C.S. Hayden's Blog

An Exciting Announcement

2011-05-23T11:46:00.009-05:00

Friday, May 20, 2011, with the complete and full blessing of our parents (and siblings), I asked my Lauren Jones to marry me. Below are some photos we wanted to share that indicate Lauren's answer and the joy that followed:

I was scheduled to arrive late in the evening but was able to completely surprise Lauren by arriving around noon with roses, poem and ring in hand.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Lauren and me and our families as we enter this exciting new season.

Ephesians 3:20-21, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

The Event Bloggers Team is in Asheville, North Carolina for the Love the Church Conference!

2010-12-09T12:39:00.003-06:00

My brother Josh and I are excited about the Love the Church conference. Stay tuned to our live blog coverage on EventBloggers.com.

Fall 2010 Hayden Siblings Picture

2010-12-04T20:56:00.002-06:00

Thanks to Mom for taking this picture during our family photo shoot!

Join the EventBloggers.com Team at the Love the Church Conference Next Week!

2010-12-04T12:58:00.007-06:00

I am excited about the upcoming Love the Church conference December 9-11 at the beautiful Ridgecrest Conference Center in Asheville, North Carolina. View the tremendous lineup of speakers. The National Center for Family-Integrated Churches has some helpful information about affordable lodging options for you and your family, and I hope you can make it to the event.

The EventBloggers.com team will be on hand to provide live blog coverage, so be sure to sign up for our email list, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and visit our website for ongoing photos and updates.

Fall 2010 Hayden Family Picture

2010-12-03T22:54:00.002-06:00

After our Thanksgiving picture, we decided to attempt another family photo shoot. Here is one of the images we captured:

Gathering With Movie-Making Brothers and Sisters in Christ

2010-11-27T00:12:00.021-06:00

We enjoyed fellowship Friday evening at our home with friends from the Steege, Heidrick, and Youngberg families.

Our family was blessed and uplifted by the Steege's delightful movie, The Runner from Ravenshead, which won the Audience Choice Award and was runner-up for Best Feature Film and for Best of Festival at the 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

Our EventBloggers.com team interviewed Joel at the SAICFF about their film:

Cameron Heidrick was one of the stars in The Widow's Might, which won the Audience Choice Award and Best of Festival at the 2009 SAICFF.

We were blessed and encouraged by the fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ!

Thanksgiving 2010: Reflecting on God's Providence

2010-11-25T17:50:00.006-06:00

Today is a special day we set aside to reflect on God's providence in our lives, our families, churches, our nation, and throughout history. We give thanks to God and proclaim His mighty deeds with our families and friends, cross-generationally.

Psalm 78 is one of my favorites when I consider God's providence, and here is a portion of this passage:

"[1] Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. [2] I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: [3] Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. [4] We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. [5] For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: [6] That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: [7] That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: [8] And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. [9] The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. [10] They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; [11] And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. [12] Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan."

Outside of inspired Scripture, my favorite words about God's providence are from godly men in ages past:

"God the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will; to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy" (Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, V.I: Of Divine Providence).

After we enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings this afternoon, I had the opportunity to video record a half-hour of interview footage with my maternal grandparents. I asked them about memories from their families, past Thanksgiving celebrations, lessons they would entrust to future generations, and more.

Our family went to a local park and endured brisk, chilling breezes to take some photos.

I give thanks to God for the Pilgrim fathers who came to a new land almost 400 years ago as courageous frontiersmen, disciples, and disciple-makers for Christ and His Kingdom. William Bradford wrote in Of Plymouth Plantation:

"Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least of making some way towards it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work" (p. 21).

"It was replied that all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both met and overcome with answerable courage. It was granted the dangers were great, but not desperate; the difficulties were many, but not invincible. For, many of the things feared might never befall; others by provident care and the use of good means might in a great measure be prevented; and all of them, through the help of God, by fortitude and patience, might either be borne or overcome. True it was that such attempts were not to be undertaken without good ground and reason, rashly or lightly; or, as many had done, for curiosity or hope of gain. But their condition was not ordinary; their ends were good and honourable; their calling, lawful and urgent; therefore they might expect the blessing of God on their proceedings. Yea, though they should lose their lives in this action, yet might they have the comfort of knowing that their endeavor was worthy" (pp. 22-23).

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Live Blogging the 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival through EventBloggers.com

2010-10-30T17:12:00.002-05:00

Follow Ongoing Live Blog Coverage of the 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival through EventBloggers.com

2010-10-29T12:19:00.003-05:00

We are in San Antonio covering the 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival through EventBloggers.com. Please check EventBloggers.com to enjoy updates and coverage of the event. Follow us on FaceBook and Twitter, and sign up for our email list for more updates!

ANNOUNCING: EventBloggers.com -- Join us at the 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival!

2010-10-22T12:10:00.010-05:00

My good friend Mark Stubblefield and I are delighted to announce our new project to keep you informed about exciting events around the country: EventBloggers.com, a Project of ProvidenceReport.com. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for our email newsletter to stay up-to-date.

The 2010 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival is just around the corner! Over 50 films will compete for great awards, including the $101,000 Grand Prize for Best of Festival. Learn more and sign up today -- you won't want to miss it!

The EventBloggers.com team is looking forward to experiencing and sharing about the great work Christians are doing in media and the arts at the 2010 SAICFF. We will be on hand to provide up-to-the-instant social media updates on Facebook and Twitter, video reports and interviews on YouTube, and blog posts with recaps of the films, workshops, and all the exciting happenings. You won’t want to miss our coverage, and be sure to tell all your friends about EventBloggers.com!

Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor Services

2010-08-10T21:35:00.003-05:00

I recently became a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. The training process was worthwhile, and I'm excited about serving clients in setup, troubleshooting, and various outsourced accounting services.

Check out my profile.

The Widow's Might screening in Wichita, KS -- Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 9pm

2010-07-29T23:30:00.008-05:00

Our friend Cameron, one of the stars, will be at the showing. I first saw this movie at the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival where it won the $101,000 grand prize for "Best of Festival." It's fabulous for everyone, young and old.

Bring your friends and the whole family!

Vision Forum's Baby Conference: Symposium on the Future of Healthcare in America Summary (part 1)

2010-07-15T17:40:00.004-05:00

I enjoyed the great privilege of attending the Baby Conference last week. Here are some notes from an important panel discussion regarding the future of health care in America.

Wesley Strackbein, Vision Forum Employee and Panel Moderator

We must, first, understand the times (I Chron. 12:32). The church, generally, has responded to changes in technology, government policy, and so forth, impotently. We have allowed secularists, God-haters, and a brave new world vision, to define the issues. We are in the back seat rather than taking the lead. We realize God is sovereign, but as His representatives on earth, we are expected to obey. The first step is to understand the times.

Secondly, we must have an answer to give (II Pet. 3:15). We are to be always ready with answers that we find in God’s Word. A key presupposition is biblical sufficiency (II Tim. 3:16). Many Christians can see the problem, know they need to give an answer, but don’t think the Bible has the complete answer. We can’t just give any answer, but an answer founded upon Scripture. Proverbs 21:30 shows us that apart from God’s Word, our intentions will come up short.

Thirdly, we must show moral courage and follow God’s Word (Prov. 7:2). Anthony Comstock, a courageous defender of moral order in his day, said, “Give me a man who dares to do right and one ready at all times to discharge his duty to the community and to God.” He saw a problem and was a faithful Christian to confront it. He stood with courage against evil times.

We are entering a perfect storm, which is a simultaneous occurrence of weather events that are more powerful because of their combination. Factors include:

Social Security Act of 1935
FDA approval of the pill in 1960
Social Security Amendments of 1965: Medicare and Medicaid
Medicare Prescription Reform of 2003
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

These have laid the groundwork from a government perspective. We have looked to statist goal for who will provide for our family. We don’t look to the future and plan ahead, but rather disengage and become passive. This is coupled with a selfish lifestyle that limits children. Also, as a debt-based culture with much consumer debt, we are unprepared for challenges.

Phillip Longman said the ongoing decline of birth rates is the biggest trend affecting 21st century societies. Robert Samuelson said the boomers are retiring, which will strain the system. Longman points to debt, people looking to pets that will be of no avail to care for them, and other dire cultural trends. WorldNetDaily recently reported that health care rationing is coming, as Obama appointed a health care czar who is in favor of redistribution and rationing. Berwick said rationing is inescapable, so the key is to do it “with our eyes open.”

We have made choices to have the government provide for our needs and not to have children, so the system will go bankrupt. The system is going to blow up. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, so we have to fear Him and act with humility. Don’t cower, but look for answers. In the years of plenty of Joseph’s day, they prepared. What can we do as families and the church? There is an unprecedented evangelism opportunity. In terms of I Timothy 5:8, we must provide for our own. We must have a plan and solutions. The elderly will be most affected by the crisis, but it will affect everyone. Don’t let the NY Times editorial page define the issues. Lead the charge.Think about your own family’s needs first. Secondly, think about your grandparents.

What if … God is giving us this opportunity to take cultural leadership and evangelize our country and the nations as never before? The countries of Europe are even a few years ahead of us. We must not cower back but must take leadership. We can out-give the world. Look for VF to work on putting together resources regarding the crisis and solutions ahead.
_____________________________

James Lansberry, Vice President of Samaritan Ministries

Wesley just gave us the good news. As we look forward, we see a ticking time-bomb. Medicare is underfunded to the tune of $80 trillion. We set up a system that was never designed to be able to take care of all needs of our elderly for the rest of their lives, and now we have technologies to make their lives longer. Because government pays for about all of it, costs have skyrocketed. From an economic and political, rather than medical standpoint, we have to say that the church has dropped the ball with regard to healthcare. In 1965 the church abdicated charitable care to the government. Rent-seeking politicians can now seek their own profit in a system that was never designed to provide charity.

Charity can never be provided by government but is always voluntary. The government can only steal. Anytime the government does anything it will always become politicized. The government pays out to the politically correct and politically connected.

Last year we exacerbated the problem with the “protection and care act,” which is a misnomer. The provisions drive costs up. One of the most dangerous aspects is that all preventative care has zero co-pays. The costs will only go up drastically. Health care will become more and more expensive and controlled over the next 20 years.

We have to look forward into the future, and we can say a few things with nearly absolute certainty: Health care will become more expensive, Medicare will turn down people in need, and there will be many more in need of the Gospel. Medical missions in the US need to become a priority before the baby boomers peak and the system collapses. We have to get ready with funds, personnel, and charity. Our parents and grandparents will have claims denied, and the government will not keep its promises.

The solution: Do not tax people further. It is impossible and wrong to try to make the system work. It is wrong to rob to provide charity. We need to make great sacrifices of our own desires to have the funds, personnel, and time, to reach out to those who are struggling around us. We need young men who are chemists to produce helpful medicines, doctors to provide charitable services, and charity in our churches. We will be able to help those in our community who have nowhere else to turn.

Medicare and Medicaid still exist because we have refused to do what we should. Churches send their members to the state for funds. Christ’s church is sending its children to leviathan. We are defaming His name. We need to place charity as a huge priority.

The issue is not funding or people. The problem, the biggest obstacle, is that when we begin to do what God tells us to do, no one will come and we will lose. People will go down the street to government rather than facing Christ. We will have to put the pieces in place, and just patiently wait for the government to fail. We will then have the opportunity to provide the face of Christ to the poor, sick, elderly, and infirm. The government will have to stop taking people for treatment.

We see glimpses of government failure, e.g., Katrina. Wal-Mart figured out how to get water to refugees when the government miserably and utterly failed.

We know the story of the Samaritan who provided two denari for the innkeeper, which was 40% of a week’s pay, without even thinking about it. We should have money ready for use when needs come along. We don’t know when someone will need us. Our “neighbor” might be someone we have not yet met. It is someone we meet face-to-face with a legitimate need, whom we can help with the Gospel. When we help someone with a legitimate need, they come face-to-face with the Savior. The church will then blossom as we love the needy. We have to put our house in order and be ready.

The patient care act will fund abortion and create tremendous problems. The bright spot is that we can still use medical sharing organizations as exemptions from the individual mandate. Most insurance companies already pay for abortions, not just when the mother’s life is in danger either, and the bill forces all insurance companies to pay for abortion. There will be no other option.

Think about how to pursue godliness in the health care arena. It will mean volunteering in clinics and teaching children. It will mean being realistic about what is out there and what is not. Think about your own long-term care. If you are under 40, Medicare will definitely not be there. If you are not 70 or older, Medicare will likely collapse during your lifetime. We must look at charity with faith and liberty in mind. Otherwise, we won’t be able to solve the problems. Even if the GOP repeals the act, it doesn’t change the insolvency collision course. They are not going to cut prescription benefits or Medicare. Seniors vote. No matter who is in power, it will get worse. Our only hope can be in Christ. He will work through us, His church, for His glory.

The Myth of Overpopulation and the Coming Demographic Bomb

2010-07-12T21:28:00.003-05:00

Here is my summary of one of Kevin Swanson's talks at The Baby Conference:

Fears about overpopulation are rising. According to a recent poll, seventy-two percent of the population is worried, up from 65% in 1990. The early Christian apologist Tertullian had to address similar concerns in his day, around 200 AD. Malthus renewed concerns in 1798 with his thesis that populations increase geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 …), while resource supplies only increase arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 …).

Malthus was proven gloriously wrong between 1800 and 2000, as world population increased 6-fold and world resources increased 80-fold; life expectancy increased from 30 to 65. Although Malthus rightly recognized that poverty can often result from lack of character, his wicked solution was to eliminate the poor by means of placing their cities near swamps to perpetuate disease, encouraging uncleanly living, withholding charitable assistance, and similar measures.

From Malthus, who gave us “survival of the virtuous,” Darwin learned in 1838 about the struggle for survival among ostensibly rapidly increasing populations competing for limited resources. In time, Darwin would refine Malthus’ thesis into “survival of the fittest.” Galton, a relative of Darwin, devised the practice of “eugenics” to deliberately select and breed a superior race. Chesterton rightly described eugenics as “survival of the nastiest,” and Hitler was the most consistent practitioner in history.

Sanger, also heavily influenced by Malthus, gave us “survival of the smartest.” She paved the way for social programming, including forced sterilizations in many states, starting in the 1920s and continuing through 1981. Sanger believed in extermination of the lesser races to make room for those she considered to be superior. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the 1927 Buck v. Bell case regarding forced sterilization, infamously declared in his 8-1 majority opinion, “Three generations of imbeciles is enough.”

The social programmers would come to discover that propaganda through the media and schooling establishments is more effective than coercive measures to reduce populations. For example, China’s one-child policy, enforced in a horrifically totalitarian manner, has resulted in a birthrate of 1.6. South Korea, without any coercion, has reduced its birthrate to 1.1, the lowest in the world. Statistics show that higher levels of schooling correlate with lower birthrates. The key is not education and intelligence, but that the women have been more effectively propagandized in the established system with a narcissistic and existentialist worldview.

Here is an important principle of history we should learn: When men apostatize from a foundation and upbringing in the faith, as did Malthus, Darwin, Galton, Nietzsche, and others; the synthesis of backgrounds—mixing the city of God with the city of man—leads to something like the nephilim of Genesis 6. The most fearsome and horrific men are the apostates from Christianity. They believe they can predestine history in the absence of a sovereign God to carve out a pretended meaning in a chaotic world.

Overpopulation is not and never has been the problem. The great famines of the 20th century were created by communists, Islamists, and animists. Worldviews and character are the best predictors of prosperity or desolation, as the real issues are spiritual and moral. Men have been immature and are not taking dominion. They are immoral, fat, and lazy. We have wicked economic systems from men like Keynes, which have led to massive debt and will result in inevitable collapse.

Psalm 33 is our hope. We do not fear man, and we do not trust in princes or horses. We serve and fear the sovereign, living God alone, Who frustrates the counsel and schemes of the wicked and preserves His people in famines. As hopelessness spreads around us, we are hopeful that Christians will disciple the nations; we in the homeschool movement will serve as the monasteries in our new dark age; and we will restore godly liberty in family-based economies rather than relying on the state and godless corporations.

[This was also posted on Doug's Blog in a slightly condensed form.]

Preaching on Justification and Atonement

2010-07-03T11:46:00.004-05:00

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to deliver two messages on the biblical doctrine of justification. My goal was to expound on the historic and biblical teaching of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. James Buchanan explains the importance of this doctrine:

[The biblical doctrine of justification] is an attempt to solve the deepest problem, and to answer the most anxious question, which conscience continually prompts men to raise, but which their minds strive in vain to determine--'How shall a man be just with God?' or, 'How can God be just,' and yet 'justify the ungodly?' That great problem may seldom occur to those that are habitually unmindful of God, and of their relation to Him; and should it be suggested to their minds, it will probably be lightly dismissed, as long as they cherish slight views of sin, and have little or no sense of their solemn responsibilities and prospects as subjects of the righteous government of God. ... The Gospel of Christ alone has presented that problem in all its magnitude, and in its just proportions; and the Gospel of Christ alone has offered a solution of it, based on a full view of the Attributes of God,--of the unalterable requirements of His Law,--of the principles and ends of His Moral Government,--and of the state, character, and prospects of man, as a dying yet immortal being, chargeable with past guilt, and still depraved by inherent sin. (James Buchanan, Justification, pp. 405-406, Banner of Truth, 1997 -- reprinted from the 1867 original)

. . .

The mere statement of such a problem, and of its indispensable conditions,--including the glory of God, the honour of His law, and the ends of His moral government, as well as the pardon of sin, and the salvation of sinners,--is peculiar to the Gospel of Christ, and may well be regarded as a proof of its superhuman origin: but the solution of it, by the Incarnation, Substitution, and Satisfaction of the Son of God Himself, is such a marvellous manifestation of divine wisdom as 'it could never have entered into the mind of man to conceive.' For none other than the infinite mind of God was capable of such a conception, either of Love, or of Justice, as that on which it is based; and far less of carrying it into effect in the stupendous work of Redemption. It may be esteemed as 'foolishness' by those who have never seriously considered, or sufficiently realised, the conditions of the great problem; but no sooner is any one brought, under the teaching of the Word and Spirit of God, to apprehend them aright, and to apply them in earnest to the case of his own soul, than that which hitherto seemed to be 'foolishness,' is seen to be the 'wisdom of God.' Hence,--while the very repugnance with which it is regarded by many affords ample evidence that it could never have been invented by men,--the best and most convincing evidence of its divine origin is discerned, when it is seen to be worthy of the infinite perfections of God, as well as adapted to the most urgent wants of man; and when 'He who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' (Ibid., pp. 407-408).

Justification is not a subjective, inward, progressive moral change within us, but rather an objective, forensic (legal), one-time declaration from God's sovereign tribunal that our sins are pardoned and we are accepted in His sight. The best theologians have always been careful to maintain this distinction between justification and sanctification. The sole ground of our acceptance is not anything righteous wrought within us or done by us, but the extrinsic, perfect righteousness of Christ that is reckoned or imputed to us by God's legal act. By faith, the sole instrument of justification, we receive and rest in the person and work of Christ alone, renouncing any confidence in ourselves. We do not place our faith in faith itself, but in Christ and His work.

Last week I preached the first of two messages on the biblical doctrine of the atonement. The source of the atonement is God's love and His own eternal purpose, stemming from His free will. Nothing above or outside of God required Him to make provision for the redemption of a people for Himself, but He chose to do so from eternity for His own glory. Atonement is a covering for guilt, and from the Old Testament we learn that expiation involved the removal of guilt (liability to punishment) accruing to sin; sacrifice was the provision for the removal of this guilt. Christ fulfilled His office of Priest by offering Himself up as a sacrifice, once and for all without spot to God, securing eternal salvation for all who believe. Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will preach on the propitiation, whereby Christ was given by the provision of the Father to appease God's wrath; reconciliation, whereby Christ removes the alienation between God and sinners; and redemption, whereby Christ purchases or ransoms His people out of bondage. I will conclude with a discussion of the extent and efficacy of the atonement, demonstrating that limited atonement is an inescapable biblical reality; either the extent or the efficacy of the atonement is limited, and Christ's priestly work of oblation is no less effective than His present work of intercession for His people. The atonement is efficacious to secure expiation, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption for all, throughout the world, for whom it was intended. This was a particular multitude of people, whom God chose from eternity.

I started a blog last year to document some of my studies on justification and the atonement.

I have found John Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied to be particularly useful on the topic of the atonement. Also, not to be neglected, is John Owen's treatment, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, considered one of the best non-inspired Christian works ever written.

Book Review: Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse

2010-06-12T12:29:00.009-05:00

Thomas Woods has written a brilliant book on the ongoing financial crisis: Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2009). This book answers several important questions, including:

What caused the financial crisis? Specifically, why should we pin much of the blame on the Federal Reserve?
What is making the crisis worse?
What should be done now?

Initially, here are some of Woods' insights that I found especially pertinent:

On rewarding government failure with more government power: "Following a familiar pattern, government failure has been blamed on anyone and everyone but the government itself. And of course, that same government failure is being used to justify further increases in government power" (p. 1).
On Obama's policy of "more of the same": "A first glance at Barack Obama's economic team confirms that all the talk of 'change' really meant more of the same--more bailouts, more government intervention, more addressing symptoms rather than causes--along with huge deficits and massive increases in government spending, which our leaders superstitiously believe can restore economic health" (p. 7).
On the primary culprit, the Federal Reserve: "The Fed's policy of intervening in the economy to push interest rates lower than the market would have set them was the single greatest contributor to the crisis that continues to unfold before us. Making cheap credit available for the asking does encourage excessive leverage, speculation, and indebtedness. Manipulating interest rates and thereby misleading investors about real economic conditions does in fact misdirect capital into unsustainable lines of production and discombobulate the market. Imagine that" (pp. 8-9). Elsewhere, he notes that the Fed is the "greatest single government intervention in the economy" (p. 2).

Woods first addresses what caused the financial crisis. He notes: "Blaming 'greedy lenders' or even foolish borrowers for what happened merely begs the question. What institutional factors gave rise to all the foolish lending and borrowing in the first place?" (p. 13) Woods pinpoints several culprits:

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: These government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) purchased home mortgage loans from originating banks and received the stream of monthly payments from borrowers. They also bore the risk of default or would package loans into investments called mortgage-backed securities that would be sold to investors, who in turn received the payments and assumed the risk of default. The entities enjoyed special tax and regulatory privileges, came to have a hand in about half of the country's mortgages, and tried to extend advantages to minority and low-income home buyers. Because the entities were a reliable source of campaign contributions for Democrats, some have suggested that Democrats wanted to leave them alone rather than exercise oversight to ensure that these entities were carefully managed. The entities enabled more home loans to come into existence than would have otherwise been possible in a truly free market, including loans to borrowers of suspect creditworthiness.
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and affirmative action in lending: The Federal government mandated that political, rather than sound economic factors, should take precedence in lending decisions. Woods states that "credit history, down payments, and traditional sources of income ... were presented as dispensable obstacles in the way of increased home-ownership among society's least advantaged." Woods describes risk management within Fannie, Freddie, the CRA, the Federal Reserve, and other government entities, as "cavalier." These factors steered the Fed's newly-created money into the housing industry and created a bubble that would inevitably pop.
The government's artificial stimulus to speculation: When home prices began rapidly and steadily rising, speculators entered the market hoping to secure easy profits. Artificially low interest rates (thanks to Fed-induced inflation), coupled with "cavalier" risk management in lending standards, paved the way for the bubble to be further inflated. The ARM and zero-down payment loans, enabled borrowers to enter the market with little or no "skin in the game," and the SEC-created cartel of ratings agencies gave high ratings to the mortgage-backed securities that represented packages of these risky loans.
The "pro-ownership" tax code: The Federal government stimulated further housing demand by the deduction for home mortgage interest; the more one borrowed and the higher the interest payments, the more one could deduct on taxes. Also, various levels of government have provide incentives for builders to continue pumping up the supply of houses.
The Federal Reserve and artificially cheap credit: Woods briefly summarizes the "Austrian business cycle theory," as follows: "When the Federal Reserve pushes down interest rates by increasing the money supply, it encourages a boom in the production of relatively longer-term projects: raw materials, construction, and capital goods in general. The boom in construction and real estate this past decade made possible by these low interest rates, is a good example. Unlike the production that genuine consumer demand stimulates, though, the Fed's artificial stimulus is not in line with real consumer preferences or the current state of the economy's pool of savings. It draws resources away from projects that cater to real consumer demand, and it encourages more and different kinds of projects to be undertaken than the economy can sustain. The necessary resources to complete these projects profitably do not exist. Neither the saved resources to complete them, nor the consumer base to purchase the finished products, exist in sufficient volume. Not enough people want or can afford half-million dollar homes. The prices these homes can fetch are far lower than initially anticipated. The bust comes" (p. 26). At the end of his chapter on the culprits, Woods quotes economist Gerald O'Driscoll's analogy of the Fed: "an arsonist watching a fire he set, expressing amazement at how such an event could have happened" (p. 34).
The "too big to fail" mentality: The Federal government creates moral hazard when it establishes a regulatory and policy structure that enables corporations to make risky bets, reap the profits if their ventures turn out, but socialize the losses if their projects fail. The solution: "Make perfectly clear once and for all that there will be no bailouts, no looting the public, on behalf of any firm, period. That would do more to jolt the financial sector into being sensible and cautious instead of reckless and irresponsible than all the regulatory tinkering in the world" (p. 32).

