Category: Reformation History

(Vespers) Reformation Sunday - John Knox

10/27/2019

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(Vespers) The Five Solas of the Reformation

10/29/2017

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - Recap of Books I-II

9/24/2017

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.16b-17

9/17/2017

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.15-16a

9/10/2017

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.12-14

9/3/2017

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.9-11

8/27/2017

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.8

8/20/2017

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.6-7

8/6/2017

Chapter 6 – Fallen Man Ought to Seek Redemption in Christ

Christ is the answer. “The whole human race having been undone in the person of Adam, the excellence and dignity of our origin, is so far from availing us, that it rather turns to our greater disgrace, until God, appear as a Redeemer in the person of his only begotten Son.”
God has sent Christ to salvage His fallen creation.
John 17:3 – “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Only through Christ is it possible to know God as Redeemer and only as we know God as Redeemer, can we know Him as Father.
“All humanity is estranged from God and lies under curse. Meanwhile, in seeking redemption or peace on its own terms, the human heart invents its own gods. All pagan religions have emerged in this way; and that is also why they are false.” –J. Mark Beach
John 15:6 – “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”
The way of salvation has always been in Christ, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
“God never showed himself propitious to his ancient people, nor gave them any hope of grace without a Mediator. I say nothing of the sacrifices of the Law, by which believers were plainly and openly taught that salvation was not to be found anywhere but in the expiation which Christ alone completed. All I maintain is, that the prosperous and happy state of the Church was always founded in the person of Christ.”
“Apart from Christ the saving knowledge of God does not stand. From the beginning of the world he had consequently been set before all the elect that they should look unto him and put their trust in him.”
Galatians 3:16 – “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.”
1 Samuel 2:35 – “And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.”
Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Luke 24:27 – “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
“The first step in piety is, to acknowledge that God is a Father, to defend, govern, and cherish us, until he brings us to the eternal inheritance of his kingdom; there is no saving knowledge of God without Christ, and from the beginning of the world Christ was held forth to all the elect as the object of their faith and confidence.”

Chapter 7 – The Law Was Given, Not to Restrain the Folk of the Old Covenant under Itself, but to Foster Hope of Salvation in Christ Until His Coming

“The Law was not superadded about four hundred years after the death of Abraham in order that it might lead the chosen people away from Christ, but, on the contrary, to keep them in suspense until his advent; to inflame their desire, and confirm their expectation, that they might not become dispirited by the long delay. By the Law, I understand not only the Ten Commandments, which contain a complete rule of life, but the whole system of religion delivered by the hand of Moses.”
Calvin argues that the Law does not cancel the gracious covenant God made with Abraham.
The ceremonial law points to Christ who is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise.
“The law was never given to provide a way of salvation apart from Christ, as if the law could lead us to righteousness. The law arouses guilt in us so that we look outside ourselves for pardon. Seeing ourselves guilty before God’s tribunal humbles us so that we are ready to seek His pardon. Since the law teaches perfect righteousness, we can only obtain righteousness before God if we observe the law perfectly. The law, however, displays its ‘feebleness’ in that it cannot actually make us righteous or even obedience. Hence, the law shows us our cure and failure; its threatening judgments loom over us, announcing certain damnation. But it cannot save us.” --J. Mark Beach
The Three Uses of the Moral Law
1. Schoolmaster to lead us to Christ [WCF puts this as 2nd use]
  1. Galatians 3:24 – “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”
  2. “For Christ not yet having been made familiarly known to the Jews, they were like children whose weakness could not bear a full knowledge of heavenly things.”
  3. Included in the OT is the fact that one sacrifice was going to fulfill the ceremonial sacrifices
  4. Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”
  5. Daniel 9:26-27: “And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. 27 And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
  6. Romans 10:4 – “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”
2. Restrain Evil [WCF puts this as 1st use]
  1. “The second office of the Law is, by means of its fearful denunciations and the consequent dread of punishment, to curb those who, unless forced, have no regard for rectitude [morality] and justice. Such persons are curbed, not because their mind is inwardly moved and affected, but because, as if a bridle were laid upon them, they refrain their hands from external acts, and internally check the depravity which would otherwise petulantly burst forth.”
  2. “This forced and extorted righteousness is necessary for the good of society, its peace being secured by a provision but for which all things would be thrown into tumult and confusion.”
  3. 1 Timothy 1:8-10 – “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10 the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,”
3. Guide for Christian Living
  1. “The law is the best instrument for enabling the righteous daily to learn with greater truth and certainty what that will of the Lord is which they aspire to follow, and to confirm them in this knowledge; just as a servant who desires with all his soul to approve himself to his master, must still observe, and be careful to ascertain his master’s dispositions, that he may comport himself in accommodation to them.”
  2. “By frequently meditating upon it, the servant of God will be excited to obedience, and confirmed in it, and so drawn away from the slippery paths of sin. In this way must the saints press onward, since, however great the alacrity [eagerness] with which, under the Spirit, they hasten toward righteousness, they are retarded by the sluggishness of the flesh, and make less progress than they ought. The Law acts like a whip to the flesh, urging it on as men do a lazy sluggish ass. Even in the case of a spiritual man, inasmuch as he is still burdened with the weight of the flesh, the Law is a constant stimulus, pricking him forward when he would indulge in sloth.”

