Blog Archives - Trinity Reformed Presbyterian

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.6-9

5/28/2017

Chapter 6 – Scripture Is Needed as a Guide and Teacher for Anyone Who Would Come to God the Creator
1. “For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any book, however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written, are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly. God therefore bestows a gift of singular value, when, for the instruction of the Church, he employs not dumb teachers merely, but opens his own sacred mouth; when he not only proclaims that some God must be worshiped, but at the same time declares that He is the God to whom worship is due; when he not only teaches his elect to have respect to God, but manifests himself as the God to whom this respect should be paid.”
2. God has had His special revelation written down so the special knowledge of Him may be known throughout the ages. God’s Word in whole or in part has been around for 2000 years and been distributed throughout the vast majority of the world and in a variety of languages.
3. “For if we reflect how prone the human mind is to lapse into forgetfulness of God, how readily inclined to every kind of error, how bent every now and then on devising new and fictitious religions, it will be easy to understand how necessary it was to make such a depository of doctrine as would secure it from either perishing by the neglect, vanishing away amid the errors, or being corrupted by the presumptuous audacity of men. It being thus manifest that God, foreseeing the inefficiency of his image imprinted on the fair form of the universe, has given the assistance of his Word to all whom he has ever been pleased to instruct effectually, we, too, must pursue this straight path, if we aspire in earnest to a genuine contemplation of God;”
4. “Since the human mind, through its weakness, was altogether unable to come to God if not aided and upheld by his sacred word, it necessarily followed that all mankind, the Jews excepted, inasmuch as they sought God without the Word, were laboring under vanity and error”
Chapter 7 – Scripture Must Be Confirmed by the Witness of the Holy Spirit
1. The authority of Scripture comes not from men but from the Spirit of God. The conviction that Scripture is God’s Word comes not from ourselves but also from the Spirit.
  1. Roman Catholic Church: Scripture depends on the decision of the Church
  2. Calvin’s refutations:
    1. This subjects Scripture to the will of man
    2. This insults the Holy Spirit
    3. It establishes tyranny in the Church
    4. It forms a clump of errors
    5. It subverts conscience
    6. It exposes the Christian faith to the scoffing of unbelievers
2. “Paul testifies that the Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” (Eph. 2:20.) If the doctrine of the apostles and prophets is the foundation of the Church, the former must have had its certainty before the latter began to exist.”
3. “If, then, we would consult most effectually for our consciences, and save them from being driven about in a whirl of uncertainty, from wavering, and even stumbling at the smallest obstacle, our conviction of the truth of Scripture must be derived from a higher source than human conjectures, judgments, or reasons; namely, the secret testimony of the Spirit.”
4. “Let it therefore be held as fixed, that those who are inwardly taught by the Holy Spirit acquiesce implicitly in Scripture; that Scripture carrying its own evidence along with it, deigns not to submit to proofs and arguments, but owes the full conviction with which we ought to receive it to the testimony of the Spirit. Enlightened by him, we no longer believe, either on our own judgment or that of others, that the Scriptures are from God; but, in a way superior to human judgment, feel perfectly assured—as much so as if we beheld the divine image visibly impressed on it—that it came to us, by the instrumentality of men, from the very mouth of God. We ask not for proofs or probabilities on which to rest our judgment, but we subject our intellect and judgment to it as too transcendent for us to estimate”
Chapter 8 – As Far As Human Reason Goes, There are Proofs to Establish the Credibility of Scripture
1. “In vain were the authority of Scripture fortified by argument, or supported by the consent of the Church, or confirmed by any other helps, if unaccompanied by an assurance higher and stronger than human judgment can give. Till this better foundation has been laid, the authority of Scripture remains in suspense. On the other hand, when recognizing its exemption from the common rule, we receive it reverently, and according to its dignity, those proofs which were not so strong as to produce and rivet a full conviction in our minds, become most appropriate helps.”
  1. The arrangement of the divine wisdom
  2. Perfectly free from “everything that savours of earth”
  3. Beauty in its harmony in all parts
  4. Dignity of what is contained therein
  5. Its truth
  6. Its simplicity
  7. Its efficacy
2. Calvin then proceeds in 13 sections to give various proofs
  1. The majesty in the writings of the OT Prophets
  2. The antiquity of Moses
  3. The miracles and prophecies of Moses
  4. The predictions of other OT prophets
  5. The providence of God in preserving His books over time.
  6. The harmony of the Gospels
  7. The majesty of John, Paul, and Peter’s writings
  8. The conversion of Paul
  9. The witness of the Church over time.
  10. Testimony of Christian martyrs
Chapter 9 – Fanatics Substitute Revelations for Scripture and This is Ungodly
1. The error of the Libertines: “Those who, rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to God, are to be deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness. For certain giddy men have lately appeared, who, while they make a great display of the superiority of the Spirit, reject all reading of the Scriptures themselves, and deride the simplicity of those who only delight in what they call the dead and deadly letter.”
2. “Hence it is easy to understand that we must give diligent heed both to the reading and hearing of Scripture, if we would obtain any benefit from the Spirit of God,”
3. “the Lord has so knit together the certainty of His Word and his Spirit, that our minds are duly imbued with reverence for the Word when the Spirit shining upon it enables us there to behold the face of God; and, on the other hand, we embrace the Spirit with no danger of delusion when we recognize him in his image, that is, in his Word. Thus, indeed, it is. God did not produce his word before men for the sake of sudden display, intending to abolish it the moment the Spirit should arrive; but he employed the same Spirit, by whose agency he had administered the Word, to complete his work by the efficacious confirmation of the Word.”
4. In sum: The children of God “feel that without the Spirit of God they are utterly devoid of the light of truth, so they are not ignorant that the Word is the instrument by which the illumination of the Spirit is dispensed. They know of no other Spirit than the one who dwelt and spake in the apostles—the Spirit by whose oracles they are daily invited to the hearing of the word.”

