09-16T14:08:50.172+08:00What Do Calvin, Owen, and Hodge Have in Common Regarding Hair-Trigger Schism?<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YpfI2AgZTiI/U_7xkyg4TAI/AAAAAAAAEQg/QuRbHmKDLZE/s1600/-Schism-tool-30637194-200-200.jpg" /></div><br />
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They are all against it!<br />
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<b>JOHN CALVIN:</b><br />
<blockquote>"Our indulgence ought to extend much farther in tolerating imperfection of conduct. Here there is great danger of falling, and Satan employs all his machinations to ensnare us. For there always have been persons who, imbued with a false persuasion of absolute holiness, as if they had already become a kind of aerial spirits—as if they had bean some angels of Paradise, spurn the society of all in whom they see that something human still remains. Such of old were the Cathari and the Donatists, who were similarly infatuated. Such in the present day are some of the Anabaptists, who would be thought to have made superior progress. Others, again, sin in this respect, not so much from that insane pride as from inconsiderate zeal. Seeing that among those to whom the gospel is preached, the fruit produced is not in accordance with the doctrine, they forthwith conclude that there no church exists. The offence is indeed well founded, and it is one to which in this most unhappy age we give far too much occasion. It is impossible to excuse our accursed sluggishness, which the Lord will not leave unpunished, as he is already beginning sharply to chastise us. Woe then to us who, by our dissolute licence of wickedness, cause weak consciences to be wounded! Still those of whom we have spoken sin in their turn, by not knowing how to set bounds to their offence. For where the Lord requires mercy they omit it, and give themselves up to immoderate severity. Thinking there is no church where there is not complete purity and integrity of conduct, they, through hatred of wickedness, withdraw from a genuine church, while they think they are shunning the company of the ungodly. They allege that the Church of God is holy. But that they may at the same time understand that it contains a mixture of good and bad, let them hear from the lips of our Saviour that parable in which he compares the Church to a net in which all kinds of fishes are taken, but not separated until they are brought ashore. Let them hear it compared to a field which, planted with good seed, is by the fraud of an enemy mingled with tares, and is not freed of them until the harvest is brought into the barn. Let them hear, in fine, that it is a thrashing-floor in which the collected wheat lies concealed under the chaff, until, cleansed by the fanners and the sieve, it is at length laid up in the granary. If the Lord declares that the Church will labour under the defect of being burdened with a multitude of wicked until the day of judgment, it is in vain to look for a church altogether free from blemish (Mt. 13)." (<i>Institutes 4.1.13</i>)</blockquote><br />
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<b>JOHN OWEN:</b><br />
<blockquote>"And, to speak plainly, among all the churches in the world which are free from idolatry and persecution, it is not different opinions, or a difference in judgment about revealed truths, nor a different practice in sacred administrations, but pride, self-interest, love of honour, reputation, and dominion, with the influence of civil or political intrigues and considerations, that are the true cause of that defect of evangelical unity that is at this day amongst them; for set them aside, and the real differences which would remain may be so managed, in love, gentleness, and meekness, as not to interfere with that unity which Christ requireth them to preserve." (<i>A Discourse Concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity</i>)</blockquote><br />
<b>CHARLES HODGE:</b><br />
<a href="http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/2013/09/charles-hodge-on-conscience.html" target="_new"><b>Charles Hodge on Conscience</b></a></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-91209904891056677172014-06-06T16:50:00.000+08:002014-06-06T20:25:29.020+08:00Gaffin and Marshall Give MJ the High Five<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VuEdjTwcXjU/U5F_38ixnII/AAAAAAAAEP4/zmGjmv5vD9k/s1600/highfive.gif" height="204" width="320" /></div><br />
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I realize the dust has settled on the recent so-called "sanctification debate," and it is not my intention to cause further ripples in already placid waters. What I'd like to do is just post a couple of quotes that I hope would tend to the appreciation that Dr. Mark Jones' position on sanctification, as it relates to final salvation, is actually of rich, Reformed pedigree (if this has not been proven already!).<a name='more'></a><br />
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Alongside Reformed luminaries such as John Calvin, John Owen, Francis Turretin, Gisbertus Voetius, Petrus van Mastricht, and Herman Witsius, <b>Dr. Richard Gaffin</b> of Westminster Theological Seminary gives MJ a high five. Compare MJ's introduction to Dr. Gaffin's work with a portion of the said work that is relevant to the discussion:<br />