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.4-5

7/30/2017

Chapter 4 – How God Works in Men’s Hearts
1. The title is misleading but this chapter deals with why God isn’t culpable for human sinning. In other words, Calvin is considering how God can use sinful instruments to fulfill His purposes in human beings while He remains free of their crimes.
2. Simile: “Augustine (in Psalm 31 and 33) compares the human will to a horse preparing to start, and God and the devil to riders. If God mounts, he, like a temperate and skilful rider, guides it calmly, urges it when too slow, reins it in when too fast, curbs its forwardness and over-action, checks its bad temper, and keeps it on the proper course; but if the devil has seized the saddle, like an ignorant and rash rider, he hurries it over broken ground, drives it into ditches, dashes it over precipices, spurs it into obstinacy or fury.”
3. So how does this relate to man’s agency and willing?
4. “When it is said, then, that the will of the natural man is subject to the power of the devil, and is actuated by him, the meaning is, not that the will, while reluctant and resisting, is forced to submit, (as masters oblige unwilling slaves to execute their orders,) but that, fascinated by the impostures of Satan, it necessarily yields to his guidance, and does him homage. Those whom the Lord favours not with the direction of his Spirit, he, by a righteous judgment, consigns to the agency of Satan.”
5. 2 Corinthians 4:4 – “In their [those who are perishing] case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
6. Ephesians 2:1-3 – “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
7. Satan works out his purpose in unbelievers but not without their will. They willingly submit their actions and desires to Satan because they are sinners.
8. God, Satan, and an individual can each be active in the same event, yet each has a different purpose.
9. Job 1:17 – “While he [Job’s servant] was yet speaking, there came another and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’”
10. “We thus see that there is no inconsistency in attributing the same act to God, to Satan, and to man, while, from the difference in the end [purpose] and mode of action [method], the spotless righteousness of God shines forth at the same time that the iniquity of Satan and of man is manifested in all its deformity.”
11. “We, therefore, hold that there are two methods in which God may so act. When His light is taken away, nothing remains but blindness and darkness: when His Spirit is taken away, our hearts become hard as stones: when His guidance is withdrawn, we immediately turn from the right path: and hence He is properly said to incline, harden, and blind those whom he deprives of the faculty of seeing, obeying, and rightly executing. The second method…is when executing His judgments by Satan as the minister of his anger, God both directs men’s counsels, and excites their wills, and regulates their efforts as he pleases.”
12. Deuteronomy 2:30 – “But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him [in the wilderness], for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might give him into your hand, as he is this day.”
13. 1 Samuel 16:14 – “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.”
14. 1 Samuel 18:10-12 (also see 1 Samuel 19:9-10) – “The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. 11 And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.”
15. 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 – “Therefore God sends them [those who are perishing] a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
16. “But in the same transaction there is always a wide difference between what the Lord does, and what Satan and the ungodly design to do.”
17. Satan reigns in the reprobate, yet the reprobate act freely and both are under God’s command.
18. But what about matters that are not right and wrong?
19. “God’s providence doesn’t merely extend to external events but also in giving humans the will to choose in a way that conforms and serves the outcome He desires (Ps 106:46; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kings 12:10, 14; Deut 28:65).” --J. Mark Beach
20. Free will is not about having the ability to affect outcomes, but with the ability to choose freely (according to our desires).
21. “We are free to be choice-makers, but we are not free to incline our wills as we please, for the will is guided by the desires of our natures, which are sinful.” --J. Mark Beach
Chapter 5 – Refutation of the Objections Commonly Put Forward in Defense of Free Will
1. First Objection: If sin is a matter of necessity, then sin ceases to be sin; and if sin is voluntary, then it can be avoided. [Pelagius]
  1. “It is owing not to creation, but the corruption of nature, that man has become the slave of sin, and can will nothing but evil. For whence that impotence of which the wicked so readily avail themselves as an excuse, but just because Adam voluntarily subjected himself to the tyranny of the devil? Hence, the corruption by which we are held bound as with chains, originated in the first man’s revolt from his Maker. If all men are justly held guilty of this revolt, let them not think themselves excused by a necessity in which they see the clearest cause of their condemnation.”
  2. It is because of the FALL that sin is necessary, but it still remains voluntary.
2. Second Objection: Unless both virtues and vices come from the free choice of the will, reward and punishment lose their meaning. [Aristotle]
  1. Sin arises from our own nature. Our sinful actions have us as their source. So God is just in punishing us. Concerning rewards, they depend on God’s grace and kindness. Human merit has nothing to do with it.
  2. “The grace which he bestows upon us, inasmuch as he makes it our own, he recompenses as if the virtuous acts were our own.”
3. Third Objection: Without the ability to choose good and evil, humans must be either wholly bad or wholly good. [Chrysostom, Ambrose]
  1. it is divine election which distinguishes among men
  2. “all, without exception, are depraved and given over to wickedness; but at the same time we add, that through the mercy of God all do not continue in wickedness”
4. Fourth Objection: All exhortations and admonitions [to repent] are meaningless unless we have the power to obey. [opponents of Augustine]
  1. God’s grace works through means and included in those means are exhortations and admonitions to repent.
  2. We are dependent upon God if we are to obey His exhortations (John 15:5; Rom 9:16; Isa 5:24; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 11:19)
5. Fifth Objection: God’s commands imply the ability to obey such commands. “Ought” implies “ability” [Pelagius]
  1. God’s law reflects His holy standards, not the capacity of fallen humanity to obey. God commands nothing that is impossible for humanity as created, but sinners are no longer capable of obedience.
6. “Therefore let us hold this as an undoubted truth which no siege engines can shake: the mind of man has been so completely estranged from God’s righteousness that it conceives, desires, and undertakes, only that which is impious, perverted, foul, impure, and infamous. The heart is so steeped in the poison of sin, that it can breathe out nothing but a loathsome stench. But if some men occasionally make a show of good, their minds nevertheless ever remain enveloped in hypocrisy and deceitful craft, and their hearts bound by inner perversity.”