Next, Woods addresses the bailouts and other measures the government is pursuing to make the crisis worse, all in the name of curing the crisis, of course:

Our ostensibly wise leaders such as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke assured us in May 2007 that the subprime market would not significantly impact the rest of the economy and financial system. Bear Stearns had to be bailed out in March 2008, and by August 2008, Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson were busy assuring everyone that we had a "strong" economy. Not long thereafter -- within a few weeks and months -- these leaders were proven magnificently wrong, and they had to demand new and greater powers, ostensibly to fix all the problems they created but failed to foresee.
Paulson allowed Lehman Brothers to fail, supposedly because he wanted to avoid moral hazard in the marketplace (described above). However, the very next day, he bailed out AIG to the tune of $85 billion.
Rather than bailing out the "too big to fail" companies, the government could allow the squanderers to fail so that resources could be reallocated to wiser managers. Woods notes that "discontinuing activities that destroy wealth and drain resources away from healthy, competent firms is a step forward for the economy" (p. 40). However, as we know, the government has thwarted this process of reallocation through the bailouts and artificial stimulus for asset values that need to fall (e.g., housing prices are stimulated through tax credits, allowing defaulting borrowers to stay in their homes rather than putting these houses on the market, etc.).
"The economy needs time to restructure itself, for market participants to sort out which investments are sound and which are squandering capital, and for asset prices to be brought back into line with reality, in order for rational economic calculation to proceed once again" (p. 42). Instead, we are relying on the "'collected experience' of people who for years had been ludicrously mistaken in their assessments of the economy, whose statements and proposals changed from week to week, and who obviously hadn't the slightest idea what was happening" (p. 43).
On regulation and deregulation, Woods wisely supplies a nuance in his free-market thinking: "Any 'deregulation' of the banking system that permits the banks to take greater risks while maintaining government (that is, taxpayer) insurance of their deposits [i.e., moral hazard] is not genuine deregulation from a free-market point of view. ... But a mixture of liberalizing banks' risk-taking ability while maintaining a government guarantee may be the worst of both worlds" (pp. 46-47).
The system we have created "artificially encourages indebtedness, excessive leverage, and reckless money management in general" (p. 47).
The bailout system encourages companies to profit by the political, rather than economic, means. The politicians can advance their careers by "looting the general public to bail out some wealth destroyer," and in the absence of such opportunities, the politicians "would hardly know what to do with themselves" (p. 54). The state creates uncertainty so that businesses don't want to sell off assets at realistic market prices when the possibility exists that the state will step in to buy the assets at inflated prices. This clogs the markets and perverts the profit-and-loss system so that businesses have guaranteed profits, while losses go to the taxpayers. Moral hazard has been institutionalized.
The government cannot foresee the unintended consequences of its interventions, and neither can it foresee the beneficial results of letting the market sort out real asset values and profitable projects. The government tries to give us something for nothing, to shortcut the process of true wealth creation.

Woods devotes a chapter to boom-bust cycles, arguing that these are not created by capitalism, greed, or deregulation, but by the institution and system of government itself -- specifically, the central bank. He points out that, according to Austrian business cycle theory, interest rates coordinate savings and investment. As people save more of their resources and defer consumption, there is more to invest in long-term capital projects, and interest rates go down; people are demonstrating a preference to defer present consumption in favor of the long-run. However, when the Federal Reserve artificially injects credit into the economy and lowers interest rates, the market is distorted and projects that would not have been otherwise undertaken suddenly appear to be viable and profitable in the long-run. Yet, reality must eventually set in, and the projects are demonstrated to be unsustainable. This is when the government decides to step in with bailouts, more credit expansion and other interventions to delay the needed corrections: falling prices, a temporary freeze-up on lending markets, losses for unsustainable projects and enterprises, and reallocation of resources from the wasters to those who can profit by the economic means. Capital is squandered and resources are wasted as the government pursues more and bigger bailouts. Importantly, many businesses and projects fail at once, and this "cluster of errors" -- as opposed to the more general failure of businesses and projects here and there that we might expect in the economy -- comes about because of the damage from artificially low interest rates during the economic "boom."

Woods points out that the Fed injected massive amounts of credit to resolve the dot-com bust between 2001 and 2004. Housing starts did not decline during the dot-com bust, which was the first time on record this happened during a recession. The Fed's injection of credit created conditions for a massive run-up of housing prices, which represented a misallocation of economic resources that would need to be corrected in the form of lower housing prices, economic recession, and reallocation. Given that Austrians were some of the few economists who predicted the inevitable collapse, the theory demonstrably has great explanatory power and also exonerates the free market, according to Woods. We must blame the Fed and government interferences, rather than the market itself.

Woods devotes a chapter to debunking myths about the Great Depression, pointing out that Hoover and FDR were both interventionists; that the 1920-1921 depression was just as severe initially but that it self-corrected much more rapidly in the absence of any government and Fed intervention; and that Austrians had correctly predicted the Great Depression in contradiction to other schools of thought that claimed the economy was fundamentally sound and that the boom could last long into the foreseeable future. Woods deals with the dangerous myth that "war brings prosperity" by pointing out that during war, consumers suffered from "rationing, declining product quality, the complete inability to purchase things like new homes, cars, and appliances, and an increase in the work week" (p. 104). War benefits the state, while the private sector is more prosperous in peacetime.

Woods pinpoints several problems with our current monetary system:

a 95% decline in value of our dollar since the Federal Reserve's inception in 1913
insidious expropriation of wealth so that the government need not tax or borrow; it can simply inflate secretly and depreciate our currency in order to increase spending, gain more control, and buy votes
the boom-bust cycle's inherent instability and miscalculation within the economic system
the existence of alternative systems that would eliminate moral hazard for the elites, as they are now enabled to bail out their failing friends in defiance of popular opinion
a flourishing of reckless risk-taking and leveraging

Money comes about naturally and spontaneously in a free market because people recognize benefits of "indirect exchange" rather than barter; they can trade, in a roundabout way, their products or services for a highly marketable commodity that they can later trade for the products and services of others. The most highly marketable commodity in an economy becomes its money. But the government steps in to monopolize money creation in its own hands; fiat paper money can only come about through a parasitic means, as when the government establishes legal tender laws and confiscates the previously used commodity (e.g., gold), because no one in their right mind would trust government-issued, easily-depreciated paper if there was an alternative, sound, proven, and highly marketable commodity available to use as money. Governments assert sovereignty for themselves and loot the population through inflation, which can and has historically been criticized on both economic and moral grounds. A free market commodity money restricts the state's theft and gives the people freedom; thus, the state's hatred for gold and silver.

The government uses various means, including legitimizing "fractional reserve banking," establishing central banking, providing deposit insurance to prevent bank runs, and so forth. The Federal Reserve, created by a small group of special interests within government, banking, and the economics discipline, provides "special privileges for one particular industry at the expense of the rest of society" (p. 120). The Fed controls our money supply, manipulates interest rates, serves as "lender of last resort" to banks, buys and sells government debt to expand and contract the money supply and to finance the government's destructive interventions, and sets the required reserve ratio for bank deposits. Through all of these means the Fed can create inflation, which drives up prices, hurts people on fixed incomes, provides an artificial stimulus for economic activity, redistributes wealth to the politically well-connected, discourages savings, creates moral hazard because the central bank can bail out its friends in time of need, leads to the business cycle; and, finally, all of these problems can be blamed on the "unregulated free market" so that the state gains more and more power because of the crises it creates.

Woods says that the notion that Fed inflation leads to prosperity is "one of the great economic superstitions of our time" (p. 126). In order to have prosperity, an economy needs a pool of real savings that is created when producers defer consumption; this provides a base of real resources that can be invested and transformed into capital for longer-term production. The Fed cannot create prosperity through inflation.

Woods addresses several anti-gold fallacies, including: gold and silver aren't flexible; precious metals are too bulky; a gold standard is too costly; there isn't enough metal to facilitate transactions; and the supply of gold cannot keep up with the growth in business activity. He then provides a note on deflation, arguing that falling prices are not the economic nemesis that many within the establishment make it out to be. Importantly, he points out that true deflation is a decline in the money supply, not a decline in prices, the latter of which could be a result of deflation or a beneficial result of greater productivity.

Woods concludes with a discussion of what should be done now. He confronts the notion that consumer spending drives the economy, arguing that this is true only in the sense that consumer preference helps firms decide what to produce, with what methods, and in what quantities. However, wealth is not generated through spending, contrary to the popular myth that spending is key to economic prosperity. Gross Domestic Product is not a good measure of economic health because it "leaves out all the higher and intermediate stages of production that take place on the way to producing final consumer goods" (p. 143). Consumption, or using things up, does not drive prosperity; rather, production, which makes consumption possible in the first place, is necessary. Prosperity is enhanced when businesses produce something people want.

Woods notes: "Stimulating more consumption will only widen the mismatch between resources invested in higher-order stages of production geared toward future production on the one hand and demand for consumer goods in the immediate present on the other" (p. 144). "Consumptive expenditure uses up, exhausts, and destroys; productive expenditure provides for its own replacement in the form of an increased supply of goods in the future" (pp. 145-146). The stimulus packages, for example, simply encourage us to consume without providing replacement resources for the future.

We take this process for granted, but had people before us failed to save and sacrifice, we would not have the capital and productive capacity to enable us to consume. Imagine if our forebears had stimulated consumption and discouraged savings, investment, and production; we would be much poorer for it. Think of the legacy we are leaving for future generations with all our reckless debt and consumption. The picture the statists have created for us is quite bleak.

In summary, Woods suggests the following solutions:

Let the failed business fail. Bankruptcy is good and necessary; the assets and capital continue to exist and can simply be reallocated to wiser managers.
Abolish Fannie and Freddie. Don't "attempt to fix bad government with more government," in the words of Jeffrey Miron (p. 148). In light of the discussion above regarding these institutions, it should be obvious that abolishing these GSE is a necessary step to restore economic health.
Stop the bailouts and cut government spending. In short, most of the time we would be well-advised to "do exactly the opposite of what the New York Times calls for" (p. 149).
End government manipulation of money. The Fed created "the most bloated asset bubble the world has ever seen. It has encouraged the diversion of resources into an unsustainable structure of production that must be rearranged amidst inevitable bankruptcies and liquidations" (p. 150).
Put the Fed on the table. It creates instability and is an unnecessary and disruptive intrusion, according to Woods. Some, including Jim Rogers, have predicted that the Fed will be abolished. Ron Paul has called for its abolition in books and bills before Congress. The Fed creates moral hazard as a permanent institution and is very secretive about its dealings; it needs to go.
Close those special lending windows. Give the market a chance, and get rid of the bailouts.
End the monopoly on money. If you really believe in the "free market," you should trust the market to provide money. Some would even suggest ending any "standard" for money and letting the market decide, i.e., rather than imposing a "gold standard" or "silver standard." The key is freedom and "separation of money and state," in the words of Hayek.

Woods' book effectively and entertainingly sets forth the story behind the crisis, the current interventions, and the necessary solutions to restore economic freedom and prosperity. This is an indispensable resource for understanding, on a very relevant and practical level, the subject of economics, which the great economist Ludwig von Mises calls "the main and proper study of every citizen."

Guest Post by Christopher Berkompas: Priorities for aspiring entrepreneurs

2010-04-27T18:01:00.003-05:00

Maintaining the right priorities is difficult as an entrepreneur, especially when beginning a new venture. Based on my experience so far with Manage My Property, here are the most important milestones I would encourage an aspiring entrepreneur to pursue.

1. Start a company

Avoid the temptation to sit back and theorize. Entrepreneurship is an intensely practical undertaking, and experience is the best teacher. Most of the necessary skills can't be taught in the classroom; they have to be learned in the field. Your success as an entrepreneur will be determined by how much knowledge you can bring to bear on your specific situation, not how well you can do on a test.

Start getting experience as early as you can. It takes time, and the more runway you give yourself, the better. Don't be a perfectionist. Your first venture doesn't have to be profitable. Treat the time spent as tuition. The experience you gain will give you a peg to hang your academic training on, if you choose to go that route.

2. Find a mentor

Avoid the temptation to go it alone. This is dangerous for a couple reasons. You might be bullish on your idea right now, but there will be points where you want to throw in the towel, and you will need encouragement to stay the course.

A mentor can also keep you from trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead of spending hours doing research or debating with your business partner, find someone who has dealt with this issue before, and ask them. Even if you have to pay for the advice, it is usually cheaper than finding the answer yourself.

Lastly, don't under estimate the power of the "Reality Distortion Field" (RDF) and its ability to delude you into believing just about anything. Having a mentor helps you gain the objectivity of an outsider which most entrepreneurs desperately need.

3. Start by developing your customers, not your product.

Be wary of spending time on developing your idea, product, or service. Focus instead on achieving product/market fit. Find out what your customers need, and then build that.

It is easy as an entrepreneur to think that you know what the market wants. But as Steve Blank points out, there are no facts inside the building. If you forge ahead without validating your assumptions by talking to customers, you might find yourself with an expensive hobby, not a profitable business.

At Manage My Property, we made the mistake of moving too quickly to product development. We took the information we'd gained by studying our competitors and talking in depth with a single customer, and spent hours nailing down a detailed spec. As it turned out, after months of development, some of the features turned out to be worthless to 90% of our audience. If we had spent more time getting to know our customers, we would have been able to launch sooner with a leaner product.

One final thought about failure. Entrepreneurship isn't safe. The best way to avoid failure is not to even try. But that happens to be a great way to avoid success, too. My best advice is to fail small. Get as close to your customers as you can, and iterate until you get it right.

Any current entrepreneurs out there? I'd be interested to hear your comments, or feedback.

Chris is co-founder of Manage My Property, a directory of property management companies that provides property management leads for management companies nationally.

J. Gresham Machen on Christianity and Culture

2010-02-21T15:44:00.004-06:00

"Our whole system of school and college education is so constituted as to keep religion and culture as far apart as possible and ignore the question of the relationship between them. On five or six days in the week, we were engaged in the acquisition of knowledge. From this activity the study of religion was banished. We studied natural science without considering its bearing or lack of bearing upon natural theology or upon revelation. We studied Greek without opening the New Testament. We studied history with careful avoidance of that greatest of historical movements which was ushered in by the preaching of Jesus. In philosophy, the vital importance of the study of religion could not entirely be concealed, but it was kept as far as possible in the background. On Sundays, on the other hand, we had religious instruction that called for little exercise of the intellect. Careful preparation for Sunday-school lessons as for lessons in mathematics or Latin was unknown. Religion seemed to be something that had to do only with the emotions and the will, leaving the intellect to secular studies. What wonder that after such training we came to regard religion and culture as belonging to two entirely separate compartments of the soul, and their union as involving the destruction of both?

...

Are then Christianity and culture in a conflict that is to be settled only by the destruction of one or the other of the contending forces? A third solution fortunately, is possible--namely, consecration. Instead of destroying the arts and sciences or being indifferent to them, let us cultivate them with all the enthusiasm of the veriest humanist, but at the same time consecrate them to the service of our God. Instead of stifling the pleasures afforded by the acquisition of knowledge or by the appreciation of what is beautiful, let us accept these pleasures as the gifts of a heavenly Father. Instead of obliterating the distinction between the Kingdom and the world, or on the other hand withdrawing from the world into a sort of modernized intellectual monasticism, let us go forth joyfully, enthusiastically to make the world subject to God.

...

The Christian cannot be satisfied so long as any human activity is either opposed to Christianity or out of all connection with Christianity. Christianity must pervade not merely all nations, but also all of human thought. The Christian, therefore, cannot be indifferent to any branch of earnest human endeavour. It must all be brought into some relation to the gospel. It must be studied either in order to be demonstrated as false, or else in order to be made useful in advancing the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom must be advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively. The Church must seek to conquer not merely every man for Christ, but also the whole of man. We are accustomed to encourage ourselves in our discouragements by the thought of the time when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. No less inspiring is the other aspect of that same great consummation. That will also be a time when doubts have disappeared, when every contradiction has been removed, when all of science converges to one great conviction, when all of art is devoted to one great end, when all of human thinking is permeated by the refining, ennobling influence of Jesus, when every thought has been brought into subjection to the obedience of Christ.

...

But by whom is this task of transforming the unwieldy, resisting mass of human thought until it becomes subservient to the gospel--by whom is this task to be accomplished? To some extent, no doubt, by professors in theological seminaries and universities. But the ordinary minister of the gospel cannot shirk his responsibility. It is a great mistake to suppose that investigation can successfully be carried on by a few specialists whose work is of interest to nobody but themselves. Many men of many minds are needed. What we need first of all, especially in our American churches, is a more general interest in the problems of theological science. Without that, the specialist is without the stimulating atmosphere which nerves him to do his work.

But no matter what his station in life, the scholar must be a regenerated man--he must yield to no one in the intensity and depth of his religious experience. We are well supplied in the world with excellent scholars who are without that qualification. They are doing useful work in detail, in Biblical philology, in exegesis, in Biblical theology, and in other branches of study. But they are not accomplishing the great task, they are not assimilating modern thought to Christianity, because they are without that experience of God's power in the soul which is of the essence of Christianity. They have only one side for the comparison. Modern thought they know, but Christianity is really foreign to them. It is just that great inward experience which it is the function of the true Christian scholar to bring into some sort of connection with the thought of the world.

... To a very large extent, the students of our great Eastern universities -- and still more the universities of Europe -- are not Christians. And they are not Christians often just because they are students. The thought of the day, as it makes itself most strongly felt in the universities, is profoundly opposed to Christianity, or at least it is out of connection with Christianity. The chief obstacle to the Christian religion today lies in the sphere of the intellect.

That assertion must be guarded against two misconceptions. In the first place, I do not mean that most men reject Christianity consciously on account of intellectual difficulties. On the contrary, rejection of Christianity is due in the vast majority of cases simply to indifference. Only a few men have given the subject real attention. The vast majority of those who reject the gospel do so simply because they know nothing about it. But whence comes this indifference? It is due to the intellectual atmosphere in which men are living. The modern world is dominated by ideas which ignore the gospel. Modern culture is not altogether opposed to the gospel. But it is out of all connection with it. It not only prevents the acceptance of Christianity. It prevents Christianity even from getting a hearing.

In the second place, I do not mean that the removal of intellectual objections will make a man a Christian. No conversion was ever wrought simply by argument. A change of heart is also necessary. And that can be wrought only by the immediate exercise of the power of God. But because intellectual labour is insufficient it does not follow, as is so often assumed, that it is unnecessary. God may, it is true, overcome all intellectual obstacle by an immediate exercise of His regenerative power. Sometimes He does. But He does so very seldom. Usually He exerts His power in connection with certain conditions of the human mind. Usually He does not bring into the Kingdom, entirely without preparation, those whose mind and fancy are completely dominated by ideas which make the acceptance of the gospel logically impossible.

... Christianity is the proclamation of an historical fact--that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Modern thought has no place for that proclamation. It prevents men even from listening to the message. Yet the culture of today cannot simply be rejected as a whole. It is not like the pagan culture of the first century. It is not wholly non-Christian. Much of it has been derived directly from the Bible. There are significant movements in it, going to waste, which might well be used for the defence of the gospel. The situation is complex. Easy wholesale measures are not in place. Discrimination, investigation is necessary. Some of modern thought must be refuted. The rest must be made subservient. But nothing in it can be ignored. He that is not with us is against us. Modern culture is a mighty force. It is either subservient to the gospel or else it is the deadliest enemy of the gospel. For making it subservient, religious emotion is not enough, intellectual labour is also necessary. And that labour is being neglected. The Church has turned to easier tasks. And now she is reaping the fruits of her indolence. Now she must battle for her life.

... The Church is perishing today through the lack of thinking, not through an excess of it. She is winning victories in this sphere of material betterment. Such victories are glorious. God save us from the heartless crime of disparaging them. They are relieving the misery of men. But if they stand alone, I fear they are but temporary. The things which are seen are temporal; the things which are not seen are eternal. What will become of philanthropy if God be lost? Beneath the surface of life lies a world of spirit. Philosophers have attempted to explore it. Christianity has revealed its wonders to the simple soul. There lie the springs of the Church's power. But that spiritual realm cannot be entered without controversy. And now the Church is shrinking from the conflict. Driven from the spiritual realm by the current of modern thought, she is consoling herself with things about which there is no dispute. If she favours better housing for the poor, she need fear no contradiction. She will need all her courage, she will have enemies enough, God knows. But they will not fight her with argument. The twentieth century, in theory, is agreed on social betterment. But sin, and death, and salvation, and life, and God--about these things there is debate. You can avoid the debate if you choose. You need only drift with the current. Preach every Sunday during your Seminary course, devote the [slight] ends of your time to study and to thought, study about as you studied in college--and these questions will probably never trouble you. The great questions may easily be avoided. Many preachers are avoiding them. And many preachers are preaching to the air. The Church is waiting for men of another type. Men to fight her battles and solve her problems. The hope of finding them is the one great inspiration of a Seminary's life. They need not all be men of conspicuous attainments. But they must all be men of thought. They must fight hard against spiritual and intellectual indolence. Their thinking may be confined to narrow limits. But it must be their own. To them theology must be something more than a task. It must be a matter of inquiry. It must lead not to successful memorizing, but to genuine convictions.

The Church is puzzled by the world's indifference. She is trying to overcome it by adapting her message to the fashions of the day. But if, instead, before the conflict, she would descend into the secret place of meditation, if by the clear light of the gospel she would seek an answer not merely to the question of the hour but, first of all, to the eternal problems of the spiritual world, then perhaps, by God's grace, through His good Spirit, in His good time, she might issue forth once more with power, and an age of doubt might be followed by the dawn of an era of faith.

(Excerpted from J. Gresham Machen's "Christianity and Culture")

Reformation Day, Week, and Month: Posts from October (mostly) with the Reformation Theme

2009-11-02T16:50:00.004-06:00

REFORMATION WEEK, part 13: Declaring and Celebrating God's Providential Works in and through our Fathers throughout History

2009-10-31T02:30:00.008-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, and Part 12 of the Reformation Week posts.]

We previously examined biblical commands to multi-generationally remember and declare God's covenant, commandments, and works of providence in history. To reaffirm, the message of Scripture is unequivocal: We must not forget but must remember God's covenant and commandments, learning from our fathers and teaching future generations.

I now wish to take this a step further and examine the implications of this biblical theme and how we can apply God's commandment to remember His providence in history.

I. Studying history teaches us to hope in God's providential mercy and to fear His judgment.

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Rom. 15:4). We learn from Scripture, especially from the testimonies of saints who came before us and, chiefly, from the example of Christ our Lord. As we follow their example of patiently enduring trials and afflictions, we gain hope through the promises and providence of God in His Word and in His government of history. "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18).

First Corinthians 10 shows us that Scripture is also given partly to warn us:

"[11] Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. [12] Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. [13] There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. [14] Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry."

We learn from Scripture both how to hope in God's mercy and how to fear His judgments with all humility of mind. Scripture is given to us as a revelation of God's redemptive plan in history through our Savior. Our Lord Jesus Christ is at the beginning, center, and end of all Scripture. We also see God's merciful providence and fearsome judgments in non-inspired studies of history through original source documents and analysis by historians with a providential perspective.

General Robert E. Lee stated this not long before his death:

"My experience of men has neither disposed me to think worse of them, or indisposed me to serve them; nor in spite of failures, which I lament, of errors which I now see and acknowledge; or of the present aspect of affairs; do I despair of the future. The truth is this: The march of Providence is so slow and our desires so impatient; the work of progress so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope" (emphasis added).

Devoid of a providential perspective and an understanding of the biblical flow of redemptive history, we can too easily despair upon reading headlines or observing the depravity that daily besets us. However, Calvin in his commentary on Isaiah 9:7 admonishes us:

"Though the kingdom of Christ is in such a condition that it appears as if it were about to perish at every moment, yet God not only protects and defends it, but also extents its boundaries far and wide, and then preserves and carries it forward in uninterrupted progression to eternity. We ought firmly to believe this, that the frequency of those shocks by which the Church is shaken may not weaken our faith, when we learn that, amidst the much outcry and violent attacks of enemies, the kingdom of Christ stands firm through the invincible power of God, so that, though the whole world should oppose and resist, it will remain through all ages. We must not judge of its stability from the present appearances of things, but from the promise, which assures us of its continuance and of its constant increase" (emphasis added; quoted in Daniel F.N. Ritchie's A Conquered Kingdom: Biblical Civil Government [pp. 82-83]).