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<blockquote>"A second area of interest in present-day polemics regarding justification concerns the role of works at the final judgment. Balancing the doctrine of justification by faith alone with the teaching of Scripture that Christians will be judged 'according to their works' remains a difficult task. Some imagine that the classical Reformed position on Romans 2:5–16 has in view only a hypothetical possibility, which in actual fact cannot be true of any sinner, whether redeemed or not. But many Reformed theologians did not adopt the hypothetical view of this disputed passage (though vv. 5–11 and 12–16 were sometimes distinguished), such as Martin Bucer, John Ball, Thomas Manton, Herman Witsius, Wilhelmus à Brakel, and Petrus van Mastricht. For example, Mastricht put forth the view that there are three stages of justification that should be 'diligently observed.' These are not different justifications, but distinct stages in the one justification by faith alone. In the first stage, 'establishment,' in which man is first justified, the efficacy and presence of works are entirely excluded for acquiring justification. In the second stage, 'continuation,' works have no efficacy, but works must be present, as we see in James 2:14–16. In the third stage, 'consummation,' in which believers gain possession of eternal life, good works have a certain 'efficacy,' insofar as God will not grant possession of eternal life unless they are present. Interestingly, Mastricht adduces Romans 2:7, 10 in support of his view. Like Mastricht, Professor Gaffin also rejects the view that Romans 2:5–16 is hypothetical. For that reason, both authors hold firmly to the Reformed view that good works are a necessary condition (consequent, not antecedent, to faith) for salvation. Spirit-wrought good works are not only the way of life, but also the way to life/salvation (see WLC 32). Yet the position expounded in this book is perhaps more persuasive than what one finds in Mastricht’s significant work." (Mark Jones, Intro to Dr. Richard Gaffin's <i>By Faith, Not By Sight</i>)<br />
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....<br />
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"For Christians, future judgment according to works does not operate according to a different principle than their already having been justified by faith. The difference is that the final judgment will be the open manifestation of that present justification, their being 'openly acquitted,' as we have seen. And in that future judgment, their good works will not be the ground or basis of their acquittal. Nor are they (co-)instrumental, a coordinate instrument for appropriating divine approbation as they supplement faith. Rather, they are the essential and manifest criterion of that faith, the integral 'fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith,' appropriating the language of the Westminster Confession of Faith, 16.2. It is not for nothing, and not to be dismissed as drawing too fine a distinction exegetically to observe, that in Romans 2:6 Paul writes 'according to (kata) works,' not 'on account of (dia) works' (which would express the ground) nor 'by (ek) works' (which would express the instrument)...Their future justification, as we have been speaking of it, will have already taken place in their resurrection, with the de facto declarative, forensic, justifying significance it has in Paul, as we have pointed out above. That means, further, that for believers the final judgment, as it is to be according to works, will have for them a reality that will, as we have already noted, reflect and further attest their justification, which has been openly manifested in their bodily resurrection.<br />
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It would be perverse, then, to read Paul’s teaching on the final judgment, as well as my discussion of it here, as leaving believers in this life, in the face of death, uncertain of the future—unable to know for sure the outcome for them at the final judgment and wondering whether they have produced enough 'good works' in this life for a favorable verdict at that point entitling them to eternal life. To the contrary, everything at stake here, including their assurance, depends on Christ—specifically, if it needs to be said again, his finished righteousness, imputed to them and received by faith alone. At the same time, Paul’s teaching on the final judgment and the role it will have for believers does put in ultimate perspective the integral, unbreakable bond he sees between justification and sanctification, and the truth that faith as 'the alone instrument of justification is not alone in the person justified' (Westminster Confession of Faith 11.2)." (Richard Gaffin, <i>By Faith, Not By Sight</i>)</blockquote><br />
Perhaps not really all that surprising, <b>Walter Marshall</b> (a Puritan), in his work that is considered as the definitive resource on the Reformed doctrine of sanctification, is another one with his palm wide open for MJ. Notice the "title" language by Marshall as something that is equivalent to Mastricht's "right" and "possession" distinction mentioned by MJ in that <i>infamous</i> Meet the Puritans blog post:<br />
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<blockquote>"Protestants generally acknowledge, that good works are the way in which we are to walk to the enjoyment and possession of the glory of Christ, though a title to Christ and His glorious salvation be freely given us without any procuring condition of works...We then conclude that holiness in this life is absolutely necessary to salvation, not only as a means to the end, but by a nobler kind of necessity, as part of the end itself. Though we are not saved by good works, as procuring causes, yet we are saved to good works, as fruits and effects of saving grace, which God has prepared that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). It is, indeed, one part of our salvation to be delivered from the bondage of the covenant of works; but the end of this is, not that we may have liberty to sin (which is the worst of slavery) but that we may fulfil the royal law of liberty, and that we may serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (Gal. 5:13; Rom. 7: 6). Yea, holiness in this life is such a part of our salvation as is a necessary means to make us suitable to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in heavenly light and glory; without holiness we can never see God (Heb. 12:14), and are as unfit for the glorious presence as swine for the presence chamber of an earthly prince." (<i>The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification</i>)</blockquote><br />