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.2-3

7/23/2017

Chapter 2 – Man Has Now Been Deprived of Freedom of Choice and Bound Over to Miserable Servitude.
1. There are 2 problems that arise from using language such as “freedom of choice.”
2. “(1)When man is denied all uprightness, he immediately takes occasion for complacency [sloth] from that fact; and, because he is said to have no ability to pursue righteousness on his own, he holds all such pursuit to be of no consequence, as if it did not pertain to him at all. (2) Nothing, however slight, can be credited to man without depriving God of His honor, and without man himself falling into ruin through brazen confidence [pride].”
3. “What remains, therefore, now that man is stripped of all his glory, than to acknowledge the God for whose kindness he failed to be grateful, when he was loaded with the riches of his grace? Not having glorified him by the acknowledgment of his blessings, now, at least, he ought to glorify him by the confession of his poverty. In truth, it is no less useful for us to renounce all the praise of wisdom and virtue, than to aim at the glory of God. Those who invest us with more than we possess only add sacrilege to our ruin.”
4. Philosophers: “Thus, in short, all philosophers maintain, that human reason is sufficient for right government; that the will, which is inferior to it, may indeed be solicited to evil by sense, but having a free choice, there is nothing to prevent it from following reason as its guide in all things.”
5. Many Church Fathers followed the lead of the philosophers: “Therefore, to avoid teaching anything which the majority of mankind might deem absurd, they [church fathers] made it their study, in some measure, to reconcile the doctrine of Scripture with the dogmas of philosophy, at the same time making it their special care not to furnish any occasion to sloth.”
6. Calvin, following others, admits to distinguishing between 3 kinds of freedom:
  1. Freedom from necessity [compulsion]: We are free as human beings. We are not robots or puppets. We are not compelled or forced in the actions that we choose.
  2. Freedom from sin: This was lost in the Fall.
  3. Freedom from misery: This was lost in the Fall.
7. “All this being admitted, it will be beyond dispute, that free will does not enable any man to perform good works, unless he is assisted by grace; indeed, the special grace which the elect alone receive through regeneration.”
8. “Man does not have free choice equally of good and evil; rather, it only means that he acts wickedly by will, not by compulsion.”
9. “According to Calvin, the very idea of a free (that is, unhindered or untainted) will puffs us up. If we are truly to advance in a keen knowledge of ourselves, we must be ‘cast down’ and ‘overwhelmed’ by the recognition of our ‘calamity, poverty, nakedness, and disgrace.’ Our danger is not to underestimate our achievements or gifts but to overestimate them. We must learn that what we have lost and now lack God alone can recoup for us.” --J. Mark Beach
10. “Man’s natural gifts [intellect & will] were corrupted by sin, and his supernatural gifts withdrawn; meaning by supernatural gifts the light of faith and righteousness, which would have been sufficient for the attainment of heavenly life and everlasting felicity. Man, when he withdrew his allegiance to God, was deprived of the spiritual gifts by which he had been raised to the hope of eternal salvation.”
11. Humans Corrupted in the Faculty of the Intellect
  1. Regarding Earthly Life
    1. “By earthly things, I mean those which relate not to God and his kingdom, to true righteousness and future blessedness, but have some connection with the present life, and are in a manner confined within its boundaries.”
    2. “Those men whom Scripture [1 Cor. 2:14] calls ‘natural men’ were, indeed, sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior [earthly] things. Let us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good.”
    3. Yet even all of this flows from God’s grace and goodness even when natural men do not ascribe it to Him.