Leviticus 16 - The Day of Atonement

5/28/2017

A Thorough Cleaning Involves the Priests (vv.1-6)
A Thorough Cleaning Involves the Scapegoat (vv.7-10, 20-22)
A Thorough Cleaning Involves the Lord’s Dwelling Place (vv. 11-19)
A Thorough Cleaning Involves the Lord’s People (vv. 23-28)
A Thorough Cleaning Involves Repetition (vv. 29-34)

Leviticus 15 - Holiness and Sexuality

5/21/2017

Both men and women are to honor life because God created life.
Both men and women are to honor sex because God created sex.

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.1-5

5/21/2017

Chapter 1 – The Knowledge of God and That of Ourselves are Connected and How they are Interrelated
1. Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God
2. Without knowledge of God, there is no knowledge of self
3. Man before God’s majesty
Chapter 2 – What It Is to Know God, and to What Purpose the Knowledge of Him Tends
1. The knowledge of God in practice is reverence
2. The origins of Godliness
  1. God as Creator is the source and cause of all that is good and right
  2. This knowledge of God’s excellencies teaches us piety
  3. What is piety? Reverence joined with love for God
3. The purpose of the knowledge of God
Chapter 3 – The Knowledge of God Has Been Naturally Implanted in the Minds of Men
1. The knowledge of God being manifested in all makes the reprobate without excuse (Rom 1.18-32)
  1. This knowledge of God is universal
  2. Idolatry proves the universality of this knowledge
2. Religion is not an arbitrary invention
Chapter 4 – This Knowledge is Either Smothered or Corrupted, Partly by Ignorance, Partly by Malice
1. This knowledge is suppressed by ignorance and leads unbelievers into superstition
2. But this blindness does not render one without excuse because this blindness comes from pride and stubbornness.
3. There is no justification for superstition
4. The wicked never willingly come into the presence of God so they are hypocrites. Their sense of deity leads to no good.
Chapter 5 – This Knowledge of God Continues in Creation and God’s Continued Governance of Creation
1. Not only has God implanted knowledge of Himself in our minds, but also in His creation.
2. Calvin goes on that those who study such things as astronomy, medicine, and other natural sciences therefore go deeper into the “secret workings of divine wisdom.” Even the human body with its structures and complexities offer proof of God’s natural revelation of Himself.
3. “Paul, accordingly, after reminding the Athenians that they “might feel after God and find him,” immediately adds, that “he is not far from every one of us,” (Acts 17:27) every man having within himself undoubted evidence of the heavenly grace by which he lives, and moves, and has his being. But if, in order to apprehend God, it is unnecessary to go farther than ourselves, what excuse can there be for the sloth of any man who will not take the trouble of descending into himself that he may find Him?”
4. And yet natural man still denies God. “Can anything be more detestable than this madness in man, who, finding God a hundred times both in his body and his soul, makes his excellence in this respect a pretext for denying that there is a God?”
5. Evolution and “nature” are substituted for God. Some think that creation derived from itself and promote pantheism [God is creation and creation is God]. Others say chance and survival of the fittest is the driving force.
6. “Let each of us, therefore, in contemplating his own nature, remember that there is one God who governs all natures, and, in governing, wishes us to have respect to himself, to make him the object of our faith, worship, and adoration.”
7. Calvin then turns to a second class of God’s work in creation to show that all mankind has a natural knowledge of God: His providence over the affairs of men
8. What natural man calls “good fortune” or “chance” or “luck” is really God providing for all men. What natural man calls “bad fortune” or “chance” or “bad luck” is really God administering His justice.
9. God is clearly manifested in all of His works of creation and providence [good and bad] and the way to find God is not to meditate on His essence but to contemplate His works.
10. This knowledge of God ought to awaken us to worship God and arouse us to the hope of future life.
11. And yet we fail in using this proper knowledge rightly.
12. “Like water gushing forth from a large and copious spring, immense crowds of gods have issued from the human mind, every man giving himself full license, and devising some peculiar form of divinity, to meet his own views. It is unnecessary here to attempt a catalogue of the superstitions with which the world was overspread. The thing were endless; and the corruptions themselves, though not a word should be said, furnish abundant evidence of the blindness of the human mind.”
13. Because we distort the manifest revelation of God, we are all without excuse.
14. We cannot arrive at true knowledge of God from nature alone because we suppress it.
15. Calvin’s last paragraph in this chapter sums up the entirety of the chapter well.