We learn these truths about God's providence from wise men of God in ages past who studied and carefully wrote a summary of this biblical doctrine:

"God the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will; to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy" (Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, V.I: Of Divine Providence).

History -- foremost those testimonies contained in Scripture and secondarily the insights we gain from reading and studying non-inspired yet excellent resources that show forth and assess God's providence -- teaches us, in short, to hope and to fear.

II. God provides a "cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12:1) in the Hebrews 11 "faith hall of fame" that ultimately points us to Christ (Heb. 12:2). As we give God alone all glory, we are to remember their examples, God's providence in their lives, and recognize that they are all fallible, sinful men and women whom God used to mightily advance His Kingdom.

Hebrews 11 most prominently teaches us the role of faith in the lives of our heroes:

"[1] Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. [2] For by it the elders obtained a good report. [3] Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. [4] By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. [5] By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. [6] But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

After recounting the faith of many heroes and the providence of God in sanctifying His people through affliction and using them to advance His Kingdom for His own glory, we read about those heroes ...

"[33] Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, [34] Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. [35] Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: [36] And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: [37] They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; [38] (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. [39] And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: [40] God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

J.H. Merle D'Aubigne, author of many noteworthy volumes on Christian history, including History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, wrote the following in vol. 1: Geneva and France:

"The work of the historian is neither a work of the imagination, like that of the poet, nor a mere conversation about times gone by, as some writers of our day appear to imagine. History is a faithful description of past events; and when the historian can relate them by making use of the language of those who took part in them, he is more certain of describing them just as they were" (Sprinkle Publications, p. xv).

...

"The history which exhibits men thinking, feeling, and acting as they did in their lifetime, is of far higher value than those purely intellectual compositions in which the actors are deprived of speech and even of life" (Ibid., p. xvi).

D'Aubigne's description of well-written history is apt for his own work, as well as for the biblical narratives that describe real and ordinary men and women whom God used in His providence to do extraordinary things for His glory and Kingdom.

We render no measure of credit to the men and women themselves for any faithfulness or obedience and results, for it was God who worked in and through them to do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13), and we are not to glory in fallible, finite, fallen humans. Indeed, in their testimonies, God sets before us a great "cloud of witnesses" whose example we follow when we run patiently the race that is set before us. And we look beyond them unto Jesus, "the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:1-2). Our explorations of history point us to Christ, His sacrifice and atonement at the cross, and His sovereign reign at the right hand of the Father as His Kingdom advances to defeat all His foes (Ps. 110:1, I Cor. 15:25).

In all of these things, no glory belongs to man. Soli Deo Gloria -- to God alone belongs all glory, now and forever, world without end.

"Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD" (Jer. 9:23-24).

I Corinthians 1 -- "[26] For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: [27] But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; [28] And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: [29] That no flesh should glory in his presence. [30] But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: [31] That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

I Corinthians 3 -- "[19] For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. [20] And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. [21] Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; [22] Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; [23] And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's."

"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (I Cor. 4:7)

"But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (II Cor.10:17).

"To whom [Christ, who gave Himself for our sins] be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Gal. 1:5).

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:4).

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (Eph. 3:20-21).

"Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Phil. 4:20).

III. God requires us to honor our physical and spiritual fathers and mothers.

Exodus 20:12, the Fourth Commandment, says this: "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." We later see this commandment explicitly re-affirmed: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Eph. 6:1-3).

Clearly, this divine command applies to children of physical fathers and mothers, as we also see in commandments and testimonies throughout Scripture, most notably the Proverbs. But this ordinance to render honor goes beyond parents, extending to the ecclesiastical realm (Heb. 13:7) and even to civil magistrates (Rom. 13:7). Furthermore, we observe the apostolic testimony of Paul toward Timothy, his "son in the faith" (I Tim. 1:2). This son had Paul as a spiritual father, and so we have fathers through the Gospel (I Cor. 4:14-15). We are exhorted to remember "all our fathers" of the Hebrew nation (I Cor. 10:1), and we are to continue in the faith of Abraham, the father of us all (Rom. 4:16). Additional commandments and patterns, both positive and negative (e.g., Psalm 78:8), demonstrate the spiritual as well as physical nature of the Fourth Commandment in Exodus 20:12.

We are to listen to the testimonies of our physical and spiritual parents, remember God's providence in history, and pass these truths to future generations. We are not to forget or neglect to tell of His mighty deeds, but rather to remember and declare them (Ps. 78).

Our generation faces great challenges and struggles -- as much or more so than many previous generations -- and we must not faint in the day of adversity (Prov. 24:10). We must be “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 2:1) and be even more rigorously deliberate than our spiritual and physical fathers and mothers. William Bradford writes in Of Plymouth Plantation about the initial objections and fears many Pilgrims had in coming to America:

"It was replied that all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both met and overcome with answerable courage. It was granted the dangers were great, but not desperate; the difficulties were many, but not invincible. For, many of the things feared might never befall; others by provident care and the use of good means might in a great measure be prevented; and all of them, through the help of God, by fortitude and patience, might either be borne or overcome. True it was that such attempts were not to be undertaken without good ground and reason, rashly or lightly; or, as many had done, for curiosity or hope of gain. But their condition was not ordinary; their ends were good and honourable; their calling, lawful and urgent; therefore they might expect the blessing of God on their proceedings. Yea, though they should lose their lives in this action, yet might they have the comfort of knowing that their endeavor was worthy" (pp. 22-23).

They were marked by a firm recognition of God’s sovereignty: His predestination of His people to salvation; His providential governance of all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest to the least; His unquestioned right as Lawgiver through His inspired, sufficient, and authoritative Word, Holy Scripture; and His inevitable victory through the triumph of Christ’s Kingdom in time and history, as well as in eternity. To summarize, in the words of William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation:

"Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least of making some way towards it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work" (p. 21).

Following Bradford and the Pilgrim's courage, Robert E. Lee's insight that history teaches us to hope, and Calvin's comments on Isaiah 9:7 -- all of which were referenced above -- we do not know the extent to which we will witness visible progress in our lifetimes. All of the great movements in history, though we often forget this, culminated after several preceding generations of men and women had lived faithfully and obediently, by God's grace and strength, for His glory alone. These men and women shared confidence in God’s faithfulness to a thousand generations. They did not labor for themselves in vain but for Christ, His Kingdom, and future generations.

The predecessors to generations in which God visibly performed great works did not make headlines for noteworthy achievements; more often, these predecessors followed in the footsteps of the great cloud of witnesses from Hebrews 11. They were perhaps even visibly defeated in their lifetimes -- whether by sword, by lion, by wandering, by famine -- but these our spiritual fathers and mothers built good and stable foundations, establishing a worthy precedent for future generations and for the advancements of God's Kingdom toward victory in His time, according to His providential will.

IV. Various Scriptures (especially in the OT) provide for celebrations -- often for the purpose of remembering God's providence.

"Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" (Ps. 107:8; cf. verses 15, 21, and 31).

We examined in a previous post God's commandment for His people to celebrate the Passover for a perpetual memorial throughout the generations; and similar feasts and celebrations He commanded to be observed perpetually and multi-generationally, that they would not forget their Lord and pursue after idols. In addition, we understand that God commanded His people to remember His covenant, commandments, and providence, through memorials and landmarks that were not to be removed. How can we apply these patterns in our day?

It is right and appropriate for believers to gather corporately for a time of celebration in remembrance of God's providence through faithful men and women in history, whom we honor as our spiritual fathers and mothers. We glory in Christ, not in creatures, and we base our unity and fellowship in Him, not in fallen, sinful man. We recognize that He providentially works and blesses toward His ordained eternally decreed ends through His appointed means of faithfulness and obedience. We encourage each other not to forget His wondrous deeds of old, but rather to declare them to their children and children's children -- that all might set their hope in God and faithfully obey Him.

We can learn from the sacrificial, humble obedience and faithfulness of our Hebrews 11 heroes. This, we assert, applies no less to our 16th Century and 18th Century and 20th Century heroes. They have left us quite a deposit of spiritual capital that we must not foolishly set aside through neglect and forgetfulness. We may remember them on Reformation Day, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, and Lee-Jackson Day, among other special days of celebration and thankfulness to God.

We are well aware of the divine instruction concerning setting aside special days:

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks" (Rom. 14:5-6).

We conclude from this that none are obliged to set aside special days such as Reformation Day, and we do not violate the Regulative Principle regardless of whether we celebrate or refrain from celebrating on days that God has not specifically designated for worship and rest. God has expressly provided patterns of celebrations and remembrances, and He has commanded us to declare His works of providence multi-generationally, with praise and glory toward Christ alone. A Reformation Day Celebration is one very legitimate and blessed way to fulfill this duty.

CONCLUSION

To God alone be all glory! Wondrous things He has done. May we learn to hope in His mercy and fear before Him in remembrance of His righteous judgments in history. History teaches us to hope, not in noting what is seen by the natural gaze of man's wisdom, but in surveying the wonderful providences of God by a perspective gained solely through His divine Word. God's Kingdom advances toward triumph in history, and He governs all things providentially according to His own good will and pleasure, for the good of His people, and for His own glory.

As we study and declare God's providential works, we seek not to glory in our heroes but to rather remember and celebrate God's mighty deeds in and through ordinary, fallen yet redeemed men and women -- our spiritual fathers and mothers whose unshakable faith in Christ we follow. We stand upon their shoulders and seek to build upon the foundations they have laid for us, advancing even farther down the trail they have begun to blaze.

REFORMATION WEEK, part 12: "Post Tenebras Lux" -- After Darkness, Light: A Theme of the Reformation

2009-10-30T15:45:00.000-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, and Part 11 of the Reformation Week posts.]

First Peter 2:9 assures us that God has called His chosen people, the royal priesthood, out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Christ is the light of the world (Jn. 8:12), and we who were in darkness (Eph. 5:8) have now seen the light (Mt. 4:16). Psalm 36:9 teaches that God's light is the very source of our light or understanding.

Light vs. darkness is a consistent theme throughout Scripture from the very first verses all the way to the end. Here is a representative sampling that is by no means exhaustive, which will demonstrate this point:

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day" (Genesis 1:5).

"For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness" (Psalm 18:28).

"For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light" (Psalm 36:9).

"O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles" (Psalm 43:3).

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. ... The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Psalm 119:105,130).

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18).

"For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life" (Proverbs 6:23).

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined" (Isaiah 9:20).

"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up" (Matthew 4:16; cf. Luke 1:79).

John 1:1-5 -- "[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men. [5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

John 3:19-21 -- "[19] And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. [20] For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. [21] But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

"Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. ... I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness" (John 12:35-36,46).

Paul recounts in Acts 26:18 what Jesus had told him on the road to Damascus: "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light" (Romans 13:12).

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (II Corinthians 4:6).

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" (II Corinthians 6:14)

"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light ... And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:8,11).

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12).

"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Colossians 1:13).

I Thessalonians 5:4-8 -- "[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. [5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. [6] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. [7] For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. [8] But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light" (I Peter 2:9).

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (I John 1:5-6).

"Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now" (I John 2:8-9).

"And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 22:5).

The late Dr. Greg Bahnsen writes:

"Our knowledge of God is not just like the rest of our knowledge. The psalmist wrote, 'In Thy light we see light' (Ps. 36.9). The knowledge that all men have of God because of natural revelation provides the framework or foundation for any other knowledge they are able to attain. The knowledge of God is the necessary context for learning anything else. One can gain enlightenment ('see light') about the world or oneself only in terms of the more fundamental revelation of God about Himself ('in Thy light')" (Van Til's Apologetic, p. 181).

The theme of light vs. darkness has implications, not merely for our lives as individuals within God's Kingdom or for epistemology, but indeed, for our understanding of all God's providential workings to advance the Kingdom of Christ toward triumph in history. R.J. Rushdoony notes:

"...Christian histiography termed everything outside of Christ 'the dark ages.' Petrarch ... [called] the thousand years of Christianity by that title. ... [But] the dark ages of history are ... the non-Christian eras and areas, because Jesus Christ is the light of the world" (emphasis added; source: The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum, pp. 40, 42)

Post Tenebras Lux, "after darkness, light," became the motto for Geneva when the Reformation gained ground and swept away the darkness of Romanism (cf.: The Rallying Cries of the Reformation). Tom Browning states:

"Now when the phrase 'post tenebras lux' is used, it is normally used in reference to the recovery of the doctrine of justification and to the principle of 'sola fide' but there is a sense in which the phrase refers to other things associated with the Reformation as well. It refers to the reformation of worship and to the reformation of clerical orders. It refers to the accessibility of Scripture and to the reformation of the sacraments and it even refers to the reformation of the concepts of work and family.

"You can see now, I think, how the phrase was used. That which was dark was illuminated by Scripture and by Christ’s great redemptive work…by the gospel. People were no longer held in the bondage of superstition and idolatry. They were no longer held in bondage and ignorance of what Christ had accomplished on their behalf. They could see at last what Christ had accomplished on their behalf. They were a little like the man who had been born blind but who could now see for himself.

"... Men came to see their lives as having meaning in Christ. Men came to see their vocations as having meaning in Christ. Men who had been cobblers were suddenly grateful that God had granted them a vocation and calling. They were no longer ashamed of having menial positions in life. They no longer looked with jealously and envy upon those called to other or higher vocations. Instead, they rejoiced in what others had been called to even as they rejoiced in their own vocation and calling."

We should remember several key points:

God has called His people out of darkness and into light. We should forever praise Him that, having been liberated from slavery to sin, rebellion, ignorance, foolishness, and darkness, we now see light, truth, wisdom, and righteousness in the Kingdom of Christ.
The Christian worldview asserts that Christ is the light of the world, in God's light we see light, and every place or person outside of Christ is in darkness. Antithetically, humanism declares that man's reason, devoid of faith in Christ the Creator but foolishly vesting all faith in the creature, is the source of light and understanding -- that Christianity is rather the source of darkness and slavery.
Between these two extremes, Christianity vs. humanism, there can be no fellowship or compromise. Light and darkness cannot make peace but must perpetually be at war. Christians do well to keep this antithesis always in view rather than pretending that neutrality is possible.
The biblical philosophy of history anticipates light triumphing over darkness. Christ will prevail and crush the forces of evil. We do not despair when forces of darkness arrogate power and wage war against the righteous. We know that we must pursue the battle more fervently, step up the march against Christ's enemies, and wield our armor and weapons, even as the bullets of persecution fly toward us.
May we embrace and apply in our day the rallying cries and themes from the Reformation: the five Solas, Post Tenebras Lux, Semper Reformanda, and others.

REFORMATION WEEK, part 11: Boettner, Calvin, & Gregory I vs. the "Universal Pope" (a.k.a., "Antichrist," as per the WCF and LBCF)

2009-10-30T10:00:00.006-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, and Part 10 of the Reformation Week posts.]

Twentieth Century Christian writer and teacher Loraine Boettner provides a helpful overview concerning the emergence of a "universal pope" in the Roman Church, which did not take place until the Seventh Century after Gregory I:

The word “pope,” by which the head of the Roman Church is known, and the word “papacy,” by which is meant the system of ecclesiastical government in which the pope is recognized as the supreme head, are not found in the Bible. The word “pope” comes from the Latin papa, meaning “father.” But Jesus forbade his followers to call any man “father” in a spiritual sense: “And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9). For centuries this term was applied to all priests, and even to the present day it is so used in the Eastern Church.

In Italy the term “pope” came to be applied to all bishops as a title of honor, and then to the bishop of Rome exclusively as the universal bishop. It was first given to Gregory I by the wicked emperor Phocas, in the year 604. This he did to spite the bishop of Constantinople, who had justly excommunicated him for having caused the assassination of his (Phocas’) predecessor, emperor Mauritius. Gregory, however, refused the title, but his second successor, Boniface III (607) assumed the title, and it has been the designation of the bishops of Rome ever since.

Likewise, the title “pontiff” (as also the term “pontificate,” meaning to speak in a pompous manner), which literally means “bridge builder” (pons, bridge, and facio, make), comes not from the Bible but from pagan Rome, where the emperor, as the high priest of the heathen religion, and in that sense professing to be the bridge or connecting link between this life and the next, was called “Pontifex Maximus.” The title was therefore lifted from paganism and applied to the head of the Roman Catholic Church. As the high priest of the Old Testament was the mediator between God and men, so the pope also claims to be the mediator between God and men, with power over the souls in purgatory so that he can release them from further suffering and admit them to heaven, or prolong their suffering indefinitely.

But Christ alone is the mediator between God and men: “For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). And He alone is the true Head of the church. It was He who founded the church and redeemed it with His own blood. He promised to be with His church always, even unto the end of the world. He alone has the perfect attributes needed to fill that high office, for “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). “He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body” (Ephesians 1:22‑23). “And he is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18). For the pope or any other man to claim to be the head of the church and the mediator between God and men is arrogant and sinful.

The papal system has been in process of development over a long period of time. Romanists claim an unbroken line of succession from the alleged first pope, Peter, to the present pope, who is said to be the 262nd member in that line. But the list is in many instances quite doubtful. The list has been revised several times, with a considerable number who formerly were listed as popes now listed as anti‑popes. It simply is not true that they can name with certainty all the bishops of Rome from Peter to the present one. A glance at the notices of each of the early popes in the Catholic Encyclopedia will show that they really know little or nothing about the first ten popes. And of the next ten only one is a clearly defined figure in history. The fact of the matter is that the historical record is so incomplete that the existence of an unbroken succession from the apostles to the present can neither be proved nor disproved.

For a period of six centuries after the time of Christ none of the regional churches attempted to exercise authority over any of the other regional churches. The early ecumenical councils were composed of delegates from the various churches who met as equals. There is not a scholar anywhere who pretends to show any decree, canon, or resolution by any of the ecumenical councils which attempts to give preeminence to any one church. The first six hundred years of the Christian era know nothing of any spiritual supremacy on the part of the bishops of Rome. The papacy really began in the year 590, with Gregory I, as Gregory the Great, who consolidated the power of the bishopric in Rome and started that church on a new course. We quote two contemporary church historians, one a Protestant and the other a Roman Catholic, concerning the place of Gregory in this development. Says Professor A. M. Renwick, of the Free Church College, Edinburgh, Scotland:
“His brilliant rule set a standard for those who came after him and he is really the first ‘pope’ who can, with perfect accuracy, be given the title. Along with Leo I (440‑461), Gregory VII (1073-1085), and Innocent III (1198-1216), he stands out as one of the chief architects of the papal system” (The Story of the Church, p. 64).
And the Roman Catholic, Philip Hughes, says that Gregory I...
“...is generally regarded as the greatest of all his line. ... It was to him that Rome turned at every crisis where the Lombards [the invaders from the North] were concerned. He begged his people off and he bought them off. He ransomed the captives and organized the great relief services for widows and orphans. Finally, in 598, he secured a thirty years’ truce. It was St. Gregory who, in these years, was the real ruler of Rome and in a very real sense he is the founder of the papal monarchy” (A Popular History of the Catholic Church, p. 75, 1947. Used by permission of The Macmillan Company).

Calvin, writing in the Sixteenth Century in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (IV.vii.4: Gregory was vehement in opposition to the title when claimed by the Bishop of Constantinople, and did not claim it for himself), expands the historical analysis of Gregory I:

The controversy concerning the title of universal bishop arose at length in the time of Gregory, and was occasioned by the ambition of John of Constantinople. For he wished to make himself universal, a thing which no other had ever attempted. In that controversy, Gregory does not allege that he is deprived of a right which belonged to him, but he strongly insists that the appellation is profane, nay, blasphemous, nay the forerunner of Antichrist. “The whole Church falls from its state, if he who is called universal falls” (Greg. Lib. 4 Ep. 76). Again, “It is very difficult to bear patiently that one who is our brother and fellow bishop should alone be called bishop, while all others are despised. But in this pride of his, what else is intimated but that the days of Antichrist are already near? For he is imitating him, who, despising the company of angels, attempted to ascend the pinnacle of greatness” (Lib. 4 Ep. 76). He elsewhere says to Eulogius of Alexandria and Anastasius of Antioch: “None of my predecessors ever desired to use this profane term: for if one patriarch is called universal, it is derogatory to the name of patriarch in others. But far be it from any Christian mind to wish to arrogate to itself that which would in any degree, however slight, impair the honour of his brethren” (Lib. 4 Ep. 80). “To consent to that impious term is nothing else than to lose the faith” (Lib. 4 Ep. 83). “What we owe to the preservation of the unity of the faith is one thing, what we owe to the suppression of pride is another. I speak with confidence, for every one that calls himself, or desires to be called, universal priest, is by his pride a forerunner of Antichrist, because he acts proudly in preferring himself to others” (Lib. 7 Ep. 154). Thus, again, in a letter to Anastasius of Antioch, “I said, that he could not have peace with us unless he corrected the presumption of a superstitious and haughty term which the first apostate invented; and (to say nothing of the injury to your honour) if one bishop is called universal, the whole Church goes to ruin when that universal bishop falls” (Lib. 4 Ep. 188). But when he writes, that this honour was offered to Leo in the Council of Chalcedon (Lib. 4 Ep. 76, 80; Lib. 7 Ep. 76), he says what has no semblance of truth; nothing of the kind is found among the acts of that council. And Leo himself, who, in many letters, impugns the decree which was then made in honour of the See of Constantinople, undoubtedly would not have omitted this argument, which was the most plausible of all, if it was true that he himself repudiated what was given to him. One who, in other respects, was rather too desirous of honour, would not have omitted what would have been to his praise. Gregory, therefore, is incorrect in saying, that that title was conferred on the Roman See by the Council of Chalcedon; not to mention how ridiculous it is for him to say, that it proceeded from that sacred council, and yet to term it wicked, profane, nefarious, proud, and blasphemous, nay, devised by the devil, and promulgated by the herald of Antichrist. And yet he adds, that his predecessor refused it, lest by that which was given to one individually, all priests should be deprived of their due honour. In another place, he says, “None ever wished to be called by such a name; none arrogated this rash name to himself, lest, by seizing on the honour of supremacy in the office of the Pontificate, he might seem to deny it to all his brethren” (Gregor. Lib. 4 Ep. 82) [emphasis added].

The learned Seventeenth Century divines who assembled to compile the Westminster Confession of Faith must have studied Gregory and, of course, Calvin in advance because Chapter XXV: Of the Church closely echoes Gregory and Calvin's denouncements upon the "universal pope." Paragraph VI says this:

There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ: nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the Church against Christ, and all that is called God [emphasis added].

Not surprisingly, the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 has a nearly identical reference (XXVI.IV):

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the church, in whom, by the appointment of the Father, all power for the calling, institution, order or government of the church, is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner; neither can the Pope of Rome in any sense be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God; whom the Lord shall destroy with the brightness of his coming [emphasis added].

ADDENDUM:

Luther's Smalcald Articles of 1537 state this:

Therefore, just as little as we can worship the devil himself as Lord and God, we can endure his apostle, the Pope, or Antichrist, in his rule as head or lord. For to lie and to kill and to destroy body and soul eternally, that is wherein his papal government really consists.

The second sentence sounds like a reference to Christ's words: "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Dr. Francis Nigel Lee, a Reformed and postmillennial scholar whom I greatly admire, subscribes to historicism, as distinct from futurism and preterism in eschatological hermeneutics. He presented a fascinating biblical and historical analysis of the rise of the papacy, which has been historically understood by Reformational thinkers as "Antichrist." Even for those of us who do not subscribe to historicism, this is well worth reading and considering, especially to understand the historical references to the papacy as "Antichrist."

REFORMATION WEEK, part 10: John Calvin's global influence in spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ

2009-10-29T21:30:00.002-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, and Part 9 of the Reformation Week posts.]

[Please note: This post is intended as a work in progress, and I need to spend a lot more time on it. Lord willing, over time, I will add more quotes by Calvin and statements from others concerning his influence. Please let me know of good sources to add to the list at the end!]

(This is a fairly long post, so just for fun, here is a nice long Beethoven Symphony to enjoy while you're reading. My recommendation: Make yourself a cup of Swiss or French or German or English or Scottish or American tea; listen to Beethoven; and read quotes by/about Calvin and his influence.)

As this year marks the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, it is appropriate that we spend time during this Reformation Week to reflect upon how God mightily and providentially used Calvin as an instrument to advance the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in the hearts and lives of men, families, churches, cultures, and nations. Lord willing, this post will be a work in progress, as I would like to add quotes, accounts, and analysis over time regarding Calvin's influence.