  2. Regarding Heavenly Life
    1. “By heavenly things, I mean the pure knowledge of God, the method of true righteousness, and the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom.”
    2. “Men otherwise the most ingenious are blinder than moles.”
    3. John 1:4-5 – “In him [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
    4. John 1:12-13 – “But to all who did receive him [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
    5. John 6:44 – “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”
    6. 1 Corinthians 2:14 – “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
12. Humans Corrupted in the Faculty of the Will
  1. Genesis 8:21 – “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
  2. John 8:34 – “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
  3. “Of our own we have nothing but sin.” --Calvin, quoting Augustine
13. “Humans…still possess the faculty of will but it is in bondage to sin and humans are without freedom to act righteously unless God provides the way.” --J. Mark Beach
Chapter 3 – Only Damnable Things Come Forth from Man’s Corrupt Nature
1. John 3:3 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
2. Romans 8:6-8 – “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
3. Jeremiah 17:9 – “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
4. Romans 3:10-18 – “as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ 13 ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips.’ 14 ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ 15 ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.’ 18 ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’”
5. What about unbelievers who seem to strive after a life of virtue and do good?
  1. “Such examples, then, seem to warn us against supposing that the nature of man is utterly vicious, since, under its guidance, some have not only excelled in illustrious deeds, but conducted themselves most honorably through the whole course of their lives. But we ought to consider, that, notwithstanding of the corruption of our nature, there is some room for divine grace, such grace as, without purifying it, may lay it under internal restraint.”
  2. God exercises an external restraining grace upon individuals so that they are not carried away to the depths of their depravity. Men are not as evil as they could be through God’s restraining their evil. Yet, this is only external and restraining. This is not the grace that works internally upon the heart to cleanse it.
  3. “The virtues which deceive us by an empty show may have their praise in civil society and the common intercourse of life, but before the judgment-seat of God they will be of no value to establish a claim of righteousness.”
6. “Fallen humans are under the bondage of sin which renders them unable to desire the good, seek the good, or dispose themselves toward the good apart from God’s intervention. When persons actually want righteousness in a righteous manner, this must be ‘ascribed entirely to God’s grace.’ ‘Therefore simply to will is of man; to will ill, of a corrupt nature; to will well, of grace.’” –J. Mark Beach
7. Conversion: “God, therefore, begins the good work in us by exciting in our hearts a desire, a love, and a study of righteousness, or (to speak more correctly) by turning, training, and guiding our hearts unto righteousness; and he completes this good work by confirming us unto perseverance.”
8. Objection: The will is converted by God, but when once prepared, does its part in the work of conversion. “Grace makes conversion possible but not inevitable.”
9. “Since Scripture proclaims throughout that it is the free gift of God, it follows, that when men, who are with their whole soul naturally prone to evil, begin to have a good will, it is owing to mere grace. Therefore, when the Lord, in the conversion of his people, sets down these two things as requisite to be done, viz., to take away the heart of stone, and give a heart of flesh, he openly declares, that, in order to our conversion to righteousness, what is ours must be taken away, and that what is substituted in its place is of Himself.”