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - Intro & Preface

5/14/2017

Introduction to Calvin’s Life
1. 1509-1564
2. Born in Northern France
3. Was 8 years old when Luther nailed his 95 Theses
4. Studied law at many renowned French institutions of higher learning
5. When his father suddenly died in 1531, he felt free from the burden of studying law and immediately began to study Greek & Hebrew at the College de France in Paris.
6. Around 1533, was converted from Catholicism to true saving faith
7. In 1535, he produced the first edition of the Institutes in Basel, Switzerland
8. Joined the reform movement in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1536.
9. Kicked out of Geneva in 1538 and labored in Strasbourg, Germany
10. In 1541, invited back to Geneva where he spent the rest of his life pastoring, expanding the Institutes, writing pamphlets/treatises on various doctrinal topics, and writing commentaries on much of the Old Testament and almost the entirety of the New Testament (2 & 3 John, Revelation).
11. The last major edition of the Institutes and what we have today came in 1559.
Preface
1. Title: Institutions of the Christian Religion Prefatory Address TO HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY, THE MOST MIGHTY AND ILLUSTRIOUS MONARCH, Francis, King of the French, HIS SOVEREIGN; JOHN CALVIN PRAYS PEACE AND SALVATION IN CHRIST.
2. Purpose of the Book: “…to transmit certain rudiments by which those who are touched with any zeal for religion might be shaped to true godliness. And I undertook this labor especially for our French countrymen, very many of whom I knew to be hungering and thirsting for Christ; but I saw very few who had been duly imbued with even a slight knowledge of him.”
3. Secondary purpose: To vindicate the Protestant faith as true religion and not heresy
4. “Let it not be imagined that I am here framing my own private defense, with the view of obtaining a safe return to my native land. Though I cherish towards it the feelings which become me as a man, still, as matters now are, I can be absent from it without regret. The cause which I plead is the common cause of all the godly, and therefore the very cause of Christ—a cause which, throughout your realm, now lies, as it were, in despair, torn and trampled upon in all kinds of ways, and that more through the tyranny of certain Pharisees than any sanction from yourself.”
5. Appeal to a sovereign’s purpose: “The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts the part not of a king, but a robber. He, moreover, deceives himself who anticipates long prosperity to any kingdom which is not ruled by the sceptre of God, that is, by his divine word.”
6. A plea for the persecuted Christians
7. The charges of the Romanists against Evangelicals
  1. “new doctrine”
  2. “Uncertain doctrine” (assurance)
  3. Lacks supporting miracles
  4. Must either be schismatic or have to believe Church has been “dead” for a long period of time
  5. It’s known by the quality of its fruits -- sects, licentiousness, debates
8. Let the king beware of acting on false charges. The innocent await divine vindication.
9. The Ending: “Most illustrious King, may the Lord, the King of kings, establish your throne in righteousness, and your sceptre in equity. Basle, 23rd August 1535.”

Leviticus 14 - Cleaning a Leper

5/14/2017

The Components of the Ritual Ceremony
The Ritual Itself
What Does This Ritual Have to Do With Us Today?

Leviticus 13 - Holiness and Disease

5/7/2017

God Guards His Holiness Through the Priests
God Teaches His People About the Effects of Sin
God Requires His People to be Clean to Worship Him