"The nature of the apostolic function is clear from the command, 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature,' (Mark 16: 15.) No fixed limits are given them, but the whole world is assigned to be reduced under the obedience of Christ, that by spreading the Gospel as widely as they could, they might every where erect his kingdom. Accordingly, Paul, when he would approve his apostleship, does not say that he had acquired some one city for Christ, but had propagated the Gospel far and wide - had not built on another man's foundation, but planted churches where the name of his Lord was unheard. The apostles, therefore, were sent forth to bring back the world from its revolt to the true obedience of God, and every where stablish his kingdom by the preaching of the Gospel; or, if you choose, they were like the first architects of the Church, to lay its foundations throughout the world (I Cor.3:10)." -John Calvin (Institutes, IV.iii.4) [emphasis added]

Calvin influenced ecclesiology (doctrine and practices of the church)

"There is communion with God, but only in entire accord with his counsel of peace from all eternity. Thus there is no grace but such as comes to us immediately from God. At every moment of our existence, our entire spiritual life rests in God Himself. The 'Deo Soli Gloria' was not the starting-point but the result, and predestination was inexorably maintained, not for the sake of separating man from man, nor in the interest of personal pride, but in order to guarantee from eternity to eternity, to our inner self, a direct and immediate communion with the Living God. The opposition against Rome aimed therefore with the Calvinist first of all at the dismissal of a Church which placed itself between the soul and God. The Church consisted not in an office, nor in an independent institute, the believers themselves were the Church, inasmuch as by faith they stood in touch with the Almighty. Thus, as in Paganism, Islamism and Romanism, so also in Calvinism is found that proper, definite interpretation of the fundamental relation of man to God, which is required as the first condition of a real life-system." -Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism as a Life System (pp. 21-22)

Philip Schaff, in his History of the Christian Church, writes:

Luther’s public career as a reformer embraced twenty-nine years, from 1517 to 1546; that of Zwingli, only twelve years, from 1519 to 1531 (unless we date it from his preaching at Einsiedeln in 1516); that of Calvin, twenty-eight years, from 1536 to 1564. The first reached an age of sixty-two: the second, of forty-seven; the third, of fifty-four. Calvin was twenty-five years younger than Luther and Zwingli, and had the great advantage of building on their foundation. He had less genius, but more talent. He was inferior to them as a man of action, but superior as a thinker and organizer. They cut the stones in the quarries, he polished them in the workshop. They produced the new ideas, he constructed them into a system. His was the work of Apollos rather than of Paul: to water rather than to plant, God giving the increase.

... History furnishes no more striking example of a man of so little personal popularity, and yet such great influence upon the people; of such natural timidity and bashfulness combined with such strength of intellect and character, and such control over his and future generations. He was by nature and taste a retiring scholar, but Providence made him an organizer and ruler of churches.

... Calvin, a native Frenchman, a patrician by education and taste, studied law as well as theology, and by his legal and judicial mind was admirably qualified to build up a new Christian commonwealth.

... The correspondence between Calvin and Melanchthon, considering their disagreement on the deep questions of predestination and free-will, is highly creditable to their head and heart, and proves that theological differences of opinion need not disturb religious harmony and personal friendship.

The co-operative friendships between Luther and Melanchthon, between Zwingli and Oecolampadius, between Farel and Calvin, between Calvin, Beza, and Bullinger, are among the finest chapters in the history of the Reformation, and reveal the hand of God in that movement.

Calvin influenced culture

"Calvin, however, saw more clearly [than Luther] that religion and culture cannot be separated without suffering loss. For Calvin, grace was not a supplementation of nature as in Catholicism, not merely a spiritual power alongside of nature leaving the latter intact, but salvation to him was the renewal of the whole man and the restoration of all the works of God. At the same time, no one could accuse Calvin of cultural optimism, for the negative virtues of cross-bearing and self-denial indeed receive ample emphasis in his exposition of the Christian's duty in this world [Calvin's Institutes, III.6-10 is cited here]. But whereas the German Reformation was primarily the restoration of true worship and the office of the ministry, Calvin sought the restoration of the whole of life, in home, school, state and society. For Luther the Bible was indeed the source of saving truth, but for Calvin Scripture was the norm for the whole of existence." -Henry Van Til, The Calvinistic Concept of Culture (p. 20)

"[In] France the Protestants were called 'Huguenots,' in the Netherlands 'Beggars,' in Great Britain 'Puritans' and 'Presbyterians,' and in North America 'Pilgrim Fathers,' yet all these products of the Reformation which on your Continent and ours bore the special Reformed type, were of Calvinistic origin." -Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism: "Calvinism as a Life System" (p. 16)

"In Lutheran countries, the interference of the magistrate has prevented the free working of the spiritual principle. Hence of Romanism only can it be said that it has embodied its life-thought in a world of conceptions and utterances entirely its own. But by the side of Romanism, and in opposition to it, Calvinism made its appearance, not merely to create a different Church-form, but an entirely different form for human life, to furnish human society with a different method of existence, and to populate the world of the human heart with different ideals and conceptions." -Ibid., p. 17

"Thus I maintain that it is the interpretation of our relation to God which dominates every general life system, and that for us this conception is given in Calvinism, thanks to its fundamental interpretation of an immediate fellowship of God with man and of man with God. To this I add that Calvinism has neither invented nor conceived this fundamental interpretation, but that God Himself implanted it in the hearts of its heroes and its heralds. We face here no product of a clever intellectualism, but the fruit of a work of God in the heart, or, if you like, an inspiration of history. This point should be emphasized! Calvinism has never burned its incense upon the altar of genius, it has erected no monument for its heroes, it scarcely calls them by name. One stone only in a wall at Geneva remains to remind one of Calvin. His very grave has been forgotten. Was this ingratitude? By no means. But if Calvin was appreciated, even in the 16th and 17th centuries the impression was vivid that it was One greater than Calvin, even God Himself, who had wrought here His work. Hence, no general movement in life is so devoid of deliberate compact, none so unconventional in which it spread as this. Simultaneously. Calvinism had its rise in all the countries of Western Europe, and it did not appear, among those nations. because the University was in its van, or because scholars led the people, or because a magistrate placed himself at their head: but it sprang from the hearts of the people themselves, with weavers and farmers, with tradesmen and servants, with women and young maidens; and in every instance it exhibited the same characteristic: viz., strong Assurance of eternal Salvation, not only without the intervention of the Church, but even in opposition to the Church. The human heart had attained unto eternal peace with its God: strengthened by this Divine fellowship, it discovered its high and holy calling to consecrate every department of life and every energy at its disposal to the glory of God: and therefore, when those men or women, who had become partakers of this Divine life, were forced to abandon their faith, it proved impossible, that they could deny their Lord; and thousands and tens of thousands burned at the stake, not complaining but exulting, with thanksgiving in their hearts and psalms upon their lips. Calvin was not the author of this, but God who through His Holy Spirit had wrought in Calvin that which He had wrought in them. Calvin stood not above them, but as a brother by their side, a sharer with them of God's blessing. In this way, Calvinism came to its fundamental interpretation of an immediate fellowship with God, not because Calvin invented it, but because in this immediate fellowship God Himself had granted to our fathers a privilege of which Calvin was only the first to become clearly conscious. This is the great work of the Holy Spirit in history, by which Calvinism has been consecrated, and which interprets to us its wondrous energy." -Ibid., pp. 24-25

Calvin influenced the doctrine of the biblical family

"[E]very family ... ought to be a church." -John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, as quoted by Scott Brown in Family Reformation: The Legacy of Sola Scriptura in Calvin's Geneva (p. 304)

Dan Ford, in his article The Reformed Christian Legacy of Dominion, writes:

Calvin himself had also drawn richly from the Book of Isaiah in seeing God’s mandate to plant the Kingdom of Christ throughout the earth. The Prophecy of Isaiah expressed the means of spreading Christ’s Kingdom abroad by the metaphor of planting vineyards. In vivid terms, Isaiah 65:21 explained, “they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.” Calvin then explained the implications of that Isaiah blessing:
[T]he prophet speaks not only of life, but the peaceful conditions of life; as if it had said, You shall plant vineyards, and shall eat the fruit of them; and you shall not be removed from this life before receiving the fruit, which shall be enjoyed not only by yourselves, but your children and your posterity. [John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, Vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005), p. 402.]
Thus, for Calvin and the Reformed Christians, the metaphor of planting vineyards was associated with the planting of families abroad unto the ends of the earth. And, although properly speaking, the Biblical metaphor of planting vineyards was a picture of the spiritual kingdom of Christ, the means by which the Lord accomplished that end was seen by Reformed Christians as generations of families spreading themselves abroad by extending the private dominion of the home. The establishment of household dominion, then, was the means of advancing both the spiritual dominion of Christ and establishing propertied dominion of families by one and the same Biblical metaphor of a “planting.” And, the idea of a colonial plantation in America originally had far deeper theological implications than we now tend to recognize.

Calvin influenced civil government

“Those who consider Calvin only as a theologian fail to recognize the breadth of his genius. The editing of our wise laws, in which he had a large share, does him as much credit as his Institutes. … [S]o long as the love of country and liberty is not extinct amongst us, the memory of this great man will be held in reverence.” -Jean Jacques Rousseau

"We owe church liberty to Calvin under God because he was the first to insist on independence of the church from the state. The church was separated from the state and self-governing, which was new with Calvin. Both institutions were to be separate, but neither was to be neutral toward God. The church was to be republican and presbyterian, with elders elected by the people. This ecclesiastical republicanism is the model for later civil republicanism." -Summary of a portion of Dr. Joe Morecraft's lecture, John Calvin: Man of the Millennium

"After Martin Luther had introduced into Germany the liberty of thinking in matters of religion, and erected the standard of reformation, John Calvin, a native of Noyon, in Picardie, of a vast genius, singular eloquence, various erudition, and polished taste, embraced the cause of reformation. In the books which he published, and in the discourses which he held in the several cities of France, he proposed one hundred and twenty-eight articles in opposition to the creed of the Roman Catholic church. These opinions were soon embraced with ardor, and maintained with obstinacy, by a great number of persons of all conditions. The asylum and the centre of this new sect was Geneva, a city situated on the lake anciently called Lemanus, on the frontiers of Savoy, which had shaken off the yoke of its bishop and the Duke of Savoy, and erected itself into a republic, under the title of a free city, for the sake of liberty of conscience. Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect, Servetus notwithstanding. From this city proceeded printed books and men distinguished for their wit and eloquence, who spreading themselves in the neighboring provinces, there sowed in secret seeds of their doctrine. Almost all the cities and provinces of France began to be enlightened by it." -John Adams, one of America's Founding Fathers

J.H. Merle D'Aubigne writes the following in his History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, vol. V, ch. XVII: Calvin's Arrival at Geneva:

Calvin, coming after Luther and Farel, was called to complete the work of both. The mighty Luther, to whom will always belong the first place in the work of the Reformation, had uttered the words of faith with power; Calvin was to systematize them, and show the imposing unity of the evangelical doctrine. The impetuous Farel, the most active missionary of the epoch, had detached men from Romish errors, and had united many to Christ, but without combining them; Calvin was to reunite these scattered members and constitute the assembly. Possessed of an organizing genius, he accomplished the task which God had assigned him: he undertook to form a church placed under the direction of the Word of God and the discipline of the Holy Ghost. In his opinion, this ought to be — not, as at Rome, the hierarchical institution of a legal religion; nor, as with the mystics, a vague ideal; nor, as with the rationalists, an intellectual and moral society without religious life. It is said of the Word, which was God, and which was made flesh: In Him was life. Life must, therefore, be the essential characteristic of the people that it was to form. Spiritual powers must — so Calvin thought — act in the midst of the flock of Jesus Christ.

...

But he contributed still more forcibly by his direct teaching to scatter the seeds of a true and wise liberty among the new generations. Doubtless the sources of modern civilization are manifold. Many men of different vocations and genius have labored at this great work; but it is just to acknowledge the place that Calvin occupies among them. The purity and force of his morality were the most powerful means of liberating men and nations from the abuses which had been everywhere introduced, and from the despotic vexations under which they groaned. A nation weak in its morals is easily enslaved. But he did more. How great the truths, how important the principles that Calvin has proclaimed! He fearlessly attacked the papacy, by which all liberty is oppressed, and which during so many centuries had kept the human mind in bondage; and broke the chains which everywhere fettered the thoughts of man. He boldly asserted ‘that there is a very manifest distinction between the spiritual and the political or civil governments.’ He did more than this: the aim of his whole life was to restore the supremacy of conscience. He endeavored to re-establish the kingdom of God in man, and succeeded in doing so not only with men of genius, but with a great number of obscure persons.

...

Calvin did not confine himself to theories: he pronounced frankly against the despotism of kings and the despotism of the people. He declared that ‘if princes usurp any portion of God’s authority, we must not obey them;’ and that if the people indulge in acts of mad violence, we should rather perish than submit to them. ‘God has not armed you,’ he said, ‘that you may resist those who are set over you by Him as governors. You cannot expect He will protect you, if you undertake what He disavows.’ Nevertheless Calvin taught men to love such eternal blessings, and said that it was better to die than to be deprived of them. ‘God ’s honor,’ he declared, ‘is more precious than your life.’ And from that hour we see those in the Netherlands and elsewhere, who had learnt at Geneva to maintain freedom of conscience, acquiring such a love for liberty that they claimed it also for the State, sought it for themselves, and endeavored to give it to others. Religious liberty has been, and is still, the mother of every kind of liberty; but in our days we witness a strange sight. Many of those who owe their emancipation in great part to Calvin, have lost all recollection of it, and some of them insult the noble champion who made them free.

Still, the establishment of temporal liberty was not the reformer’s object: it flows only from his principles, as water from a spring. To proclaim the salvation of God, to establish the right of God — these are the things to which he devoted his life, and that work he pursued with unalterable firmness. He knows the resistance that men will oppose to him: but that shall not check his march. He will batter down ramparts, bridge over chasms, and unflinchingly trample under foot the barriers which he knows are opposed to the glory of God and the welfare of man. Calvin has a correct, penetrating, and sure eye, and his glance takes in a wide horizon.

... ‘We are called,’ he says, ‘to difficult battles; but far from being astonished and growing timid, we take courage, and commit our own body to the deadly struggle.’

...

Calvin teaches in Geneva, he writes to those far beyond its walls. And ere long we see something new forming in the world. A great work had been commenced by the heroic Luther, who had a successor worthy of him to complete it. Calvin gives to the Reformation what the pope affirms it does not possess. There is a noise and a shaking, and the dry bones meet together. The breath comes from the four winds, the dead live and stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army. The Church of Christ has reappeared upon earth. From the bosom of that little city goes forth the word of life. France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, England, Scotland, and other countries hear it. A century later, that same word, borne by pious refugees or faithful missionaries, shall become the glory and strength of the New World. Later still, it shall visit the most distant isles and continents; it shall fill the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, and shall gather together more and more the dispersed families of the world round the cross of Christ in a holy and living unity.

...

"[A noted historian remarked:] 'In order that French protestantism [we might say 'protestantism' in general] should have a character and doctrine, it needed a city to serve as a center, and a chief to become its organizer. That city was Geneva, and that chief was Calvin.'"

Philip Schaff, in his History of the Christian Church, writes:

Melanchthon, himself the prince of Lutheran divines and "the Preceptor of Germany," called him emphatically "the Theologian."

...

In this respect we may compare him to Pope Hildebrand, but with this great difference, that Hildebrand, the man of iron, reformed the papacy of his day on ascetic principles, and developed the mediaeval theocracy on the hierarchical basis of an exclusive and unmarried priesthood; while Calvin reformed the Church on social principles, and founded a theocracy on the democratic basis of the general priesthood of believers. The former asserted the supremacy of the Church over the State; the latter, the supremacy of Christ over both Church and State. Calvin united the spiritual and secular powers as the two arms of God, on the assumption of the obedience of the State to the law of Christ. The last form of this kind of theocracy or Christocracy was established by the Puritans in New England in 1620, and continued for several generations. In the nineteenth century, when the State has assumed a mixed religious and non-religious character, and is emancipating itself more and more from the rule of any church organization or creed, Calvin would, like his modern adherents in French Switzerland, Scotland, and America, undoubtedly be a champion of the freedom and independence of the Church and its separation from the State.

Calvin found the commonwealth of Geneva in a condition of license bordering on anarchy: he left it a well-regulated community, which John Knox, the Reformer of Scotland, from personal observation, declared to be "the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the Apostles," and which Valentin Andreae, a shining light of the Lutheran Church, likewise from personal observation, half a century after Calvin’s death, held up to the churches of Germany as a model for imitation.

It is by the combination of a severe creed with severe self-discipline that Calvin became the father of the heroic races of French Huguenots, Dutch Burghers, English Puritans, Scotch Covenanters, and New England Pilgrims, who sacrificed the world for the liberty of conscience.

... Calvinists fear God and nothing else. In their eyes, God alone is great, man is but a shadow. The fear of God makes them fearless of earthly despots. It humbles man before God, it exalts him before his fellow-men. The fear of God is the basis of moral self-government, and self-government is the basis of true freedom.

John Eidsmoe writes the following:

But Calvin also influenced law and government. His emphasis on Sola Scriptura led to his doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, stressing that all believers are priests and Jesus Christ is our great high priest, so we need no priest or bishop to intercede on our behalf. But if, as Calvin taught, every plowboy should be able to read and interpret the Scriptures for himself, then every plowboy must be taught to read. This led to widespread literacy, which made republican self-government possible.

Calvin’s emphasis on Sola Gratia led to a recognition of the total depravity of human nature. Because of man’s sinful nature, we cannot live in a state of anarchy; we need government to maintain law and order. But because those in authority have the same sinful nature as the rest of us, we cannot trust government with too much power. This led to the system of limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, and reserved individual rights that characterize republican self-government.

...

But Leopold von Ranke, founder of the modern school of history in Germany, stated flatly, “John Calvin was the virtual founder of America.” And George Bancroft, the leading American historian of the first half of the 1800s, though not a Calvinist himself, called Calvin the “father of America” and added, “He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty.”

Non-exhaustive list of resources to consult:

Family Reformation, by Scott Brown
Calvin's Commentaries
Calvin's Institutes
Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, by J.H. Merle D'Aubigne (multiple volumes)
The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World, by Douglas F. Kelly
Lectures on Calvinism, by Abraham Kuyper (also see this)
Reformation of Church and Dogma (1300-1700), by Jaroslav Pelikan
History of the Christian Church, by Philip Schaff (see vol. VII, book 3)
The Calvinistic Concept of Culture, by Henry Van Til
The Great Christian Revolution, by Otto Scott, et al.
Calvin and Calvinism, by B.B. Warfield
Courtship, Engagement, and Marriage, by John Witte Jr. and Robert M. Kingdon
Various Lectures, including (but not limited to) Dr. Joe Morecraft's John Calvin: Man of the Millennium

REFORMATION WEEK, part 9: James White defends "Sola Scriptura" against Roman Catholic arguments

2009-10-29T21:00:00.005-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8 of the Reformation Week posts.]

Here are excerpts from one of James White's defenses of Sola Scriptura against the arguments of a Roman Catholic apologist:

"Sola scriptura says the Scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith for the Church. It does not deny the existence of 'general revelation' in nature (hence the error of saying the 'sole source of revelation').

...

"[The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, ch. 1, par. 6, says:]
The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word; and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
"The sufficiency of Scripture is clearly asserted, but it is a sufficiency carefully defined. No one claims the Bible is an omnipedia of all knowledge. Nor does anyone claim the Bible can tell you, specifically, what color fabric to place upon the pews of your new church building. But all things that are 'necessary' for God's 'own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in Holy Scripture.' How like the words of Augustine:
What more shall I teach you than what we read in the apostle? For Holy Scripture fixes the rule for our doctrine, lest we dare to be wiser than we ought. Therefore I should not teach you anything else except to expound to you the words of the Teacher. (De bono viduitatis, 2)
...
You ought to notice particularly and store in your memory that God wanted to lay a firm foundation in the Scriptures against treacherous errors, a foundation against which no one dares to speak who would in any way be considered a Christian. For when He offered Himself to them to touch, this did not suffice Him unless He also confirmed the heart of the believers from the Scriptures, for He foresaw that the time would come when we would not have anything to touch but would have something to read (In Epistolam Johannis tractus, 2).
"The issue is not, and never has been, the validity of 'tradition' as a subordinate authority. I above cited from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. It is a 'subordinate standard,' a 'tradition' if you wish, that gives expression to certain aspects of divine truth. But it is not revelational, nor is it infallible. It is subordinate to Scripture, and liable to correction on the basis thereof. The Lord Jesus gave us the example in Matthew 15: we are to subordinate all traditions, even those that men claim are 'divine' in origin, to the ultimate authority of Scripture. In this we agree with Basil of Caesarea:

The hearers taught in the Scriptures ought to test what is said by teachers and accept that which agrees with the Scriptures but reject that which is foreign. (Moralia, 72:1)
"And likewise with Cyril of Jerusalem:

In regard to the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, not the least part may be handed on without the Holy Scriptures. Do not be led astray by winning words and clever arguments. Even to me, who tell you these things, do not give ready belief, unless you receive from the Holy Scriptures the proof of the things which I announce. The salvation in which we believe is not proved from clever reasoning, but from the Holy Scriptures. (Catechetical Lectures 4:17)
...

"One will search high and low for any reference in any standard Protestant confession of faith that says, 'There has never been a time when God's Word was proclaimed and transmitted orally.' You will never find anyone saying, 'During times of enscripturation—that is, when new revelation was being given—sola scriptura was operational.' Protestants do not assert that sola scriptura is a valid concept during times of revelation. How could it be, since the rule of faith to which it points was at that very time coming into being? One must have an existing rule of faith to say it is 'sufficient.' It is a canard to point to times of revelation and say, 'See, sola scriptura doesn't work there!' Of course it doesn't. Who said it did?

...

"Sola scriptura speaks to the Church as she exists in her normative state. Times of revelation are not normative. They are now passed. So how does the Church have sure access to the truths of God today? By reference to nebulous, a-historical traditions, or to the sure and unchanging Word of God in the Scriptures? Sola scriptura says the Church always has an ultimate authority to which to turn: and the Church isn't that ultimate authority! The Church is in need of revelation from Her Lord, and that she finds in Scripture, not in 'traditions' that are uncertain."

The entire article is well worth reading; I did not even begin to quote from the portions that deal specifically with Acts 17:11, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

REFORMATION WEEK, part 8: Thomas Boston, "Useful Directions For Reading and Searching the Scriptures"

2009-10-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7 of the Reformation Week posts.]

"Thomas Boston (1676-1732) was pastor of Simprin, a village in Berwickshire. Although his charge was small, he felt it was 'rather superior' to his 'small talents,' by which he meant his burning desire to evangelise the people of his parish. His discouragement was made all the worse by the accepted theological position of his time, which forbade the indiscriminate preaching of the Gospel to all men. It was felt that the doctrine of God's Decree in Election was incompatible with the practice of offering Christ to all. Indeed, it was believed that the promises of salvation by Christ should be preached only to those who gave evidence of being elect. ... Let us have the courage of Thomas Boston to set forth Christ before men, and let the chips fall as they may. ... [Even] though Boston was caught up in controversy, his writings speak only of Christ."

Useful Directions For Reading and Searching the Scriptures

1. Follow a regular plan in reading of them, that you may be acquainted with the whole; and make this reading a part of your private devotions. Not that you should confine yourselves only to a set plan, so as never to read by choice, but ordinarily this tends most to edification. Some parts of the Bible are more difficult, some may seem very barren for an ordinary reader; but if you would look on it all as God's word, not to be scorned, and read it with faith and reverence, no doubt you would find advantage.

2. Set a special mark, however you find convenient, on those passages you read, which you find most suitable to your case, condition, or temptations; or such as you have found to move your hearts more than other passages. And it will be profitable often to review these.

3. Compare one Scripture with another, the more obscure with that which is more plain, 2 Pet. 1:20. This is an excellent means to find out the sense of the Scriptures; and to this good use serve the marginal notes on Bibles. And keep Christ in your eye, for to him the scriptures of the Old Testament look (in its genealogies, types, and sacrifices), as well as those of the New.

4. Read with a holy attention, arising from the consideration of the majesty of God, and the reverence due to him. This must be done with attention, first, to the words; second, to the sense; and, third, to the divine authority of the Scripture, and the obligation it lays on the conscience for obedience, 1 Thess. 2:13, "For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe."

5. Let your main purpose in reading the Scriptures be practice, and not bare knowledge, James 1:22, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." Read that you may learn and do, and that without any limitation or distinction, but that whatever you see God requires, you may study to practice.

6. Beg of God and look to him for his Spirit. For it is the Spirit that inspired it, that it must be savingly understood by, 1 Cor 2:11, "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God." And therefore before you read, it is highly reasonable you beg a blessing on what you are to read.

7. Beware of a worldly, fleshly mind: for fleshly sins blind the mind from the things of God; and the worldly heart cannot favour them. In an eclipse of the moon, the earth comes between the sun and the moon, and so keeps the light of the sun from it. So the world, in the heart, coming between you and the light of the word, keeps its divine light from you.