With that I leave you with a recommendation: <b>Read MJ's "Antinomianism" along with Dr. Gaffin's "By Faith, Not By Sight."</b> These two books have a perichoretic interpenetration that is bound to leave you with an understanding of salvation that is both deep and doxological—<i>in an unadulterated Reformed way</i>.</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-8872404771200157162014-05-23T16:56:00.001+08:002014-05-23T17:11:11.631+08:00The "The Puritans Are Not the Bible" Card<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2Bkd9Gt1pto/U38MeE6F5cI/AAAAAAAAEPk/d0JR7_RctKE/s1600/joker1.jpg" height="320" width="228" /></div><br />
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"If someone could point me to one passage in the Bible that says...<b><i>AND DON'T POINT TO SOME OBSCURE PURITAN WHO GOT IT WRONG, OK?!</i></b>...that actually says explicitly that the Law itself generates love for God and neighbor, I will listen." (<b>Tullian Tchividjian</b>, <a href="http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/2014/05/is-tullian-tchividjian-an-antinomian.html" target="_new"><i><b>Chris Rosebrough Interview</b></i></a>)</blockquote><br />
I think this was in reaction to this:<br />
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<blockquote>"But what of Tchividjian's claim that these false teachers assume 'that the law (in all of its uses) [has] the power to produce what it demands'? Would anyone argue such nonsense? Well, I do know of some ministers - in fact, even some who were responsible for crafting the Westminster Confession of Faith - who have argued that after Adam's fall, 'God therefore set forth a copy of his law in his word, which is the means of sanctifying us; and sanctification itself is but a writing of that law in the heart' (Thomas Goodwin). Likewise, Anthony Burgess argued that God's commands not only inform us of our duty, but are also 'practical and operative means appointed by God, to work, at least in some degree, that which is commanded.' Samuel Rutherford said essentially the same thing in his disputes against the antinomians because they denied that the law was a true instrument of sanctification.<br />
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We all know that apart from the Holy Spirit we can do nothing. And we all know that God's commandments do not have the power, in the abstract, to 'produce what they demand.' (In fact, even announcements of God's saving power in Christ have no effect apart from the Spirit's application.) But, it should be noted, the faithful preaching of God's commands in the context of a faithful gospel ministry can produce real change in a sinner's life because God has ordained his commandments to work, 'at least in some degree, that which is commanded.' In other words, failing to preach God's commandments robs Christ's sheep of a true means of sanctification, and thus they may be - ahem! - less holy as a result. We preach God's commandments to God's people because God has promised to bless such preaching with the Holy Spirit." (<b>Mark Jones</b>, <a href="http://www.reformation21.org/articles/my-offer-to-publicly-debate.php" target="_new"><b><i>Tullian's Trench</i></b></a>)</blockquote><br />
I had a hunch that TT would be pulling out the "The Puritans are not the Bible" card in the event the proposed debate with Mark Jones materializes. The quote above was a foretaste. At any rate, MJ's explanation of how the Law—as blessed by the work of the Holy Spirit and not taken abstractly—is indeed a means of sanctification pretty much lays that point by TT to rest.</div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6158767534024027342.post-86999218037652065782014-05-20T18:35:00.001+08:002014-05-21T07:48:00.920+08:00Confused About the Tullian Tchividjian Thingy?<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="1" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-myiwtBI_YoU/U3su4BTMT4I/AAAAAAAAEPU/7RHpAncBaFM/s1600/confused.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></div><br />
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If so, the following couple of resources should serve to enlighten you on what the so-called "Contemporary Grace Movement" is and why many of the Reformed servants of the Lord have taken up arms, as it were, against TT's take on sanctification and why he got ejected, ironically, from the "Gospel Coalition."<br />
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A brief, critical explanation by Ligon Duncan:<br />
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A more thorough and passionate explication by Rev. James Barnes:<br />
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Alternative link: <a href="http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=61913111681" target="_new"><b>Critique of the Contemporary Grace Movement</b></a></div><br><br>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17665892625219716588noreply@blogger.com1