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.1

7/16/2017

Note: Calvin now begins to discuss topics of the Christian faith under the heading of “The Knowledge of God the Redeemer.” “Book Two begins with the story of treachery – man’s rebellion against God and its wretched aftermath.” –J. Mark Beach

Chapter 1 – By the Fall and Revolt of Adam the Whole Human Race Was Delivered to the Curse, and Degenerated from Its Original Condition. The Doctrine of Original Sin.
1. True Knowledge of Self Destroys Self-Assurance
  1. Knowledge of ourselves involves 2 aspects: (1) what we were given at creation and how generously God continues His favor toward us, and (2) to call to mind our miserable condition after Adam’s fall; the awareness of which should truly humble us and overwhelm us with shame
  2. “It is of importance to know that we were endued with reason and intelligence, in order that we might cultivate a holy and honorable life, and regard a blessed immortality as our destined aim. At the same time, it is impossible to think of our primeval dignity without being immediately reminded of the sad spectacle of our ignominy [humiliation/shame/disgrace] and corruption, ever since we fell from our original in the person of our first parent.”
  3. “Here, then, is what God’s truth requires us to seek in examining ourselves: it requires the kind of knowledge that will strip us of all confidence in our own ability, deprive us of all occasion for boasting, and lead us to submission.”
  4. “While revealed truth concurs with the general consent of mankind in teaching that the second part of wisdom consists in self-knowledge, they differ greatly as to the method by which this knowledge is to be acquired. In the judgment of the flesh man deems his self-knowledge complete, when, with overweening confidence in his own intelligence and integrity, he takes courage, and spurs himself on to virtuous deeds, and when, declaring war upon vice, he uses his utmost endeavor to attain to the honorable and the fair. But he who tries himself by the standard of divine justice, finds nothing to inspire him with confidence; and hence, the more thorough his self-examination, the greater his despondency. Abandoning all dependence on himself, he feels that he is utterly incapable of duly regulating his conduct.”
  5. “Under divine scrutiny we find nothing about which to boast.” –J. Mark Beach
2. Adam’s Fall & Its Consequences
  1. A Monstrous Revolt
    1. “The prohibition to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a trial of obedience, that Adam, by observing it, might prove his willing submission to the command of God.”
    2. Adam deserted God’s Word and authority when he ignored God’s command regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
    3. “Assuredly, when the word of God is despised, all reverence for Him is gone. His majesty cannot be duly honored among us, nor his worship maintained in its integrity, unless we hang as it were upon his lips.”
  2. The Spread of Adam’s Sin to His Posterity
    1. “As Adam’s spiritual life would have consisted in remaining united and bound to his Maker, so estrangement from him was the death of his soul. Nor is it strange that he who perverted the whole order of nature in heaven and earth deteriorated his race by his revolt.”
    2. Romans 8:20-22 – “ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
    3. Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”
    4. “This is the hereditary corruption to which early Christian writers gave the name of Original Sin, meaning by the term the depravation of a nature formerly good and pure.”
    5. “All of us, therefore, descending from an impure seed, come into the world tainted with the contagion of sin.”
    6. Psalm 51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
    7. “We thus see that the impurity of parents is transmitted to their children, so that all, without exception, are originally depraved.”
  3. Original Sin
    1. “Thus, from a corrupt root corrupt branches proceeding, transmit their corruption to the saplings which spring from them.”
    2. Definition: “Original sin, then, may be defined [as] a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all the parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which in Scripture are termed works of the flesh.”
    3. No part of us is exempt from sin. The whole human nature is affected by original sin. This is what “Total Depravity” means. It’s not that we’re as bad as we possibly can be. It’s that no part of our nature is exempt from the corruption of original sin.
    4. Eph. 4:17-18 – “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
    5. “The whole man, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, is so deluged, as it were, that no part remains exempt from sin, and, therefore, everything which proceeds from him is imputed as sin.”
    6. “Our nature is not only destitute and empty of good, but so fertile and fruitful of every evil that it cannot be idle.”
    7. “The blame of our ruin rests with our own carnality, not with God, its only cause being our degeneracy from our original condition.”
    8. “Since man, by the kindness of God, was made upright, but by his own infatuation fell away unto vanity, his destruction is obviously attributable only to himself” –Calvin quoting Athanasius