8. Labour to be disciplined toward godliness, and to observe your spiritual circumstances. For a disciplined attitude helps mightily to understand the scriptures. Such a Christian will find his circumstances in the word, and the word will give light to his circumstances, and his circumstances light into the word.

9. Whatever you learn from the word, labour to put it into practice. For to him that has, shall be given. No wonder those people get little insight into the Bible, who make no effort to practice what they know. But while the stream runs into a holy life, the fountain will be the freer.

REFORMATION WEEK, part 7: Dr. Greg Bahnsen Defends "Sola Scriptura"

2009-10-29T12:05:00.008-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 of the Reformation Week posts.]

"It is a very short step from the denial of sola Scriptura to the denial of sola Gratia when it comes to salvation." -Dr. Greg Bahnsen (Is Sola Scriptura a Protestant Concoction?: A Biblical Defense of Sola Scriptura)

"... [The] Bible teaches that our convictions are not to be based upon human wisdom! ... The problem is that human wisdom is (1) fallible, and (2) not a sufficient foundation for believing anything about God. Because only God is adequate to witness to Himself!" -Dr. Greg Bahnsen

"For He whom we can know only through his own utterances is a fitting witness concerning himself." -Hilary of Poitiers (On the Trinity, I. xviii, as quoted in Calvin's Institutes, I.vii.4fn)

The late Dr. Greg Bahnsen was one of the greatest, most heroic defenders of biblical sufficiency and authority in the last century. He delivered a very insightful presentation defending sola Scriptura, and David King and James Anderson provided the body of Christ a useful service in transcribing and editing the message for the internet.

Dr. Bahnsen cites I Corinthians 2, and verses 1-5 read, as follows:

[1] And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. [2] For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. [3] And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. [4] And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: [5] That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Dr. Bahnsen states:

"Think about Paul’s conceptual scheme here as you read this [fifth] verse. Notice how he puts the power of God over here on one side, and the wisdom of men on the other. ... Paul draws a sharp contrast between the words which man’s wisdom teaches and those which God reveals unto us through the Spirit. On the one hand, you have words taught by the wisdom of men, and on the other hand you have words revealed through the Spirit. Those are contrasted in Paul’s theology."

Dr. Bahnsen goes on to cite the following Scriptures to demonstrate that we must ground our faith in God's Word and power, not in man's so-called "wisdom":

"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (I Thessalonians 2:13).

"And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (II Timothy 3:15-17).

"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (I Corinthians 2:10).

"Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (I Corinthians 2:13).

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD" (Jeremiah 23:16).

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

"... Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition" (Matthew 15:6).

"Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2).

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18-19).

Dr. Bahnsen says:

"This is not some kind of minor, trivial point of theological dispute! God, over and over again, says that your faith is not to rest in human wisdom. You are not to use human wisdom to tamper with My Word! You are not to add your own thought: 'Hearken not to the Prophets who don’t speak from the mouth of Jehovah'! You are not in your wisdom to correct or subtract from My thoughts. And if you dare do so, then I will punish you with the curses of the covenant! I will withdraw the blessing; I will impose the curses if you tamper with My Word!"

Dr. Bahnsen goes on to discuss tradition:

"There will be found in your English translations of the New Testament verses that talk about tradition as authoritative. And I’d like to now to take a look at that so you understand it properly, and especially if you see it in light of our first premise that we are not in our Christian faith to follow the dogmas that are rooted in human wisdom. The New Testament approach to tradition is not the approach to tradition of the Roman Catholic Church!

"... The author of Hebrews makes it clear [in Hebrews 1:1-2] that the epitome of God’s revelation is found in the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He has spoken to us in these last days by His Son! That is the high point, the apex of all of God’s revelatory manners and means. Jesus Christ is the highest revelation, the clearest revelation of God because obviously Jesus is God Himself. The grandest expression of God’s Word is found in the very person of Jesus, who John the Apostle, in John 1:1 and in Revelation 19 calls 'the Word of God.' Jesus is 'the Word of God,' he is the highest expression, the clearest, fullest expression of Who God is to us as men!"

Dr. Bahnsen cites the following verses:

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26).

"He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me" (Matthew 10:40).

Matthew 16:13-17 -- "[13] When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? [14] And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. [15] He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? [16] And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. [17] And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."

"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11-12).

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:19-20).

Dr. Bahnsen concludes from these verses:

"There’s a sense in which the Church then is built upon the foundation of the Apostles as they confess Christ truly and faithfully... as they bring the Word of God... as they are the authorized spokesmen for Jesus, then they provide the foundation for the Church. ... The Apostles have the truth from God and they hand it over to the Church. They deliver it to the Church. And that comes to be called the ‘tradition’! The ‘tradition’ is just the truth that the Apostles teach as a revelation from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

After citing and discussing several additional verses, Dr. Bahnsen says:

"What is this tradition? Is it the holy tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church? Is it the tradition of the popes in the Roman Catholic Church? No, it is the Apostolic tradition that truth which they have received from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Can you not see that? It should be obvious in the reading of Scripture unless you go to the Bible trying to make it prove some preconceived idea! That tradition, the deposit, that which is handed over or delivered is not Church tradition, papal tradition — it’s rather the pattern of sound words taught by the Apostles. And they teach that on the basis of revelation from God the Father."

Dr. Bahnsen cites II Thessalonians 2:15, "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle." Dr. Bahnsen states:

"... Roman Catholics maintain that if you only keep to the Written Apostolic Tradition, you haven’t got the whole Word of God! You’ve got to have the Oral Apostolic Tradition as well. Well, there’s just a huge logical fallacy involved in that thinking! Because Paul doesn’t say, 'Make sure you hold on to the oral traditions and to the written traditions,' does he? He says, 'Hold fast to the traditions whether you heard them orally or in writing.' Can you see the difference there? Do you have one thing that comes to the Church in two ways? Or do you have two things that come to the Church?

"... [Not] only are oral and written two different ways of saying the same thing; ... I’m under obligation to listen to the oral teaching of the Apostles; you’re absolutely right, and they’re not around any more! And you know, catch up with what’s happening in the Church, friend — we don’t have Apostles today! Where do you get the idea — even on your misreading of this verse — where do you get the idea that the authority of the Apostles in oral instruction has passed on to other people?

"... The authority of the Apostles continues in the Church through their teaching, through the deposit that they have passed to the Church. And the only way in which we now receive that deposit is in writing. The Apostles are dead! They don’t orally instruct us! But what they taught continues in their writings, in the Scriptures, which we take as the standard of our faith."

Dr. Bahnsen also comments on the following verses:

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 -- [1] If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, [2] And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; [3] Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. [4] Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. [5] And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

"And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:19-20).

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ... Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. ... Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10).

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).

"We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error" (I John 4:6).

"If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord" (I Corinthians 14:37).

"And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:10-11).

"And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another" (I Corinthians 4:6).

Dr. Bahnsen states:

"Isn’t that amazing? Here’s Paul [in I Cor. 4:6] (long before Luther, long before Calvin, long before the controversy in the late 20th century) saying, I want you to learn the meaning of this, 'Not to go beyond the things which are written!' That you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, 'Do not go beyond what is written!' (That’s the NIV.) The RSV says, 'that you may learn by us to live according to Scripture.' Or in the Tyndale Commentary on this verse, Leon Morris says, 'that what Paul is referring to is a "catch" cry familiar to Paul and his readers, directing attention to the need for conformity to Scripture.' A 'catch' cry, a popular slogan! 'Not to go beyond the things written!' And Paul says I want you to learn the meaning of that! That is an important principle for you! It is very simply the Protestant principle of sola Scriptura."

Dr. Bahnsen asks some questions of the Roman Catholics:

"What is it precisely that Rome accepts as a source of doctrinal truth and authority in addition to the Scriptures? What is it that they accept? ... What is it they would add to the Scripture? What do they mean by tradition? And then after they answer that question, we have to ask, 'Well, how do you properly identify tradition?' ... What are the proper bounds of authoritative tradition? ... [What] is a believer to do when Church traditions contradict each other?"

Finally, Dr. Bahnsen concludes:

"Now I think that once you think about this and what the Bible has to say about authority in our doctrinal convictions and our practices — when you think about the abuses that arise, and the confusion that arises from trying to follow oral tradition — when you see that even the Apostles were tested by the written Word of God, I think that I would still like to stand with Martin Luther. I’m not willing to recant or to affirm any doctrine unless it can be shown to be taught on the basis of Scripture and Scripture alone! That’s not a Protestant concoction; that, you see, is just honing very closely to the very teaching of God’s Word itself! We should all learn this principle: 'Not to go beyond the things which are written!'

REFORMATION WEEK, part 6: "Semper Reformanda," Always Reforming -- now and for many ages to come

2009-10-28T22:15:00.004-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 of the Reformation Week posts.]

In a previous post I shared a historical example of the doctrine of semper reformanda in the lives of the Pilgrims.

As a reminder: Ecclesia Reformata Semper Reformanda Secundum Verbum Dei, a motto created by heirs to the Reformation, means this: "The Church Reformed, and Always Reforming According to the Word of God."

Here are a number of Scriptures with the theme of continually examining, testing, proving, reforming, and repenting, as God's Holy Spirit works in our hearts to conform our thoughts and lives to Christ and Scripture:

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" (II Corinthians 13:5)

"Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" (John 5:39).

"These [Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11).

"Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned" (Lamentations 3:40-42).

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:1-2).

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21).

"But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another" (Galatians 6:4).

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Colossians 2:8).

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:3-5).

One of the great Christian scholars of the Twentieth Century wrote this:

"... [Reformation] has been a recurring fact in the history of Christianity. ... More Protestants need to recognize and appreciate the steps taken by men of God over the centuries [including Athanasius and reformers in the "medieval" era]. Like us, they could not foresee the future; like the reformers Luther and Calvin, they had the limitations of their time, but their greatness was in applying the Faith to the problems of time.

"My concern is this: There is a danger that we may rest in self-satisfaction as heirs of the Protestant Reformation and fail to see the needed reforms of our time. For example, the majority of Reformation churches are today modernistic and thus more radically derelict than was Rome in Luther's day. Their faith is in humanism, not Christianity, in the state as savior rather than Jesus Christ. The departures from the Faith that we now face are equal to and far greater than those that faced Luther and Calvin. The sources of theological thought are today no longer Biblical. Authority now rests in reason.

...

"The key fact is not, whom have we criticized, but what have we done? What will we do?

"We all need continually to be renewed, reformed, and revitalized by God and his word. Reformation is either an ongoing fact or it is dead. To honor the Reformation is nothing if we ourselves are not constantly renewed and empowered by our Lord to do more. One look at the world should tell us that the greatest applications of reformation and renewal are still ahead of us. The best way to honor the past is to apply its victories to the present. The Protestant Reformation has no life apart from the people who profess to be its heirs, and we had better develop and apply the Biblical premises of reformation" (R.J. Rushdooony, "The Reformation," Journal of Christian Reconstruction, Spring 1997: vol. XIV, no. 2, pp. 7-8).

Another writer states the doctrine well:

Reformed churches have sought to have the motto: Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei - for it is Verbum Dei (the word of God) that is truly semper eadem (always the same), and men and churches need to submit to the Word of God and reform themselves to it, whenever they discover they have strayed from it.

"Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance" (Martin Luther, Ninety-Five Theses).

To be sure, even as we embrace semper reformanda in our hearts and lives, we must draw a clear line of antithesis between always reforming according to God's Word versus following the latest fads and trends as double-minded men who are unstable in all their ways (James 1:8).

"Beware of making changes and innovations, which were always dangerous and sometimes harmful," Calvin said to Beza, his successor in Geneva. We must caution ourselves and our brethren:

"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:14-15).

"For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (II Peter 2:16).

Rather, "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven ..." (Colossians 1:23). "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:6-7).

God's truth stands sure and settled, eternally. We need not -- indeed, we cannot and must not -- seek to change, revise, add to, or take from the Scriptures. Rather, we must purpose and pray to be always reforming by the work of God's Spirit, according to His eternal, infallible, immutable, inspired Scriptures as our sufficient, authoritative, and final rule of faith and practice. We can and will, by God's grace and for His glory alone, see transformation in our lives, families, churches, and entire civilizations, as reformation progresses multi-generationally for the next five-hundred years and beyond.

REFORMATION WEEK, part 5: Soli Deo Gloria, "Glory to God alone," as articulated in Thomas Watson's "A Body of Divinity"

2009-10-28T10:55:00.002-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of the Reformation Week posts.]

We are remembering and celebrating God's great works of providence in history through the Protestant Reformation. October 31, 1517, nearly 492 years ago, God used a German monk, Martin Luther, to set in motion a course of events that would change whole nations and the course of history. Our major theme during this Reformation Week is the five "solas" of the Reformation:

Sola Scriptura, our faith is grounded in "Scripture alone" -- the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are alone inspired by God, infallible, authoritative, and sufficient, as our final rule for faith and practice: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (II Timothy 3:14-17).
Sola Fide, justification is through "faith alone" -- we are declared righteous before God by our faith in Christ's work, not by vainly trusting in our works of obedience to God's holy and perfect Law that none of us can fulfill: "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith" (Galatians 3:11).
Sola Gratia, salvation is by "grace alone" -- we do not add anything -- including our "merits" or the "merits" of fallen, finite, fallible, redeemed saints who went before us -- to God's work of grace in redeeming us through Christ: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Solo Christo, we place our faith in "Christ alone" -- we add nothing to Christ's work of taking our sins upon Himself, becoming a curse for us, paying the penalty for our sins, redeeming us by His blood, and reconciling us to God; peace with God comes with justification by faith in Christ alone: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6).
Soli Deo Gloria, "Glory to God alone"

"Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." -Westminster Shorter Catechism (answer to Question 1: "What is the chief end of man?")

Here are selections from Puritan Thomas Watson's A Body of Divinity in the section on Man's Chief End:

"The glorifying of God, I Pet 4: 2: 'That God in all things may be glorified.' The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. I Cor 10: 31. 'Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial; now, man being a rational creature, must propose some end to himself, and that should be, that he may lift up God in the world. He had better lose his life than the end of his living. The great truth is asserted, that the end of every man's living should be to glorify God. Glorifying God has respect to all the persons in the Trinity; it respects God the Father who gave us life; God the Son, who lost his life for us; and God the Holy Ghost, who produces a new life in us; we must bring glory to the whole Trinity."

Watson sets forth two senses in which we understand the glory of God:

First, "The glory that God has in himself, his intrinsic glory. Glory is essential to the Godhead, as light is to the sun: he is called the 'God of Glory.' Acts 7:2. ... Isa 48:2: 'My glory I will not give to another.'"
Second, "The glory which is ascribed to God, or which his creatures labour to bring to him. I Chron 16: 29. 'Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.' And, I Cor 6: 20. 'Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit.' The glory we give God is nothing else but our lifting up his name in the world, and magnifying him in the eyes of others. Phil 1: 20. 'Christ shall be magnified in my body.'"

Here are more insights from Watson on this monumental point of Christian doctrine, glorifying God alone:

"Glorifying God consists in four things: 1: Appreciation, 2. Adoration, 3. Affection, 4. Subjection. This is the yearly rent we pay to the crown of heaven."
"Chrysostom calls vain-glory one of the devil's great nets to catch men. And Cyprian says, 'Whom Satan cannot prevail against by intemperance, those he prevails against by pride and vainglory.' Oh let us take heed of self-worshipping! Aim purely at God’s glory."
"We aim at God’s glory, when we are content that God’s will should take place, though it may cross ours. Lord, I am content to be a loser, if thou be a gainer; to have less health, if I have more grace, and thou more glory. Let it be food or bitter physic if thou givest it me. Lord, I desire that which may be most for thy glory. Our blessed Saviour said, 'Not as I will, but as thou wilt.' Matt 26: 39. If God might have more glory by his sufferings, he was content to suffer. John 12: 28. 'Father, glorify thy name.'"
"A humble confession exalts God. How is God’s free grace magnified in crowning those who deserve to be condemned! The excusing and mincing of sin casts a reproach upon God. Adam denied not that he tasted the forbidden fruit, but, instead of a full confession, he taxed God. Gen 3: 12. 'The woman whom thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat;' if thou hadst not given me the woman to be a tempter, I had not sinned. Confession glorifies God, because it clears him; it acknowledges that he is holy and righteous, whatever he does. Nehemiah vindicates God’s righteousness; chap 9: 33. 'Thou art just in all that is brought upon us.' A confession is ingenuous when it is free, not forced. Luke 15: 18. 'I have sinned against heaven and before thee.'"
"We glorify God by fruitfulness. John 15: 8. 'Hereby is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. As it is dishonouring God to be barren, so fruitfulness honours him. Phil 1: 2: 'Filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are to the praise of his glory.'"
"We glorify God, by being contented in that state in which Providence has placed us. We give God the glory of his wisdom, when we rest satisfied with what he carves out to us."
"We glorify God by walking cheerfully. It brings glory to God, when the world sees a Christian has that within him that can make him cheerful in the worst times; that can enable him, with the nightingale, to sing with a thorn at his breast. The people of God have ground for cheerfulness. They are justified and adopted, and this creates inward peace; it makes music within, whatever storms are without."
"Masters of families must glorify God, must season their children and servants with the knowledge of the Lord; their houses should be little churches. Gen 18: I9. 'I know that Abraham will command his children, that they may keep the way of the Lord.’ You that are masters have a charge of souls. For want of the bridle of family discipline youth runs wild."

REFORMATION WEEK, part 4: Solus Christus, "Christ Alone," as articulated by Scripture, the Church Fathers, and the Reformers

2009-10-28T00:10:00.002-05:00

[Please see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the Reformation Week posts.]

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” -John 1:3

“He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” -Matthew 12:30

Colossians 1:16-23 --

[16] For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: [17] And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. [19] For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; [20] And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. [21] And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled [22] In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: [23] If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.

"I mean, you were given up to wickedness and impiety and utterly deprived of the light of the knowledge of God, but you have become related to God. It was not the Law who gave this gift to you; rather, Christ the Lord paid your debt so that you were thought worthy of the calling and rendered holy and free of every stain." -Theodoret of Cyrus (Commentary on the Letter to the Colossians, Chapter 1)

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” -I Corinthians 3:11

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” -Philippians 1:21

"We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is 'of him.' If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. ... If we see redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification in his blood; if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other." -John Calvin (Institutes, II.xvi.19)

“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” -I Corinthians 8:6

Hebrews 1:1-4 --

[1] God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, [2] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; [3] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; [4] Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

“Take therefore first, as an indestructible foundation, the Cross, and build upon it the other articles of the faith.” -St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lecture 13:38)

“God is a great lover of man. He did not hesitate to surrender His Son as prey in order to spare His servant. He surrendered His only-begotten to purchase hard-hearted servants. He paid the blood of His Son as the price. O the philanthropy of the Master! And do not tell me again, ʻI sinned a lot; how can I be saved?ʼ You cannot save yourself, but your Master can, and to such a great degree as to obliterate your sins. Pay attention very carefully to the discourse. He wipes out the sins so completely that not a single trace of them remains.” -St. John Chrysostom (Homily 8 on Repentance and the Church)

“The fact that we who were such terrible sinners were saved is a very great sign, indicating how much we were loved by Him who saved us. For it was not by angels or archangels but by His only begotten Son that God saved us!” -St. John Chrysostom (Homilies on Romans 9)

"He recalls also the Lord's passion, guaranteeing the future from what has already been done by him. He gave himself for us so as to redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own devoted to good deeds (v.14): this is the reason he accepted death for the sake of us all, to destroy the tyrranny of sin, free us from that harsh servitude and make his own people both lover and devotee of praiseworthy actions." -Theodoret of Cyrus (Commentary on Titus, Chapter 2)

Colossians 2:2-10 --

[2] That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; [3] In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [4] And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. [5] For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. [6] As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: [7] Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. [8] Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. [9] For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. [10] And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

"And ye are complete in him. He adds, that this perfect essence of Deity, which is in Christ, is profitable to us in this respect, that we are also perfect in him. 'As to God’s dwelling wholly in Christ, it is in order that we, having obtained him, may posses in him an entire perfection.' Those, therefore, who do not rest satisfied with Christ alone, do injury to God in two ways, for besides detracting from the glory of God, by desiring something above his perfection, they are also ungrateful, inasmuch as they seek elsewhere what they already have in Christ. Paul, however, does not mean that the perfection of Christ is transfused into us, but that there are in him resources from which we may be filled, that nothing may be wanting to us." -John Calvin (Commentary on Colossians 2:10)

I Corinthians 2:1-5 --

[1] And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. [2] For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. [3] And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. [4] And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: [5] That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

“Christ is Master by virtue of His own essence and Master by virtue of His incarnate life. For He creates man from nothing, and through His own blood redeems him when dead in sin; and to those who believe in Him He has given His grace. When Scripture says, ʻHe will reward every man according to his works;ʼ (Matt. 16:27), do not imagine that works in themselves merit either hell or the kingdom. On the contrary, Christ rewards each man according to whether his works are done with faith or without faith in Himself; and He is not a dealer bound by contract, but our Creator and Redeemer.” -St. Mark the Ascetic (ca. 425, On those who think that they are made righteous by works - in the Philokalia)

Philippians 2:5-11 --

[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: [6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. [9] Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: [10] That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; [11] And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

“Faith, if it is to be sure and steadfast, must lay hold upon nothing else but Christ alone, and in the conflict and terrors of conscience it has nothing else to lean on but this precious pearl Christ Jesus. So, he who apprehends Christ by faith, although he be terrified with the law and oppressed with the weight of his sins, yet he may be bold to glory that he is righteous. How? Even by that precious jewel Christ Jesus, whom he possesses by faith.” -Martin Luther (Commentary on Galatians)

"It is Christ alone, therefore, who connects heaven and earth: he is the only Mediator who reaches from heaven down to earth: he is the medium through which the fullness of all celestial blessings flows down to us, and through which we, in turn, ascend to God. He it is who, being the head over angels, causes them to minister to his earthly members. Therefore, he properly claims for himself this honor, that after he shall have been manifested in the world, angels shall ascend and descend. If, then, we say that the ladder is a figure of Christ, the exposition will not be forced. For the similitude of a ladder well suits the Mediator, through whom ministering angels, righteousness and life, with all the graces of the Holy Spirit, descend to us step by step. We also, who were not only fixed to the earth, but plunged into the depths of the curse, and into hell itself, ascend even unto God." -John Calvin (Commentary on Genesis 28:12)

"We compare faith to a kind of vessel; for unless we come empty and with the mouth of our soul open to seek Christ’s grace, we are not capable of receiving Christ. From this is to be inferred that, in teaching that before his righteousness is received Christ is received in faith, we do not take the power of justifying away from Christ." -John Calvin, (Institutes)

"The Christian, delivered from the law, depends entirely on Jesus Christ. Christ is his reason, his counsel, his righteousness, and his whole salvation. Christ lives and acts in him. Christ alone is his leader, and he needs no other guide." -J.H. Merle D'Aubigne

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." -John 14:6

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." -Acts 4:12

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." -I Timothy 2:5

REFORMATION WEEK, part 3: God calls us to REMEMBER

2009-10-27T18:10:00.003-05:00

[Please see Part 1 and Part 2 of the Reformation Week posts.]

Quick question: What did you eat for lunch last Thursday? You likely can't instantly remember this off the top of your head. As finite humans, we are inclined to forget. Just think of the last time you misplaced your car keys (or another item) and were annoyed by that question everyone seems to ask: "Where did you last have them?" After all, if you could remember where you last had them, they would not be lost!

We can present plausible explanations for forgetfulness. Our lives are busy. We get distracted. It's hard for some of us to stay organized and keep track of all the mundane details in everyday life. Yet, how often do we forget the big things? By this, I mean: How often do we forget God's wondrous works of providence in our lives as individuals, in our covenant communities, and in history?

The consistent message of Scripture could not be clearer:

We must not forget but must remember God's covenant and commandments, learning from our fathers and teaching future generations.

As God prepared to complete His final judgment and liberate His people from Egyptian captors who had enslaved them for generations, God delivered the Passover commandment to the Hebrews in Exodus 12, which reads in part:

[24] And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. [25] And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. [26] And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? [27] That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

God had a reason for instituting this ceremony for His people to observe as a perpetual memorial throughout the generations: He wanted His covenant people to remember His mighty deeds in judging their enemies and delivering them from bondage. He wanted whole families to keep His commandments and maintain covenant faithfulness by remembering and celebrating His providential government over individuals, families, nations, covenant communities of the His chosen ones, and even over all of history.

Moses delivered God's commandments to the Hebrews in Deuteronomy 4, which reads in part:

[9] Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; [10] Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. ... [23] Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. ... [32] For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?" (emphasis in italics)

From this passage and many others we will examine, we see that this duty of remembrance is to be discharged multi-generationally and covenantally. God works providentially through His ordained means toward His eternally decreed ends. We are to remember and celebrate, as families and covenant communities, God's mighty deeds of providence in His judgments upon wickedness and deliverance and preservation of His Word and people throughout history.

We read in Psalm 78:

[1] Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. [2] I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: [3] Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. [4] We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done. [5] For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: [6] That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: [7] That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: [8] And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. [9] The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. [10] They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; [11] And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. [12] Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan [emphasis in italics].

Doug Phillips, during the July Reformation celebration in Boston this year, in his monumental speech, 500 Years of Liberty Birthed by the Reformation, points to the Ephraimites as an example of a people who forgot God's works and became cowards. Mr. Phillips says:

... [The] message of Psalm 78 ... [is] a powerful message. It's a message that says, teach them [your children] history because history teaches them to hope. And if you don't teach them history, they will become cowards. In fact, Psalm 78 points to a group called the Ephraimites, children whose arms were filled with the bows and the weapons of war, who in the day of trouble, though they should have had great confidence, ran away -- chicken! Why? Because they did not remember that great strength, true authority, true purpose, comes from having God stand beside you and fight your battles for you. And God has shown Himself faithful, this Psalm reminds us, in the lives of our fathers. Ladies and gentlemen, if you do not teach history to your children, they will be afraid when things get difficult. If you do not teach history to your children, they will lack perspective. If you do not teach history to your children, they will not know who they are because who they are, in part, has to do with where they came from -- not only through their physical genealogy but through the spiritual genealogy of fathers that stood before them.

Puritan author William Gurnall, as quoted in Spurgeon's The Treasury of David, writes of Psalm 78:4:

Thou must not only praise God thyself, but endeavor to transmit the memorial of his goodness to posterity. Children are their parents' heirs; it were unnatural for a father, before he dies, to bury up his treasure in the earth, where his children should not find or enjoy it; now the mercies of God are not the least part of a good man's treasure, nor the least of his children's inheritance, being both helps to their faith, matter for their praise, and spurs to their obedience.

Thomas Le Blanc, also quoted by Spurgeon, further affirms:

Children should earnestly hearken to the instruction of their parents that they themselves may afterwards be able to tell the same to their sons, and so a golden chain be formed, wherewith being bound together, the whole family may seek the skies. Whilst the father draws the son, the son the grandson, the grandson his children to Christ, as the magnet of them all, that they all may be made one.

Spurgeon quotes yet another Puritan, George Swinnock, concerning Psalm 78:

Thy duty is to acquaint thy children with the works of God. Teach them his doings as well as his sayings. ... God's wonders should be had in everlasting remembrance. ... The precept is here urged upon a double ground (Ps. 78:2-7), partly for God's praise, in the perpetuity of his worthy deeds: his words are of great weight, and therefore, as curious pictures or precious jewels, must in memory of him be bequeathed from father to son whilst the world continueth. ... But the duty is also urged, partly lot their own profit, Ps. 78:7, That they might set their hope in God, etc. Acquaintance with God's favour will encourage their faith; knowledge of his power will help them to believe his promise. Reader, obedience to this precept may tend much to thy own and thy children's profit. By teaching thy children God's actions, thou wilt fix them the faster, and they will make the greater impression, upon thy own spirit. A frequent mention of things is the best art of memory: what the mouth preacheth often the mind will ponder much. Besides, it may work for thy children's weal; the more they be acquainted with the goodness, wisdom, power, and faithfulness of God which appear in his works, the more they will fear, love, and trust him.

Swinnock also quotes from Deuteronomy 4:9 and Exodus 12:26-27 (both referenced above), as well as Psalm 111:4, "He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion." We can multiply the biblical commandments to remember God's providence in history, to listen and learn from our fathers rather than ignoring and forgetting, and to teach future generations.

Psalm 44:1 says, "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old." Spurgeon writes:

Schoolmasters are well enough, but godly fathers are, both by the order of nature and grace, the best instructors of their sons, nor can they delegate the sacred duty. It is to be feared that many children of professors could plead very little before God of what their fathers have told them. When fathers are tongue tied religiously with their offspring, need they wonder if their children's hearts remain sin tied? Just as in all free nations men delight to gather around the hearth, and tell the deeds of valour of their sires "in the brave days of old," so the people of God under the old dispensation made their families cheerful around the table, be rehearsing the wondrous doings of the Lord their God.

Dr. Joe Morecraft shared a monumental presentation at the 2007 Jamestown Quadricentennial Celebration, and the following summarizes some of his statements on monuments and remembrance:

Today’s western culture has broken down the barriers, like Hosea’s long ago, between right and wrong, between our true God and false gods. Our culture is murdering Western Civilization. The removal of ancient landmarks has been the goal of humanistic education and politics in the 20th and 21st Centuries. The landmarks are seen as relativistic, so there is no fixed standard anymore. Scripture calls us not only to resist the removal of the old landmarks, but also to work diligently to preserve them in our generation. We must preserve them as a foundation on which posterity can build. We must declare for generations the greatness of God's works throughout history.

Dr. Morecraft cited Psalm 105 in his speech:

[1] O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. [2] Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works. [3] Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. [4] Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. [5] Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; [6] O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. [7] He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth. [8] He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. [9] Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; [10] And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant: [11] Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance: [12] When they were but a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.

Spurgeon writes concerning verse 5:

Memory is never better employed than upon such topics. Alas, we are far more ready to recollect foolish and evil things than to retain in our minds the glorious deeds of Jehovah. If we would keep these in remembrance our faith would be stronger, our gratitude warmer, our devotion more fervent, and our love more intense. Shame upon us that we should let slip what it would seem impossible to forget. We ought to need no exhortation to remember such wonders, especially as he has wrought them all on the behalf of his people. His wonders, and the judgments of his mouth—these also should be had in memory. The judgments of his mouth are as memorable as the marvels of his band. God had but to speak and the enemies of his people were sorely afflicted; his threats were not mere words, but smote his adversaries terribly. As the Word of God is the salvation of his saints, so is it the destruction of the ungodly: out of his mouth goeth a two edged sword with which he will slay the wicked.

Spurgeon also writes concerning verse 8:

Here is the basis of all his dealings with his people: he had entered into covenant with them in their father Abraham, and to this covenant he remained faithful. The exhortation to remember (Ps 105:5) receives great force from the fact that God has remembered. If the Lord has his promise in memory surely we ought not to forget the wonderful manner in which he keeps it. To us it should be matter for deepest joy that never in any instance has the Lord been unmindful of his covenant engagements, nor will he be so world without end. O that we were as mindful of them as he is. The word which he commanded to a thousand generations.

We read in Psalm 145:

[1] I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. [2] Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. [3] Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. [4] One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. [5] I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. [6] And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. [7] They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. [8] The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. [9] The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. [10] All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. [11] They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; [12] To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. [13] Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

Concerning verse 4, Spurgeon writes: "We look back upon the experience of our fathers, and sing of it; even thus shall our sons learn praise from the Lord's works among ourselves. Let us see to it that we praise God before our children, and never make them think that his service is an unhappy one." Spurgeon also cites Simon De Muis: "The tradition of praise! Each generation catches the strains from the last, echoes it, and passes it along to the next. One generation declares what it has seen, and passes on the praise to the generation which has not seen as yet the wonders celebrated."

As we consider all these words, may we be faithful to hear and declare, multi-generationally, God's providence, His judgments, and His mighty deeds of deliverance in history. Though we are so prone to forget, may we remember that God is faithful to His covenant promises and has called us to a glorious salvation in Christ. God has preserved His Word, delivered His people, and brought judgment upon the ungodly, as His Kingdom has advanced toward victory in history.

This week we remember and celebrate and declare and express gratefulness to God for the Protestant Reformation when God providentially worked through Martin Luther, those who came before, and those who came after him. This movement, blessed of God throughout the nations, restored the glorious truths of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, which we learn from God's infallible, inspired Scripture alone -- our final rule of faith and practice. Next month we will remember God's providence in the lives of the Pilgrims as we celebrate Thanksgiving. Although our culture neglects and despises such times of remembrance and, more importantly, the covenant-keeping God Who blesses His people and curses the ungodly; let us celebrate and declare His wondrous works in all ages of history, to all generations, and throughout all nations: "I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever" (Psalm 45:17).

We conclude with the words of John Howie, author of The Scots Worthies:

We find that it has been the constant practice of the Lord's people in all ages, to hand down and keep on record what the Lord had done by and for their forefathers in former times. We find the royal Psalmist, in name of the Church, oftener than once at this work ... (Ps. xliv. I ; lxxviii. 4).

...

It is usual for men to keep that well which was left them by their fathers; and for us either to oppose or industriously conceal any part of these their contendings, were not only an addition to the contempt already thrown upon the memories of these renowned sires, but also an injury done to posterity.

REFORMATION WEEK, part 2: Calvin arrives at Geneva and faces Farel's presuasion tactics

2009-10-27T16:20:00.001-05:00

Please see Part 1 of the Reformation Week posts.

The account below is excerpted from:

History of the Reformation in Europe in the Time of Calvin, vol. V
Chapter XVII: Calvin's Arrival at Geneva
by J. H. Merle D'Aubigne, D.D.

ONE evening in the month of July, 1536, a carriage from France arrived at Geneva. A man, still young, alighted from it. He was short, thin, and pale; his beard was black and pointed, his organization weak, and his frame somewhat worn by study; but in his high forehead, lively and severe eyes, regular and expressive features, there were indications of a profound spirit, an elevated soul, and an indomitable character. His intention was to ‘pass through Geneva hastily, without stopping more than one night in the city,’ He was accompanied by a man and woman of about the same age. The three travelers belonged to the same family — two brothers and a sister.

The foremost of them, long accustomed to keep himself in the background, desired to pass through Geneva unobserved. He inquired for an inn where he could spend the night: his voice was mild, and his manner attractive.

Scarcely a carriage arrived from France without being surrounded by some of the Genevans, or at least by French refugees; for it might bring new fugitives, obliged to seek a country in which they were free to profess the doctrine of Christ. A young Frenchman, at that time the friend and disciple of the traveler, who had gone to the place where the carriage from France put up, in order to see if it brought anybody whom he knew, recognized the man with the intelligent face, and conducted him to an hotel. The traveler was John Calvin, and his friend was Louis Du Tillet, ex-canon of Angouleme, Calvin’s traveling companion during his Italian journey. From Strasburg, whither he had gone to meet Calvin, he had returned to Geneva, no doubt because he thought that the war between Francis I. and Charles V. would compel his friend to make a bend and pass through Bresse and the Valley of the Leman. This was actually what happened.

Calvin, who had come to Geneva without a plan and even against his will, having sat down with Du Tillet in his room at the hotel, their conversation naturally turned on the city in which they were, and of which the reformer know but little. He learnt, either from his friend or from others subsequently, what he probably knew something about already; namely, that, popery had been driven out of it shortly before; that the zeal, struggles, trials, and evangelical labors of William Farel were incessant; but that affairs were not yet ‘put in order in the city;’ that there were dangerous divisions, and that Farel was contending almost alone for the triumph of the Gospel. Calvin had long respected Farel as the most zealous of evangelists; but it does not appear that they had ever met.

Du Tillet could not keep to himself the news of his friend’s arrival, and after leaving Calvin, he called on Master William. ‘After discovering me, he made my coming known to others,’ says Calvin. Farel, who had read the Christian Institutes, had recognized in the author of that work the most eminent genius, the most scriptural theologian, and the most eloquent writer of the age. The thought that this extraordinary man was in Geneva, and that he could see and hear him, moved and delighted Farel. He went with all haste to the inn and entered into conversation with the youthful theologian. Everything confirmed him in his former opinion. He had long been looking for a servant of God to help him, yet had never thought of Calvin. But now a flash of light shone into his soul, an inward voice said to him: This is the man of God you are seeking. ‘At the very moment when I was thinking least about it,’ he said, ‘the grace of God led me to him.’ From that moment there was no hesitation or delay. ‘Farel, who glowed with a marvelous zeal for promoting the Gospel,’ says Calvin, ‘made every effort to retain me.’

Would he succeed? Seldom has there been a man who, like Calvin, was placed in the influential position he was to occupy all his life, not only without his concurrence but even against his will.

‘Stay with me,’ said Farel, ‘and help me. There is work to be done in this city.’

Calvin replied with astonishment: ‘Excuse me, I cannot stop here more than one night.’

‘Why do you seek elsewhere for what is now offered you?’ replied Farel; ‘why refuse to edify the Church of Geneva by your faith, zeal, and knowledge?’

The appeal was fruitless: to undertake so great a task seemed to Calvin impossible. ‘But Farel, inspired by the spirit of a hero,’ says Theodore Beza, ‘would not be discouraged.’ He pointed out to the stranger that as the Reformation had been miraculously established in Geneva, it ought not to be abandoned in a cowardly manner; that if he did not take the part offered to him in this task, the work might probably perish, and he would be the cause of the ruin of the Church. Calvin could not make up his mind; he did not want to bind himself to a particular church; he told his new friend that he preferred traveling in search of knowledge, and making himself useful in the places where he chanced to halt.

‘Look first at the place in which you are now,’ answered Farel; ‘popery has been driven out and traditions abolished, and now the doctrine of the Scriptures must be taught here.’

‘I cannot teach,’ exclaimed Calvin; ‘on the contrary, I have need to learn. There are special labors for which I wish to reserve myself. This city cannot afford me the leisure that I require.’

He explained his plan. He wanted to go to Strasburg, to Bucer, and Capito, and then putting himself in communication with the other doctors of Germany, to increase his knowledge by continued study.

‘Study! leisure! knowledge!’ said Farel. ‘What! must we never practice? I am sinking under my task; pray help me.’

The young doctor had still other reasons. His constitution was weak. ‘The frail state of my health needs rest,’ he said.

‘Rest!’ exclaimed Farel, ‘death alone permits the soldiers of Christ to rest from their labors.’

Calvin certainly did not mean to do nothing. He would labor, but each man labors according to the gift he has received: he would defend the Reformation not by his deeds but by words. The reformer had not yet expressed his whole thought: it was not only the work they asked him to undertake that frightened him, it was also the locality in which he would have to carry it out. He did not feel himself strong enough to bear the combat he would have to engage in. He shrank from appearing before the assemblies of Geneva. The violence, the tumults, the indomitable temper of the Genevese were much talked of, and they intimidated and alarmed him.

To this Farel replied, ‘that the severer the disease, the stronger the measures to be employed to cure it.’ The Genevese storm, it is true; they burst out like a squall of wind in a gale; but was that a reason for leaving him, Farel, alone to meet these furious tempests? ‘I entreat you,’ said the intrepid evangelist, ‘to take your share. These matters are harder than death.’

The burden was too heavy for his shoulders; he wanted the help of a younger man. But the young man of Noyon was surprised that he should be thought of.

‘I am timid and naturally pusillanimous,’ he said. ‘How can I withstand such roaring waves?’

At this Farel could not restrain a feeling of anger and almost of contempt. ‘Ought the servants of Jesus Christ to be so delicate,’ he exclaimed, ‘as to be frightened at warfare?’

This blow touched the young reformer to the heart. He frightened! — he prefer his own ease to the service of the Savior! His conscience was troubled and his feelings were violently agitated. But his great humility still held him back: he had a deep sentiment of his incapacity for the kind of work they wanted him to undertake. ‘I beg of you, in God’s name,’ he exclaimed, ‘to have pity on me! Leave me to serve Him in another way than what you desire.’

Farel, seeing that neither prayers nor exhortations could avail with Calvin, reminded him of a frightful example of disobedience similar to his own. ‘Jonah, also,’ he said, ‘wanted to flee from the presence of the Lord, but the Lord cast him into the sea.’

The struggle in the young doctor’s heart became more keen. He was violently shaken, like an oak assailed by the tempest; he bent before the blast, and rose up again, but a last gust, more impetuous than all the others, was shortly about to uproot him. The emotion of the elder of the two speakers had gradually increased, in proportion as the young man’s had also increased.

Farel’s heart was hot within him. At that supreme moment, feeling as if inspired by the Spirit of God, he raised his hand towards heaven and exclaimed: ‘You are thinking only of your tranquillity, you care for nothing but your studies. Be it so. In the name of Almighty God, I declare that if you do not answer to His summons, He will not bless your plans.’

Then, perceiving that the critical moment had come, he added an ‘alarming adjuration’ to his declaration: he even ventured on an imprecation. Fixing his eyes of fire on the young man, and placing his hands on the head of his victim, he exclaimed in his voice of thunder: ‘May God curse your repose! may God curse your studies, if in such a great necessity as ours you withdraw and refuse to give us help and support!’

At these words, the young doctor, whom Farel had for some time kept on the rack, trembled. He shook in every limb; he felt that Farel’s words did not proceed from himself: God was there, the holiness of the presence of Jehovah laid strong hold of his mind; he saw Him who is invisible. It appeared to him, he said, ‘that the hand of God was stretched down from heaven, that it lay hold of him, and fixed him irrevocably to the place he was so impatient to leave.’

He could not free himself from that terrible grasp. Like Lot’s wife when she looked back on her tranquil home, he was rooted to his seat, powerless to move. At last he raised his head and peace returned to his soul; he had yielded, he had sacrificed the studies he loved so well, he had laid his Isaac on the altar, he consented to lose his life to save it. His conscience, now convinced, made him surmount every obstacle in order that he might obey. That heart, so faithful and sincere, gave itself, and gave itself for ever. Seeing that what was required of him was God’s pleasure, says Farel, he did violence to himself, adding: ‘And he did more, and that more promptly, than any one else could have done.’

REFORMATION WEEK, part 1: The Church Fathers Taught "Sola Gratia"

2009-10-26T18:30:00.003-05:00

Saturday, October 31, 2009, is the 492nd anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany (1517), protesting the Romanist practice of selling indulgences. In honor of this event, which sparked a course of events that would become known as the Protestant Reformation, I plan this week to post quotes, excerpts, and historical accounts, pertaining to the Reformation era.

Please see these recent prior posts with relevance to the subject matter at hand:

Francis Turretin, a Reformed theologian educated in Seventeenth Century Geneva, defended the Protestant Reformers against the charge that they were not properly called, asserting that truth is more important than succession of authority in institutions.

John Calvin, as well as the Westminster and London Baptist divines who proceeded him, articulated and defended the distinctly Reformed regulative principle of worship.

The Protestant Reformers stood squarely on the teaching of God's Word, as affirmed by the Church Fathers, in their insistence upon Sola Fide. The Reformers' doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone (Sola Fide -- covered in this post) in Christ alone, was nothing new.

The Church Fathers also affirmed the Reformational doctrine of Sola Scriptura that is clearly affirmed in the very inspired text, Holy Scripture, that this doctrine declares to be our only infallible, sufficient, authoritative, and final rule of faith and practice.

This post contains some quotes pertaining to the Reformation and the proceeding Puritan era, as well as quotes on economics.

Ecclesia Reformata Semper Reformanda Secundum Verbum Dei is a Reformational theme, which means, "The Church Reformed, and Always Reforming According to the Word of God." The Pilgrims who migrated from England to Holland and then to the New World provide us a living example of Reformed Christians always reforming according to the Word of God.

Charles Spurgeon, the "Prince of Preachers," lived long after the Reformation era, but he stood squarely on the same foundational faith and practices from Scripture as the Puritans. Here is Spurgeon affirming the victory of Christ, Who rules as the sovereign and supreme King over all.

This post contains a listing of Reformation themes, as well as some very useful and encouraging quotes.

Matthew Henry, a great Puritan commentator on Scripture, discusses trembling at God's Word.

Pay special attention to the Bach, Handel, and Mendelssohn compositions in this post. Bach, of course, famously appended to each of his scores S.D.G. (initials for Soli Deo Gloria = to God alone be the glory).

Below is a selection of quotes from Church Fathers pertaining to the biblical doctrine of Sola Gratia, salvation by grace alone, that the Protestant Reformers restored:

“We have acquired the forgiveness of our sins and have been justified freely by the mercy and grace of Christ.” -St. Cyril of Alexandria (Commentary on Romans)

“We are righteous, therefore, when we confess that we are sinners; and our righteousness does not consist in our own merit, but in Godʼs mercy.” -St. Jerome (Dialogue Against the Pelagians)

“After speaking of the wages of sin, in the case of blessings, he has not kept to the same order: for he does not say, the wages of your good deeds, but the gift of God: to show, that it was not of themselves that they were freed, nor was it a due they received, neither yet a return, nor a recompense of labors, but by grace all these things came about. And so there was superiority for this cause also, in that He did not free them only, or change their condition for the better, but that He did it without any labor or trouble upon their part: and that He not only freed them, but also gave them more than before, and that through His Son.” -St. John Chrysostom (Epistle to the Romans, Homily 12, Rom. 6:23)

“And he well said, ʻa righteousness of mine own,ʼ not that which I gained by labor and toil, but that which I found from grace. If then he who was so excellent is saved by grace, much more are you. For since it was likely they would say that the righteousness which comes from toil is the greater, he shows that it is dung in comparison with the other. For otherwise I, who was so excellent in it, would not have cast it away, and run to the other. But what is that other? That which is from the faith of God, i.e. it too is given by God. This is the righteousness of God; this is altogether a gift. And the gifts of God far exceed those worthless good deeds, which are due to our own diligence.” -St. John Chrysostom (Homily on Philippians 3)

“The righteousness of God is not that by which God is righteous but that with which he clothes man when He justifies the ungodly. To this the Law and the Prophets bear witness. ... It is a righteousness of God apart from the law, since in that case it could not have been witnessed to in the law. It is a righteousness of God apart from the law because God confers it on believers through the Spirit of grace without the help of the law.” -St. Augustine of Hippo (The Spirit and the Letter)

“All the commandments of God are kept when what is not kept is forgiven.” -St. Augustine of Hippo (Retractions)

“God leads us to eternal life, not by our merits, but according to His mercy.” -St. Augustine of Hippo (Confessions, IX:13)

“God crowns His gifts in us.” -St. Augustine of Hippo, (Grace and Free Will)

Source for all of the preceding quotes: Reformation "Solas" in the Fathers of the Church

A few more Sola Gratia quotes:

"Not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace: he called us, not having regard to our way of living, but solely on account of his lovingkindness." -Theodoret of Cyrus (Commentary on 2 Timothy, Chapter 1)

"The grace of our Lord overflowed with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus (v.14). He brought out what he himself contributed to what he had received: being accorded grace from on high, he offered faith and love; coming to faith without reservation, he loved ardently and lived his life on fire with this love." -Theodoret of Cyrus (Commentary on 1 Timothy, Chapter 1)

"But God, who is rich in mercy, out of his great love with which he loved us made us alive with Christ even when we were dead through our falls (v.4): but though our condition was so bad, the Lord God in the depths of his goodness made us sharers in the immortal life of our Lord - the meaning of made us alive with Christ: since he is rise, we also hope to rise, as through him our condition has been set to rights. Then he brings out more clearly the greatness of the gift, by grace you are saved: you were called not on account of the excellence of your life but on account of the love of the one who saved you." -Theodoret of Cyrus (Commentary on the Letter to the Ephesians)

BONUS: Additional Quotes on Sola Scriptura

"Let us take all this to heart, then, dearly beloved, and on returning home let us serve a double meal, one of food and the other of sacred reading; while the husband reads what has been said, let the wife learn and the children listen, and let not even servants be deprived of the chance to listen. Turn your house into a church; you are, in fact, even responsible for the salvation both of the children and of the servants. Just as we are accountable for you, so too each of you is accountable for your servant, your wife, your child." -John Chrysostom (Sermon 6 on Genesis)

"When opposed by Scriptures they became opponents of the Scriptures, as if they were incorrect or without authority." -Irenaeus on the heretics of his day, as applied by Turretin to the Romanists of his day

"I admit to your charity that only to the books now called canonical have I learned to pay such respect and honor as to believe most firmly that none of their authors erred in writing. When I read others, however they excel in sanctity of teaching, I do not regard a statement as true because they make it, but because they have been able to convince me, either through canonical authors or by a probable reason which does not conflict with truth. Nor do I believe that you, brother, think otherwise; moreover, I say I do not believe that you want your books to be read as are the prophets and apostles, concerning whose writings, since they are free from all error, it is not permissible to doubt." -Augustine, writing to Jerome (Cited by Francis Turretin in "The Scriptures," Q. 21.IX regarding the authority of the Fathers)

"Nor yet is it always he who can heap together most sentences of scripture, that maintains the justest cause: for he who brings one sentence of scripture rightly understood, hath a better cause than he who abuses a great number of scripture passages." -Puritan William Whitaker, defender of the faith against Romanist attacks on Sola Scriptura (A Disputation on Holy Scripture, p. 563)

Francis Turretin, "The Call of the First Reformers"

2009-10-26T06:00:00.020-05:00

Excerpts from Francis Turretin's The Call of the First Reformers:

"Was The Call Of The First Reformers Legitimate? We Affirm Against The Romanists."

...

"Hence if it is inquired to which of two assemblies we ought to join ourselves, the one which is supposed to have an uninterrupted succession (but without the truth), but the other truth of doctrine (but without the succession, no one will hesitate in replying that we ought to join the latter because a call without the truth cannot save, but truth can save without the call."