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.16-18

7/9/2017

Chapter 16 – God By His Power Nourishes and Maintains the World Created By Him, and Rules Its Several Parts By His Providence
1. Psalm 33:6 - By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.
2. Psalm 33:13 - The Lord looks down from heaven; He sees all the children of man;
3. Psalm 104:27-30 - These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath they die and return to their dust. 30 When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.
4. What about “fortune” or “chance”? “We must consider that the Providence of God, as taught in Scripture, is opposed to fortune and fortuitous causes. By an erroneous opinion prevailing in all ages, an opinion almost universally prevailing in our own day, viz., that all things happen fortuitously, the true doctrine of Providence has not only been obscured, but almost buried.”
5. “When we read, that at the prayer of Joshua the sun was stayed in its course, (Josh. 10:13;) that as a favour to Hezekiah, its shadow receded ten degrees, (2 Kings 20:11;) by these miracles God declared that the sun does not daily rise and set by a blind instinct of nature, but is governed by Him in its course, that he may renew the remembrance of his paternal favour toward us.”
6. God is deemed omnipotent, …because, governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel.
7. “He to whom heaven and earth belong, and whose nod all creatures must obey, is fully able to reward the homage which they pay to him, and they can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority, Satan, with all his furies and engines, is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends.”
8. “Let him, therefore, …always bear in mind, that there is no random power, or agency, or motion in the creatures, who are so governed by the secret counsel of God, that nothing happens but what he has knowingly and willingly decreed.”
9. What about “fate”? “For we do not with the Stoics imagine a necessity consisting of a perpetual chain of causes, and a kind of involved series contained in nature, but we hold that God is the disposer and ruler of all things,—that from the remotest eternity, according to his own wisdom, he decreed what he was to do, and now by his power executes what he decreed.”
10. How should we understand “randomness”? Calvin says that from our perspective, events can appear fortuitous, that is, appear to be random or by “chance” but that is because God’s eternal decree is hidden with Him. All things take place by God’s will but from our perspective they give off the appearance of randomness.
11. Gen. 30:2; Ps. 75:6-7, 107:25, 29; Prov. 16:1, 16:33, 20:24, 29:13; Isa 3:1; Jer. 10:23; Amos 4:9; Matt. 10:29;
Chapter 17 – How We May Apply This Doctrine To Our Greatest Benefit
1. In revealing in Scripture to us His providence, God has 3 purposes:
  1. God’s providence includes all things – past, present, and future
  2. At times God works through means, at other times without means, and at other times against means
  3. God takes care of the whole of humanity, but especially in governing His people
2. Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
3. The doctrine of Providence does not absolve us of responsibility for our deeds.
4. “The eternal decrees of God by no means prevent us from proceeding, under his will, to provide for ourselves, and arrange all our affairs. And the reason for this is clear. For he who has fixed the boundaries of our life, has at the same time entrusted us with the care of it, provided us with the means of preserving it, forewarned us of the dangers to which we are exposed, and supplied cautions and remedies, that we may not be overwhelmed unawares”
5. So what are benefits of God’s providence in the world, but especially to us believers?
  1. All events happen by the ordination of God.
  2. All things contribute to the advantage of the godly.
  3. The hearts of men and all their endeavors are in the hand of God.
  4. Providence watches for the safety of the righteous.
  5. God has a special care of His elect.
  6. God in various ways curbs and defeats the enemies of the Church.
  7. God overrules all creatures, even Satan himself, for the good of His people.
  8. God trains the godly to patience and moderation through adversity. [Ex: Joseph, Job, David]
  9. God shakes off their lethargy and urges them to repentance.
  10. When the godly become negligent or imprudent in the discharge of duty, Providence reminds them of their fault.
  11. Providence condemns the iniquities of the wicked.
  12. Providence causes the godly to reign themselves to the wisdom and omnipotence of God, and, at the same time, makes them diligent in their calling.
  13. Though human life is beset with innumerable evils, the righteous feel perfectly secure because they trust God and His providence.
6. “Providence teaches us that God is in control, and, knowing that, our fear and anxiety can give way to comfort and assurance.” –J. Mark Beach
Chapter 18 – God So Uses the Works Of The Ungodly, and So Bends Their Minds To Carry Out His Judgments, That He Remains Pure From Every Stain
1. First Objection: In order to avoid God being tainted by sin, distinction is made between “permission” and “will.” In other words, God “wills” good things but only “permits” evil things.
  1. Psalm 115:3 - Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
  2. Job 1:12 – “And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”
  3. 1 Samuel 16:14 - Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.
  4. Isaiah 45:7 – “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
  5. Acts 4:27-28 – “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
2. Second Objection: There is contradiction within God if He secretly decrees things that go against His revealed will.
  1. “while in himself the will is one and undivided, to us it appears manifold, because, from the feebleness of our intellect, we cannot comprehend how, though after a different manner, he wills and wills not the very same thing. … Since, on account of the dullness of our sense, the wisdom of God seems manifold, are we, therefore, to dream of some variation in God, as if he either changed his counsel, or disagreed with himself? Nay, when we cannot comprehend how God can will that to be done which he forbids us to do, let us call to mind our imbecility, and remember that the light in which he dwells is not without cause termed inaccessible, (1 Tim. 6:16,) because shrouded in darkness.”
  2. The key to solving this objection is to recognize that God has His own righteous motives for evil acts, while the immediate human agent of the evil has wicked motives driving him or her to act.
  3. “For through the bad wills of evil men God fulfills what he righteously wills.” –St. Augustine
  4. “God uses sin, sinlessly.” --Dr. Doug Kelly
3. Third Objection: If God wills even the evil actions of man, God is unjust to hold them responsible for their evil deeds since they are ultimately carrying out God’s will.
  1. This is a confusing of God’s “decree” with God’s “precept”
  2. Example: Absalom committed adultery with David’s wives, which violates God’s precepts [revealed will], but He fulfilled God’s decree to punish David’s adultery (2 Samuel 12:11-12, 16:22)
  3. “Thus we must hold, that while by means of the wicked God performs what he had secretly decreed, they are not excusable as if they were obeying his precept, which of set purpose they violate according to their lust.”
4. “For our wisdom ought to be nothing else than to embrace with humble teachableness, and at least without finding fault, whatever is taught in Sacred Scripture.”