...

"In a constituted church, we think the sanctioned order ought to be retained, so that all things may be done decently in the church and disorder (atasaa) and confusion avoided. But in a church to be restored, we are not always to wait for the ordinary call, but any private person can, in a case of extreme and unavoidable necessity, enter upon the work of reformation."

...

"Each believer therefore had a sufficient call to undertake the work; for although they could receive no authority from the church of Rome to preach the gospel, still the reason of those most disturbed times, the indispensable necessity which rested upon each one of promoting his own salvation and the law of charity (which orders us to promote the salvation of neighbors) gave them the authority to preach the gospel purely, to reject the papal errors, to call men out from them, to gather them together when called out, to institute sacred assemblies and elect others to be their successors, the power being granted to them for that purpose by the converted people."

...

"Now it is evident that the Reformers were constituted in that state of unavoidable necessity. They saw the church of Rome laboring under innumerable deadly corruptions, which they could not profess without immediate danger to salvation. No reformation was to be expected from the rulers of the church, from whom the errors flowed and who contended fiercely for them; and so far from wishing to think about a reformation, they persecuted with fire and the sword those who undertook to seek it and dared to oppose themselves to the encroaching errors."

...

"Not that they [the Reformers] were wholly miraculous and supernatural, such as in the apostolic church, since these pertained to the church to be founded. But still they were special and extraordinary inasmuch as they were much above the mode and measure of those times, in which a more than Cimmerian darkness of error and vice spread over the heavens of the church and the minds of her rulers. For who does not wonder at the profound erudition, the accuracy of judgment, the most ardent zeal, the admirable faith, the invincible constancy, the most intense love, the singular purity of life and morals and the other innumerable gifts by which they shone above others and proved that they were vessels of election (ekioges) separated by God to this extraordinary work?"

...

"But when the same doctrine, which was before delivered, is retained and purged, there is no need of miracles, because the same miracles by which it was confirmed before still conduce to its confirmation. Such, however, was the call of the Reformers. They did not bring in a new doctrine, but purged the doctrine of Christ, [which had been] corrupted by the errors of men."

...

"The Reformers cannot be called usurpers because the church at every time has the right to call pastors for her own edification, although all the rites otherwise received cannot be employed. If, therefore, it happens that the pastors already instituted fail in their office and falsely abuse their ministry, the church (for whose sake the ministry was instituted) always has the right to purge a corrupt ministry. And if this cannot be done on account of the obstinacy of men, she has the right to leave that ministry and to choose others who will rightly perform their duties."

...

"As in a civil society it would be absurd to seek what call a man had to live, to regulate his own affairs and to avoid whatever is harmful to health and safety, so it is absurd in a religious society to seek what right believers have and with what call they are furnished to profess the true faith and to worship God purely, to reject whatever is repugnant to the truth of faith and purity of worship and which can injure their spiritual life and safety. For the obligation suffices by which each one is bound to promote his own salvation, which the nature of the thing itself and the command of God imposes upon us. I confess that this cannot be done without a sundering of the bond of union by which we are joined in society with others; but this has place only with respect to error, not with respect to truth. Nor must it be supposed that the true unity of the church is broken, because the assembly from which the secession is made is no more to be regarded as a church of Christ, but as an assembly of errorists, who first broke the true unity of the church by their deadly doctrines and false worship."

...

"Innovators, who propose to us a new and false doctrine, differ from reformers, whose design is not to bring in a new doctrine, but to reform the old which had been corrupted and to purge it from the errors superinduced. The first are not to be heard, according to the command of Paul (Gal. 1:8). But the latter not only are not to be rejected, but are to be embraced and followed with zeal, if we are satisfied that they are true reformers. In order to ascertain this, we must examine their doctrine. We maintain that our first pastors were such from the conformity of their doctrine with the doctrine of Christ; nor except most falsely can they be traduced as innovators."

The Reformed "Regulative Principle of Worship," as articulated by the Westminster Standards, the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, and John Calvin

2009-10-25T01:40:00.002-05:00

One of the neglected doctrines of the Reformation, as articulated by the Calvinist and distinctly Reformed branches of this 16th Century movement, is the regulative principle of worship. Below are some quotes from the Westminster Confession, London Baptist Confession, and John Calvin's The Necessity of Reforming the Church.

Westminster Confession of Faith, 21.1:

The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and does good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.

See this explanation of the Westminster Standards (as well as other historic Reformed standards) and the Regulative Principle of Worship.

Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, 22.1:

The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and does good to all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

See this explanation of the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 and the Regulative Principle of Worship.

Following are some excerpts from John Calvin's The Necessity of Reforming the Church (1543):

I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by his word. The opposite persuasion which cleaves to them, being seated, as it were, in their very bones and marrow, is, that whatever they do has in itself a sufficient sanction, provided it exhibits some kind of zeal for the honor of God. But since God not only regards as fruitless, but also plainly abominates, whatever we undertake from zeal to his worship, if at variance with his command, what do we gain by a contrary course? The words of God are clear and distinct, 'Obedience is better than sacrifice.' 'In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men' (1 Sam. 15:22; Matt. 15:9). Every addition to his word, especially in this matter, is a lie. Mere 'will worship' (ethelothreeskeia) is vanity. This is the decision, and when once the judge has decided, it is no longer time to debate."

...

Having observed that the word of God is the test which discriminates between his true worship and that which is false and vitiated, we thence readily infer that the whole form of divine worship in general use in the present day is nothing but mere corruption. For men pay no regard to what God has commanded, or to what he approves, in order that they may serve him in a becoming manner, but assume to themselves a licence of devising modes of worship, and afterwards obtruding them upon him as a substitute for obedience. If in what I say I seem to exaggerate, let an examination be made of all the acts by which the generality suppose that they worship God. I dare scarcely except a tenth part as not the random offspring of their own brain. What more would we? God rejects, condemns, abominates all fictitious worship, and employs his word as a bridle to keep us in unqualified obedience. When shaking off this yoke, we wander after our own fictions, and offer to him a worship, the work of human rashness, how much soever it may delight ourselves, in his sight it is vain trifling, nay, vileness and pollution. The advocates of human traditions paint them in fair and gaudy colors; and Paul certainly admits that they carry with them a show of wisdom; but as God values obedience more than all sacrifices, it ought to be sufficient for the rejection of any mode of worship, that it is not sanctioned by the command of God.

...

In regard to the worship of God, our adversaries next accuse us, because, omitting empty and childish observances tending only to hypocrisy, we worship God more simply. That we have in no respect detracted from the spiritual worship of God, is attested by fact. Nay, when it had in a great measure gone into desuetude, we have reinstated it in its former rights. Let us now see whether the offence taken at us is just. In regard to doctrine, I maintain that we make common cause with the prophets. For, next to idolatry, there is nothing for which they rebuke the people more sharply than for falsely imagining that the worship of God consisted in external show. For what is the sum of their declarations? That God dwells not, and sets no value on ceremonies considered only in themselves; that he looks to the faith and truth of the heart; and that the only end for which he commanded, and for which he approves them, is that they may be pure exercises of faith, and prayer, and praise. The writings of all the prophets are full of attestations to this effect. Nor, as I have observed, was there anything for which they labored more.

Now, it cannot, without effrontery, be denied, that when our reformers appeared, the world was more than ever smitten with this blindness. It was therefore absolutely necessary to urge men with these prophetical rebukes, and draw them off, as by force, from that infatuation, that they might no longer imagine that God was satisfied with naked ceremonies, as children are with shows. There was a like necessity for urging the doctrine of the spiritual worship of God a doctrine which had almost vanished from the minds of men. That both of these things have been faithfully performed by us in times past, and still are, both our writings and our sermons clearly prove.

...

I am not unaware how difficult it is to persuade the world that God rejects and even abominates everything relating to his worship that is devised by human reason. The delusion on this head is owing to several causes: "Every one thinks highly of his own," as the old proverb expresses it. Hence the offspring of our own brain delights us, and besides, as Paul admits, this fictitious worship often presents some show of wisdom [Col. 2:23]. Then, as it has for the most part an external splendor which pleases the eye, it is more agreeable to our carnal nature, than that which alone God requires and approves, but which is less ostentatious. But there is nothing which so blinds the understandings of men, and misleads them in their judgments in this matter, as hypocrisy. For while it is incumbent on true worshippers to give the heart and mind, men are always desirous to invent a mode of serving God of a totally different description, their object being to perform to him certain bodily observances, and keep the mind to themselves. Moreover, they imagine that when they obtrude upon him external pomp, they have, by this artifice, evaded the necessity of giving themselves. And this is the reason why they submit to innumerable observances which miserably fatigue them without measure and without end, and why they choose to wander in a perpetual labyrinth, rather than worship God simply in spirit and in truth.

...

It is no injury to saints not to permit the office of Christ to be attributed to them, and there is no honor of which we deprive them, save that which was improperly and rashly bestowed upon them by human error. I will not mention anything which may not be pointed to with the finger. First, when men are about to pray, they imagine God to be at a great distance, and that they cannot have access to him without the guidance of some patron. Nor is this false opinion current among the rude and unlearned only, but even those who would be thought leaders of the blind entertain it. Then, in looking out for patrons, every one follows his own fancy. One selects Mary, another Michael, another Peter. Christ they very seldom honor with a place in the list. Nay, there is scarcely one in a hundred who would not be amazed, as at some new prodigy, were he to hear Christ named as an intercessor. Therefore, passing by Christ, they all trust to the patronage of saints. Then the superstition creeps in further and further, till they invoke the saints promiscuously, just as they do God. I admit, indeed, that when they desire to speak more definitely, all they ask of the saints is to assist them before God with their prayers. But more frequently, confounding this distinction, they address and implore at one time God, and at another the saints, just according to the impulse of the moment. Nay, each saint has a peculiar province allotted to him. One gives rain, another fair weather, one delivers from fever, another from shipwreck. But, to say nothing of these profane heathen delusions which everywhere prevail in churches, this one impiety may suffice for all, that the great body of mankind, in inviting intercessors from this quarter and from that, neglect Christ, the only one whom God has set forth, and confide less in the divine protection than in the patronage of saints.

...

The method by which, in our churches, all pray in common in the popular tongue, and males and females indiscriminately sing the psalms, our adversaries may ridicule if they will, provided the Holy Spirit bears testimony to us from heaven, while he repudiates the confused, unmeaning sounds which are uttered elsewhere.

...

When Luther at first appeared, he merely touched, with a gentle hand, a few abuses of the grossest description, now grown intolerable. And he did it with a modesty which intimated that he had more desire to see them corrected, than determination to correct them himself. The opposite party forthwith sounded to arms; and when the contention was more and more inflamed, our enemies deemed it the best and shortest method to suppress the truth by cruelty and violence. Accordingly, when our people challenged them to friendly discussion, and desired to settle disputes by calm arguments, they were cruelly persecuted with sanguinary edicts, until matters have been brought to the present miserable pass.

Nor is this calumny against us without precedent. With the very same charge which we are now forced to hear, wicked Ahab once upbraided Elijah: that is, that he was the disturber of Israel. But the holy prophet by his reply acquitted us. "I," says he, "have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim," (1 Kings 18:17-18). It is unfair, therefore, to load us with odium, on account of the fierce contest concerning religion which this day rages in Christendom, unless, indeed, it be thought proper first to condemn Elijah, with whom we have a common defense. His sole excuse is, that he had fought only to vindicate the glory and restore the pure worship of God, and he retorts the charge of exciting contention and disturbances upon those who stirred up tumults as a means of resisting the truth.

And what is it that we have done hitherto, and what do we even now, but strive that the one God may be worshipped amongst us, and that his simple truth may reign in the church? If our adversaries deny this, let them, at least, convict us of impious doctrine before they charge it upon us, as a fault, that we dissent from others. For what were we to do? The only terms on which we could purchase peace were to betray the truth of God by silence. Though, indeed, it would not have been enough to be silent, unless we had also, by tacit consent, approved of impious doctrine, of open blasphemies against God, and the most degrading superstitions. What else, then, at the very least, could we do, than testify with a clear voice that we had no fellowship with impiety? We have, therefore, simply studied to do what was our duty. That matters have blazed forth into hostile strife is an evil, the blame of which must rest with those who chose to confound heaven and earth, rather than give a place to pious and sound doctrine their object being, by whatever means, to keep possession of the tyranny which they had usurped.

...

And is it indeed so, that when we complain that the worship of God was profaned; that his honor was utterly impaired; that the doctrine of salvation was entangled with numerous destructive errors; that the virtue of Christ's death was suppressed; and that, in short, all things sacred were sacrilegiously polluted; is it indeed so, that we are to be derided and charged with the folly of disturbing ourselves and the whole world besides, to no purpose, with disputes about insignificant questions?

But as a cursory glance at these things is not sufficient, it will now be necessary more diligently to explain to you the dignity and importance of the points in dispute, so as to make it manifest, not only that they were not unworthy of notice, but that we could not possibly overlook them without involving ourselves in the greatest guilt, and becoming chargeable with impious perfidy towards God.

...

Were a dog to see an injury offered to his master, equal to the insult which is offered to God in the sacraments, he would instantly bark, and expose his own life to danger, sooner than silently allow his master to be so insulted. Ought we to show less devotedness to God than a brute is wont to show to man?

The Church Fathers Taught "Sola Fide"

2009-10-23T20:50:00.008-05:00

The abundant evidence cited in my previous post demonstrates that Sola Scriptura, as articulated by the Protestant Reformers, was nothing new. What about the other five "Solas" of the Reformation? In particular, what about the article upon which the Reformation stands or falls: Justification by faith alone? Again, we can demonstrate that Protestant Christians need not hang their heads and surrender the battle over Patristics, let alone the war over Scriptural exegesis, to the Romanists or Eastern Orthodox.

Dr. James White states the following regarding "Sola Scriptura," which is relevant as we examine the writings of fallible men whom God providentially used to provide a testimony and defense for the faith once delivered to the saints:

Sola scriptura teaches that the Scriptures are the sole infallible rule of faith for the Church. The doctrine does not say that there are not other, fallible, rules of faith, or even traditions, that we can refer to and even embrace. It does say, however, that the only infallible rule of faith is Scripture. This means that all other rules, whether we call them traditions, confessions of faith, creeds, or anything else, are by nature inferior to and subject to correction by, the Scriptures. The Bible is an ultimate authority, allowing no equal, nor superior, in tradition or church. It is so because it is theopneustos, God-breathed, and hence embodies the very speaking of God, and must, of necessity therefore be of the highest authority.

The great Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz of the 16th Century echoed this thought:

We confess also that we disagree with those who invent opinions which have no testimony from any period in the church... We also hold that no dogma that is new in the churches and in conflict with all of antiquity should be accepted. What could be more honorably said and thought concerning the consensus and the testimonies of antiquity? ... But we confess also this, which we have not invented ourselves, but have learned from the fathers: that we search out and quote the testimonies of the fathers, not as though the things which are shown and proved from clear testimonies of the Scriptures were either not certain or not firm enough in themselves or did not of themselves possess enough strength and authority unless also the consensus of the fathers were added.

Thus, I present the testimony of many Church Fathers whose statements affirm the important Protestant Reformation theme: We are justified by faith alone, Sola Fide!

PART 1:

“Similarly we also, who by His will have been called in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, or our own wisdom or understanding or godliness, nor by such deeds as we have done in holiness of heart, but by that faith through which Almighty God has justified all men since the beginning of time. Glory be to Him, forever and ever, Amen.” -St. Clement of Rome (Letter to the Corinthians, par. 32)

“Human beings can be saved from the ancient serpent in no other way than by believing in him who, when he was raised up from the earth on the tree of martyrdom in the likeness of sinful flesh, drew all things to himself and gave life to the dead.” -St. Irenaeus (Against the Heresies, IV, 2, 7)

“Indeed, this is the perfect and complete glorification of God, when one does not exult in his own righteousness, but recognizing oneself as lacking true righteousness to be justified by faith alone in Christ.” -St. Basil the Great (Homily on Humility)

“They said that he who adhered to faith alone was cursed; but he, Paul, shows that he who adhered to faith alone is blessed.” -St. John Chrysostom (First Corinthians, Homily 20)

“For you believe the faith; why then do you add other things, as if faith were not sufficient to justify? You make yourselves captive, and you subject yourself to the law.” -St. John Chrysostom (Epistle to Titus, Homily 3)

“ʻTo declare His righteousness.ʼ What is declaring of righteousness? Like the declaring of His riches, not only for Him to be rich Himself, but also to make others rich, or of life, not only that He is Himself living, but also that He makes the dead to live; and of His power, not only that He is Himself powerful, but also that He makes the feeble powerful. So also is the declaring of His righteousness not only that He is Himself righteous, but that He doth also make them that are filled with the putrefying sores of sin suddenly righteous. And it is to explain this, viz. what is ʻdeclaring,ʼ that he has added, ʻThat He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesusʼ [Rom. 3:26]. Doubt not then: for it is not of works, but of faith: and shun not the righteousness of God, for it is a blessing in two ways; because it is easy, and also open to all men. And be not abashed and shamefaced. For if He Himself openly declareth Himself to do so, and He, so to say, findeth a delight and a pride therein, how comest thou to be dejected and to hide thy face at what thy Master glorieth in?” -St. John Chrysostom (Homilies on Romans 3)

“What is the principle of faith? This is salvation by grace. Here Paul shows Godʼs power in that He has not only saved, He has also justified and led them to boast in a different way - not relying on works but glorying only in their faith.” -St. John Chrysostom (Homilies on Romans 7)

“We should believe both that we should be penitent and that we shall be pardoned, in such a way that we hope for pardon from faith just as faith obtains it from the written agreement.” -St. Ambrose of Milan (On Penitence Against the Novatians, II:9)

“Paul shows clearly that righteousness depends not on the merit of man but on the grace of God, who accepts the faith of those who believe without the works of the law.” -St. Jerome (Against the Pelagians)

“Justification is obtained by faith. ... By the law we fear God, by faith we hope in God. But to those who fear punishment grace is hidden; laboring under this fear, the soul by faith flees to the mercy of God, that He may give what He commands” -St. Augustine of Hippo (The Spirit and the Letter)

“How should the law be upheld if not by righteousness? By a righteousness, moreover, which is of faith, for what could not be fulfilled through the law is fulfilled through faith.” -St. Augustine of Hippo (Augustine on Romans)

“You must believe, first of all, that you cannot have the forgiveness of sins except by the forbearance of God; but add further that you also believe that through Him your sins are forgiven. This is the witness that the Holy Spirit brings in your heart, saying, ʻYour sins are forgiven you.ʼ For thus the apostle [Paul] concludes, that a man is justified freely by faith.” -St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Sermon on the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

[HERE IS THE SOURCE OF THE QUOTES IN PART 1]

PART 2:

"To this end has His Grace and Goodness been formed upon us in Christ Jesus, that being dead according to works, redeemed through faith and saved by grace, we might receive the gift of this great deliverance." -Ambrose (Letter 76 to Irenaeus, a layman)

"But we all escape the condemnation for our sins referred to above, if we believe in the grace of God through His Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who said: ‘This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many unto the remission of sins.’" -St. Basil the Great (Concerning Baptism, TfoTC vol. 9, p. 344)

"But he calls it their 'own righteousness,' either because the Law was no longer of force, or because it was one of trouble and toil. But this he calls God's righteousness, that from faith, because it comes entirely from the grace from above, and because men are justified in this case, not by labors, but by the gift of God." -St. John Chrysostom (Homily 17 on Romans 10:3)

"For the Law requires not only Faith but works also, but grace saves and justifies by Faith. (Eph. ii: 8) You see how he proves that they are under the curse who cleave to the Law, because it is impossible to fulfill it; next, how comes Faith to have this justifying power? for to this doctrine he already stood pledged, and now maintains it with great force of argument. The Law being too weak to lead man to righteousness, an effectual remedy was provided in Faith, which is the means of rendering that possible which was 'impossible by the Law.' (Rom. viii: 3) Now as the Scripture says, 'the just shall live by faith,' thus repudiating salvation by the Law, and moreover as Abraham was justified by Faith, it is evident that its efficacy is very great. And it is also clear, that he who abides not by the Law is cursed, and that he who keeps to Faith is just. But, you may ask me, how I prove that this curse is not still of force? Abraham lived before the Law, but we, who once were subject to the yoke of bondage, have made ourselves liable to the curse; and who shall release us therefrom? Observe his ready answer to this; his former remark was sufficient; for, if a man be once justified, and has died to the Law and embraced a novel life, how can such a one be subject to the curse?" -St. John Chrysostom (Homilies on Galatians 3)

"God does not wait for time to elapse after repentance. You state your sin, you are justified. You repented, you have been shown mercy." -St. John Chrysostom (Homily 7 On Repentance and Compunction, p. 95 in FOTC, vol. 96)

"Gain for yourself the pardon coming from faith, since he is his own worst enemy who does not believe that he is given what the very generous Bestower of mercy promises in all kindness." -St. Peter Chrysologus (Sermon 58, On the Creed, par. 13, TFOTC, Vol. 109, p. 224)

"Give yourself, O man, pardon by believing, since you fell into all the sins by despairing." -St. Peter Chrysologus (Sermon 62, On the Creed, par. 16, TFOTC, Vol. 109, p. 245)

"We need none of those legal observances, he says; faith suffices to obtain for us the Spirit, and by Him righteousness, and many and great benefits." -Chrysostom (Homilies on Galatians 4)

"And he well said, 'a righteousness of mine own,' not that which I gained by labor and toil, but that which I found from grace. If then he who was so excellent is saved by grace, much more are you. For since it was likely they would say that the righteousness which comes from toil is the greater, he shows that it is dung in comparison with the other. For otherwise I, who was so excellent in it, would not have cast it away, and run to the other. But what is that other? That which is from the faith of God, i.e. it too is given by God. This is the righteousness of God; this is altogether a gift. And the gifts of God far exceed those worthless good deeds, which are due to our own diligence." -Chrysostom (Homily on Philippians 3)

"Suppose someone should be caught in the act of adultery and the foulest crimes and then be thrown into prison. Suppose, next, that judgment was going to be passed against him and that he would be condemned. Suppose that just at that moment a letter should come from the Emperor setting free from any accounting or examination all those detained in prison. If the prisoner should refuse to take advantage of the pardon, remain obstinate and choose to be brought to trial, to give an account, and to undergo punishment, he will not be able thereafter to avail himself of the Emperor's favor. For when he made himself accountable to the court, examination, and sentence, he chose of his own accord to deprive himself of the imperial gift. This is what happened in the case of the Jews. Look how it is. All human nature was taken in the foulest evils. 'All have sinned,' says Paul. They were locked, as it were, in a prison by the curse of their transgression of the Law. The sentence of the judge was going to be passed against them. A letter from the King came down from heaven. Rather, the King himself came. Without examination, without exacting an account, he set all men free from the chains of their sins. All, then, who run to Christ are saved by his grace and profit from his gift. But those who wish to find justification from the Law will also fall from grace. They will not be able to enjoy the King's loving-kindness because they are striving to gain salvation by their own efforts; they will draw down on themselves the curse of the Law because by the works of the Law no flesh will find justification. What does this mean? That he has justified our race not by right actions, not by toils, not by barter and exchange, but by grace alone. Paul, too, made this clear when he said: 'But now the justice of God has been made manifest apart from the Law.' But the justice of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ and not through any labor and suffering." -Chrysostom on Justification (Discourses Against Judaizing Christians, Discourse I:6-II:1)

"Christ is Master by virtue of His own essence and Master by virtue of His incarnate life. For He creates man from nothing, and through His own blood redeems him when dead in sin; and to those who believe in Him He has given His grace. When Scripture says, 'He will reward every man according to his works' (Matt 16:27), do not imagine that works in themselves merit either hell or the kingdom. On the contrary, Christ rewards each man according to whether his works are done with faith or without faith in Himself; and He is not a dealer bound by contract, but our Creator and Redeemer." -St. Mark the Ascetic (ca. 425) (On those who think that they are made righteous by works)

"Confess Jesus Christ, and believe that He is risen from the dead, and you will be saved. For indeed righteousness is only to be believed; but a complete salvation must also be confessed and knowledge must be added to confidence." -St. Gregory Nazianzus (On Moderation, PG 36.204)

"While I was sick in the flesh, the Savior was sent to me in the likeness of sinful flesh, fulfilling such a dispensation, to redeem me from slavery, from corruption, and from death. And He became to me righteousness, and sanctification, and salvation. Righteousness, by setting me free from sin through faith in Him. Sanctification, in having set me free through water and the Spirit and His word. And salvation, His blood being the ransom of the true Lamb, having given Himself on my behalf." -St. Epiphanios (Against Heresies 3.1,2 PG 42.477)

"Where Christ enters, there necessarily is also salvation. May he therefore also be in us: and He is in us when we believe; for he dwells in our hearts by faith, and we are His abode. It would have been better then for the Jews to have rejoiced because Zaccheus was wonderfully saved, for he too was counted among the sons of Abraham, to whom God promised salvation in Christ by the holy prophets, saying, There shall come a Savior from Zion, and he shall take away iniquities from Jacob, and this is my covenant with them, when I will bear their sins. Christ, therefore, arose to deliver the inhabitants of the earth from their sins, and to seek them that were lost, and to save them that had perished. For this is His office, and, so to say, the fruit of His godlike gentleness. Of this will he also count all those worthy who have believed in him." -St. Cyril of Alexandria (Commentary on Luke, Homily 127)

"What is meant by mercy? and what by sacrifice? By mercy then is signified, Justification and grace in Christ, even that which is by faith. For we have been justified, not by the works of the law that we have done, but by His great mercy. And sacrifice means the law of Moses." -St. Cyril of Alexandria (Commentary on Luke, Homily 23)

"Be not troubled when thou meditatest upon the greatness of thy former sins; but rather know, that still greater is the grace that justifieth the sinner and absolveth the wicked. Faith then in Christ is found to be the pledge to us of these great blessings; for it is the way that leadeth unto life, that bids us go to the mansions that are above, that raises us to the inheritance of the saints, that makes us members of the kingdom of Christ." -St. Cyril of Alexandria (Homily 40 on St. Luke)

[HERE IS THE SOURCE OF THE QUOTES IN PART 2]

PART 3:

"His cross, and his death, and his resurrection, and the faith which is through him, are my unpolluted muniments [legal titles]; and in these, through your prayers, I am willing to be justified." -Ignatius of Antioch (c. 50-115)

"I know that through grace you are saved, not of works, but by the will of God, through Jesus Christ." -Polycarp (c. 69-155)

"No longer by the blood of goats and of sheep, or by the ashes of a heifer . . . are sins purged, but by faith, through the blood of Christ and his death, who died on this very account." -Justin Martyr (d. 165)

"This does not mean that works can be put before faith, because a person is saved by grace, not by works but by faith." -Didymus the Blind (c. 313-398)

"Wages cannot be considered as a gift, because they are due to work, but God has given free grace to all men by the justification of faith." -Hilary of Poitiers (c. 315-67)

"By surrendering to death the body which He [Jesus Christ] had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from every stain, He immediately abolished death for His human brothers by the offering of the equivalent. For naturally, since the Logos of God was above all, when He offered His own temple and bodily instrument as a substitute for the life of all, He fulfilled by death all that was required." -Athanasius (295-375)

"Let him who boasts boast in the Lord, that Christ has been made by God for us righteousness, wisdom, justification, redemption. This is perfect and pure boasting in God, when one is not proud on account of his own righteousness but knows that he is indeed unworthy of the true righteousness and is (or has been) justified solely by faith in Christ." -Basil of Caesarea (329-379)

"Therefore let no one boast of his works, because no one can be justified by his works; but he who is just receives it as a gift, because he is justified by the washing of regeneration. It is faith, therefore, which delivers us by the blood of Christ, because blessed is he whose sins are forgiven, and to whom pardon is granted." -Ambrose (339-97)

"God has decreed that a person who believes in Christ can be saved without works. By faith alone he receives the forgiveness of sins." -Ambrosiaster (c. 366-384)

"They are justified freely because they have not done anything nor given anything in return, but by faith alone they have been made holy by the gift of God." -Ambrosiaster, on Rom. 3:24

"Paul tells those who live under the law that they have no reason to boast basing themselves on the law and claiming to be of the race of Abraham, seeing that no one is justified before God except by faith." -Ambrosiaster, on Rom. 3:27

"For we are justified by faith, not by works of the law, as Scripture says (Gal. 2:16). By faith in whom, then, are we justified? Is it not in him who suffered death according to the flesh for our sake? Is it not in one Lord Jesus Christ." -Cyril of Alexandria (412-444)

"For truly the compassion from beside the Father is Christ, as he takes away the sins, dismisses the charges and justifies by faith, and recovers the lost and makes [them] stronger than death. . . . For by him and in him we have known the Father, and we have become rich in the justification by faith." -Cyril of Alexandria

"The blessed Paul argues that we are saved by faith, which he declares to be not from us but a gift from God. Thus there cannot possibly be true salvation where there is no true faith, and, since this faith is divinely enabled, it is without doubt bestowed by his free generosity." -Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspe (c. 467-532) commenting on Eph. 2:8

"God justifies by faith alone." -Jerome (347-420) on Romans 10:3

"He who with all his spirit has placed his faith in Christ, even if he die in sin, shall by his faith live forever." -Jerome

"For Scripture says that faith has saved us. Put better: Since God willed it, faith has saved us. Now in what case, tell me, does faith save without itself doing anything at all? Faith’s workings themselves are a gift of God, lest anyone should boast. What then is Paul saying? Not that God has forbidden works but that he has forbidden us to be justified by works. No one, Paul says, is justified by works, precisely in order that the grace and benevolence of God may become apparent." -Chrysostom (349-407)

"If Abraham was not justified by works, how was he justified? . . . Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Rom. 4:3; Gen. 15:6). Abraham, then, was justified by faith. Paul and James do not contradict each other: good works follow justification." -Augustine (354-430)

When someone believes in him who justifies the impious, that faith is reckoned as justice to the believer, as David too declares that person blessed whom God has accepted and endowed with righteousness, independently of any righteous actions (Rom 4:5-6). What righteousness is this? The righteousness of faith, preceded by no good works, but with good works as its consequence. -Augustine

[HERE IS THE SOURCE OF THE QUOTES IN PART 3]

As we consider Reformation Day approaching at the end of the month, let us humbly thank our Heavenly Father for the unbroken testimony of His sufficient and authoritative Word throughout the ages. May we rejoice that our salvation, as taught by divine Scripture alone (and affirmed by the fallible yet substantial testimony of the Patristics and Reformers), is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and for the glory of God alone!

The Church Fathers Taught "Sola Scriptura"

2009-10-22T13:40:00.004-05:00

Did the Protestant Reformers "invent" the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, as some allege? Let the words of the Church Fathers testify decisively to the contrary:

We know that the Scriptures are perfect, as being spoken by the Word of God and His Spirit.
(St. Irenaeus c. A.D. 120-c. 203, Lib. II c. 47)

We have received the disposition of our salvation by no others, but those by whom the Gospel came to us; which they then preached, and afterwards by God's will delivered to us in the Scriptures, to be the pillar and ground of our faith.
(St. Irenaeus, Lib. III. c. 1)

Let the shop of Hermogenes prove that what it advances is written; or if it be not written, let it fear the malediction uttered against those who dare to add or to retrench.
(Tertullian c. 160-240, adv. Hermog.)

There is one God, whom we do not otherwise acknowledge, brethren, but out of the Sacred Scriptures. For as he, who would profess the wisdom of this world cannot otherwise attain it, unless he read the doctrines of the philosophers; so whosoever will exercise piety towards God, can learn it no where but from the Holy Scriptures.
(St. Hippolytus c. 170-c.235, adv. Noetum, c. IX)

They have not hesitated to corrupt the word of God; they have treated the standard of the primitive faith with contempt; they have not known Christ. Instead of asking what Holy Scripture says, they strain every nerve to find a syllogistic figure to bolster up their godlessness. If anyone challenges them with a text from Divine Scripture, they examine it to see whether it can be turned into a conjunctive or disjunctive syllogistic figure. They put aside the sacred word of God, and devote themselves to geometry—earth measurement—because they are from the earth and speak from the earth, and do not know the One who comes from above. Some of them give all their energies to the study of Euclidean geometry, and treat Aristotle and Theophrastus with reverent awe; to some of them Galen is almost an object of worship. When people avail themselves of the arts of unbelievers to lend colour to their heretical views, and with godless rascality corrupt the simple Faith of Holy Writ, it is obvious that they are nowhere near the Faith.
(Eusebius c. 260-c.340, in The History of the Church, Book 5, quoting an anonymous “orthodox churchman” who wrote during the time of Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome A.D. 201-217)

In the two testaments every word that pertaineth unto God may be sought and discussed, and out of them all knowledge of things may be understood. And if anything remains which Holy Scripture does not determine, no other third scripture ought to be received to authorize any knowledge, but we must “commit to the fire” what remains, that is, reserve it unto God.
(Origen c. 185-c.254, Hom. in Lev.)

When I arrived in the district of Arsinoe, when as you know this notion had long been widely held, so that schisms and secessions of entire churches had taken place, I called a meeting of the presbyters and teachers of the village congregations, with any laymen who wished to attend, and urged them to thrash out the question in public. So they brought me this book as positive and irrefutable proof, and I sat with them for three days on end from dawn to dusk, criticizing its contents point by point. In the process I was immensely impressed by the essential soundness, complete sincerity, logical grasp, and mental clarity shown by these good people, as we methodically and good-temperedly dealt with questions, objections, and points of agreement. We refused to cling with pig-headed determination to opinions once held even if proved wrong. There was no shirking of difficulties, but to the limit of our powers we tried to grapple with the problems and master them; nor were we too proud, if worsted in argument, to abandon our position and admit defeat; conscientiously, honestly, and with simple-minded trust in God, we accepted the conclusions to be drawn from the proofs and teachings of Holy Writ.
(Eusebius, in The History of the Church, quoting Dionysius c. 200-c. 265, bishop of Alexandria)

The holy and divinely inspired writings are sufficient of themselves alone to make known the truth.
(St. Athanasius 296-373, Orat. Contr. Gent. Tom. I)

If you desire a new quotation, if you pretend to affirm anything besides what is written, why do you dispute with us, who are resolved to hear nothing, and to say nothing, besides what is written?
(St. Athanasius, De Incarn. Chr.)

What the Scriptures have not declared, you will never find.
(St. Athanasius, De S. Trin. Dial.)

It is a mockery to ask questions, or to make discourses, on that which is not written.
(St. Athanasius, Epist. Ad. Serap.)

In the Holy Scriptures alone is the instruction of religion announced—to which let no man add, from which let no man detract—which are sufficient in themselves for the enunciation of the truth.
(St. Athanasius, adv. Gentes init.)

These are the fountains of salvation, that he who thirsts may be satisfied with the oracles contained in them. In these alone the doctrine of salvation is contained. Let no man add to, or take from them.
(St. Athanasius, Ex Festali Epistola XXXIX. Tom. II)

Do not believe me simply, unless you receive the proof of what I say from Holy Scripture.
(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. A.D. 348)

Keep that faith only which the Church is now giving to you and which is certificated out of the whole of Scripture.
(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech.)

Concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the faith, even the most casual remark ought not to be delivered without the sacred Scriptures.
(St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. IV.12)

It is evidently a falling away from the faith, and a proof of great presumption, to neglect any part of what is written, or to introduce anything that is not written.
(St. Basil c. 329-379, bishop of Caesarea, de Vera Fide)

What is written, believe; what is not written, seek not to discover.
(St. Basil, Homil. De Trin.)

How can we use those things, which we find not in the Scriptures!
(St. Ambrose c. 339-397, Offic. Lib. 1, c. 23)

When we receive money, we do not trust to those who give it to us; we wish to count it ourselves: and when there is a question of Divine things, would it not be a folly rashly and blindly to receive the opinions of others, when we have a rule by which we can examine everything? I mean the Divine law. It is for this reason that I conjure you all, without resting in the slightest degree on the judgment of others, to consult the Scriptures.
(St. John Chrysostom c. 347-407, Homil. xiii. in 2 Cor.)

`Tis from ignorance of Scripture that all our evils arise; hence the plague of so many heresies, hence our careless lives, our fruitless labors… They err who look not to the bright rays of the divine Scriptures, because they walk in darkness.
(St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Romans)

Look for no other teacher; thou hast the oracles of God; none teaches thee like these.
(St. John Chrysostom, Homil. IX in Ep. Coloss.)

When you shall see the wicked heresy, which is the army of Antichrist, standing in the holy places of the church, then let those who are in Judea head for the mountains, that is, those who are Christians should head for the Scriptures. For the true Judea is Christendom, and the mountains are the Scriptures of the prophets and apostles, as it is written: “Her foundations are in the holy mountains.” But why should all Christians at this time head for the Scriptures? Because in this period in which heresy has taken possession of the churches there can be no proof of true Christianity nor any other refuge for Christians who want to know the truth of the faith except the divine Scriptures. Earlier we showed in many ways which is the church of Christ, and which heathenism. But now there is for those who want to know which is the true church of Christ no way to know it except only the through the Scriptures. Why? Because heresy has everything just like the church. How, then, will anyone who wants to know which is the true church of Christ know it in the midst of this great confusion resulting from this similarity, except only through the Scriptures? The Lord, therefore, knowing that there would be such a great confusion of things in the last days, commands that Christians who…want to gain steadfastness in the true faith should take refuge in nothing else but the Scriptures. Otherwise, if they look to other things, they will be offended and will perish, because they will not know which is the true church, and as a result they will fall into the abomination of desolation which stands in the holy places of the church.
(Traditionally ascribed to St. John Chrysostom, glossa ordinaria 49th Homily, on Mat. 24)

We deny not those things which are written, so we refuse those which are not written. That God was born of a Virgin, we believe, because we read; that Mary married after she gave birth to him, we believe not, because we read not.
(St. Jerome c. 347-c. 420, adv. Helvidium juxta finem, Tom. IV. Part II)

In those things, which are plainly laid down in Scripture, all things are found, which embrace faith and morals.
(St. Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana A.D. 427, Lib. II, c. 9)

The canon of the Scriptures is perfect, and in itself suffices to the full, and more, for all demands.
(St. Vincent of Lérins, Adversus profanes omnium novitates haereticorum commonitorium A.D.434)

The source of error is that when men are hindered by some obscurity in knowing the truth, they run not to prophets, or apostles, or evangelists, but to themselves.
(St. Leo, Ep. xxviii to Flavian 13 June 449)

Bring me not human reasonings and syllogisms, for I rely on the divine Scripture alone.
(Theodoret of Cyrus c. 393-466, Dial. I. Atrept.)

All things that are delivered to us by the Law, the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Evangelists, we receive, acknowledge, and reverence, seeking for nothing beyond these.
(John of Damascus c. 675-c. 749, Lib. I. De Orthodox. Fide, c. 1)

[Please refer to the document from which I copied this compilation.]

If you are interested in investigating this topic further, I highly recommend Puritan William Whitaker's brilliant 1588 A Disputation on Holy Scripture (or download a .pdf of the work -- see the next to last link). Protestant apologist James White says this:

Since the Reformation only a few godly servants of the truth have invested the time and effort necessary to produce for God's people a full-orbed defense of Scriptural sufficiency against those who would subject Scripture to external authorities. William Whitaker was one of those servants, and his work should be carefully studied by all concerned shepherds of Christ's flock.

Here is something to whet your appetite. Whitaker quotes Augustine on p. 310:

Distinguished from the books of later authors is the excellence of the canonical authority of the old and new Testaments; which, having been established in the time of the apostles, hath through the successions of bishops and propagations of churches been set as it were in a lofty tribunal, demanding the obedience of every faithful and pious understanding.

After refuting Romanist misunderstandings of Augustine here, Whitaker writes (pp. 310-311):

But from this passage of Augustine we draw the following observations against the papists. First, that the canon of scripture was settled in the time of the apostles, and consigned in a certain number of books, and that, therefore, those more recent councils, by means of which the papists prove that certain apocryphal books of the old Testament are canonical, are of no avail against us, since the apostles themselves had determined in their own times what books should be received into the canon of the old Testament. Secondly, that the books of the new Testament were written and confirmed by the apostles themselves, and a definite number of books marked out. Thirdly, that if the canon of scripture were settled by the apostles themselves, it is not now in the power of the church to add any book to this canon, and so increase the number of the canonical books; which yet Stapleton affirms in the 14th chapter of this book. Jerome in his Catalogue, and other authors write that John lived the longest of all the apostles, so as to be able to see all the books and confirm them, and, if any fictitious books were published, to distinguish them from the sacred and truly canonical books. Jerome, in his Catalogue, under the article LUKE, relates that a certain book concerning the acts of Paul was presented to John, but that the author was discovered and the book condemned by the authority of the apostle. Tertullian in his Prescriptions says, that the very autographs of the apostles themselves were preserved in his time safe in the churches; and the same writer remarks in the same place, 'We determine the document of the gospel to have the apostles for its authors.' Augustine ... asserts that these scriptures were received to the height of canonical authority by the apostles themselves. The fact that afterwards some persons entertained doubts of certain parts had its origin not in the scriptures themselves, but in our infirmity.

Another resource to consider is Lutheran Martin Chemnitz's definitive refutation of the Romanist Council of Trent; I'm informed that volume I contains Chemnitz's defense of Sola Scriptura.

Here is one excerpt:

For we can affirm with a good conscience that we have, after reading the Holy Scripture, applied ourselves and yet daily apply ourselves to the extent that the grace of the Lord permits to inquiry into and investigation of the consensus of the true and purer antiquity. For we assign to the writings of the fathers their proper and, indeed, honorable place which is due them, because they have clearly expounded many passages of Scripture, have defended the ancient dogmas of the church against new corruptions of heretics, and have done so on the basis of Scripture, have correctly explained many points of doctrine, have recorded many things concerning the history of the primitive church, and have usefully called attention to many other things. And we long for this, that in the life to come we may see what we believe and hope concerning the grace of God on account of His Son, the Redeemer, as members of the true catholic church; that we may see (I say) the Son of God Himself, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and fathers, who held to the true foundation, and may enjoy intimate friendship with them to all eternity. Therefore we examine with considerable diligence the consensus of the true, learned, and purer antiquity, and we love and praise the testimonies of the fathers which agree with the Scripture (Examination of the Council of Trent, Part I, p. 256).

Sundry Gems of Wisdom on Economics and Thelogy

2009-10-18T00:00:00.004-05:00

More music and sundry gems of wisdom on economics and theology. Here is Weber's Andante e Rondo Ungarese (Hungarian Fantasy, viola version), followed by more quotes.

ECONOMICS

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but rather by what you should have accomplished with your ability." ~John Wooden, legendary basketball coach, quoted in The Science of Success by Charles Koch (p. 110)

"Every resource (not just assets and raw materials, but also talent) has alternative uses. Always seek the highest-valued alternative for every resource." ~Charles Koch, The Science of Success (p. 110)

"The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer term effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups." ~Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson (p. 17)

The "central economic fallacies" that are the source of nine-tenths of all economic fallacies are: "[1] looking only at the immediate consequences of an act or proposal, and ... [2] looking at the consequences for a particular group to the neglect of other groups" (ibid., p. 17).

"In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them. There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen. Yet this difference is tremendous; for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. Whence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil." ~Frédéric Bastiat, What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen

"Economics was christened 'the dismal science' because it dealt with inescapable constraints and painful trade-offs, instead of the more pleasant and unbounded visions, and their accompanying rhetoric, which many find so attractive. Moreover, economics follows the unfolding consequences of decisions over time, not just what happens in stage one, which may indeed seem to fulfill the hopes that inspired these decisions." ~Thomas Sowell, Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One (p. 127)

"The effect of the people's agreeing that there must be central planning, without agreeing on the ends, will be rather as if a group of people were to commit themselves to take a journey together without agreeing where they want to go: with the result that they may all have to make a journey which most of them do not want at all." ~F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (p. 69)

"There are two consequences in history: one immediate and instantaneously recognized; the other distant and unperceived at first. These consequences often contradict each other; the former come from our short-run wisdom, the latter from long-run wisdom. The providential event appears after the human event. Behind men rises God. Deny as much as you wish the Supreme Wisdom, do not believe in its action, dispute over words, call what the common man calls Providence 'the force of circumstances' or 'reason'; but look at the end of an accomplished fact, and you will see that it has always produced the opposite of what was expected when it has not been founded from the first on morality and justice." ~Chateaubriand

"Full government control of all activities of the individual is virtually the goal of both national parties." ~Ludwig von Mises, Economic Freedom and Interventionism (p. 150)

"The social function of economic science consists precisely in developing sound economic theories and in exploding the fallacies of vicious reasoning. In the pursuit of this task the economist incurs the deadly enmity of all mountebanks and charlatans whose shortcuts to an earthly paradise he debunks" (ibid., pp. 51-52).

THEOLOGY

"This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people." ~John Wycliffe, Preface to his 14th Century translation of the English Bible

"When Wyclif wrote of his English Bible that 'This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people, and for the people,' his statement attracted no attention insofar as his emphasis on the centrality of Biblical law was concerned. That law should be God's law was held by all; Wyclif's departure from accepted opinion was that the people themselves should not only read and know that law but also should in some sense govern as well as be governed by it." ~R.J. Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law (p. 1)

"If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause that a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scriptures than thou dost." ~William Tyndale, speaking to a Romanist priest

"Now, in order that true religion may shine upon us, we ought to hold that it must take its beginning from heavenly doctrine and that no one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture." ~John Calvin, Institutes, I.vi.2

“Governmental principles for consent of the governed, and separation and balance of powers are all logical consequences of a most serious and Calvinian view of the biblical doctrine of the fall of man.” ~Douglas F. Kelly, The Emergence of Liberty in the Modern World (p. 17)

"The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God." ~Martin Luther, in opposition to the Romanist foolish nonsense that the church can draw from a "treasure" of merits of Christ and the saints to remit punishment for sin through "the bounty of indulgences" rather than acknowledging "the need for true contrition." (Luther also said, "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." Again, this was in direct opposition to the Romanist teaching that Jesus really meant, "Do penance" through contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Source: Jaroslav Pelikan, Reformation of Church and Dogma [p. 136].)

"This is the reason why our theology is certain: it snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside ourselves, so that we do not depend on our own strength, conscience, experience, person, or works, but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is, on the promise and truth of God, which cannot deceive." ~Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians, 4:6 (1535)

Salvation -- specifically, justification, or the declaration of a sinner's righteousness before God -- was never through keeping the law but always through faith in Christ: "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3). "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). "Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:23-25). "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:16-17). "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4).

"The scriptures represent the Lord Jesus under a great variety of characters, which, though insufficient fully to represent him, yet in conjunction assist us to form such exalted ideas of this great personage, as mortals can reach. ... But there is one character under which he is uniformly represented, both in the Old and New Testament, and that is, that of a king, a great king invested with universal authority. And upon his appearance in the flesh, all nature, and especially the gospel-church, is represented as placed under him as his kingdom." ~Samuel Davies, Mediatorial Kingdom and Glories of Jesus Christ (BONUS: "I have a peaceful study, as a refuge from the hurries and noise of the world around me; the venerable dead are waiting in my library to entertain me, and relieve me from the nonsense of surviving mortals.")

"You Americans do not know one of your greatest preachers." ~Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, speaking of Samuel Davies

"I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him." ~Napoleon Bonaparte

"God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold,[a] direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,[b] from the greatest even to the least,[c] by his most wise and holy providence,[d] according to his infallible fore-knowledge[e] and the free and immutable counsel of his own will,[f] to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy [g]." ~Westminster Confession of Faith, V.1: "Of Providence" (a. Heb 1:3. b. Psa 135:6; Dan 4:34-35; Acts 17:25-26, 28; Job 38-41 throughout. c. Mat 10:29-31. d. Psa 104:24; 145:17; Prov 15:3. e. Psa 94:8-11; Acts 15:18. f. Psa 33:10-11; Eph 1:11. g. Gen 45:7; Psa 145:7; Isa 63:14; Rom 9:17; Eph 3:10.)

"God the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things,[1] from the greatest even to the least,[2] by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will; to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy.[3]" ~1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, V.1: "Of Divine Providence" ([1] Hebrews 1:3; Job 38:11; Isaiah 46:10, 11; Psalms 135:6; [2] Matthew 10:29-31; [3] Ephesians 1:11)

"In how many ways may we glorify God? ... We aim at God’s glory, when we are content that God’s will should take place, though it may cross ours. Lord, I am content to be a loser, if thou be a gainer; to have less health, if I have more grace, and thou more glory. Let it be food or bitter physic if thou givest it me. Lord, I desire that which may be most for thy glory. Our blessed Saviour said, 'Not as I will, but as thou wilt.' Matt 26: 39. If God might have more glory by his sufferings, he was content to suffer. John 12: 28. 'Father, glorify thy name.'" ~Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, 3.1: "Man's Chief End"

"Our greatest passion in life should be to learn to know God better than we know anyone or anything else in this world and to enjoy God more than we enjoy anyone or anything else in this world, for only in such devotion will our lives publicly display as they should the glory of God and thus give as they should all glory to Him." ~Robert L. Reymond, echoing the Westminster Shorter Catechism's answer to Question 1 (quoted in What the Puritans Taught [p. 4] by Dr. W. Gary Crampton, published by Soli Deo Gloria [originally from Reymond's Paul: Missionary Theologian, p. 583]. Dr. Crampton points out: "For the Puritans, this was their greatest passion.")