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.14-15

7/2/2017

Chapter 14 – In the Creation of the World, and All Things In It, the True God Distinguished by Certain Marks from Fictitious Gods
1. The creation of the world considered generally
  1. God gives us a history of creation to keep His people from falling away to vain imaginations.
  2. Why six days? God is all-powerful and could have created everything in a moment.
2. The subject of angels
  1. Although Moses does not discuss angels in the creation account, Scripture tells us that angels minister-to/serve God as their Creator.
  2. Angels are not eternal or self-existent. Only God is. So we need to be careful how we think about angels.
  3. Some bad theology has taught that (1) angels possess some sort of divinity or (2) the devil, as a fallen angel, is the creator of all things bad/evil.
  4. We should only go as far as Scripture goes when it comes to discussing angels.
  5. Definition of “Angels”: Angels are heavenly spirits, whose obedience and ministry God employs to execute all the purposes which He has decreed.
  6. When it comes to angels, Scripture particularly focuses on one thing: “angels are the ministers and dispensers of the divine bounty [beneficence/goodness/blessing] towards us.”
  7. What about “guardian angels”?
  8. Rather than worship angels, their ministry to us should testify to the nearness of God to us. Angels are not mediators through which we can commune with God.
  9. “We should remember that they are spirit-beings, having real existence. They are not mere phantoms or products of our minds.” –J. Mark Beach (summarizing Calvin)
3. The subject of bad angels (devils)
  1. The purpose of Scripture in teaching us about demons is “to put us on our guard against their wiles and machinations, that we may provide ourselves with weapons strong enough to drive away the most formidable foes.”
  2. “Above all, fully conscious of our weakness and want [lack] of skill, let us invoke the help of God, and attempt nothing without trusting in Him, since it is His alone to supply counsel, and strength, and courage, and arms.”
  3. 1 Peter 5:8 – “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him…”
  4. “We are taught that the number of enemies with whom we have to war is almost infinite, that we may not, from a contemptuous idea of the fewness of their numbers, be more remiss in the contest, or from imagining that an occasional truce is given us, indulge in sloth.”
  5. Satan is God’s adversary as much as ours and He attacks us to try to get at God.
  6. Calvin’s summary of demons: “They were when first created angels of God, but by degeneration they ruined themselves, and became the instruments of ruin for others.” (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 6, 1 Timothy 5:21)
  7. Lest we tremble, Calvin assures that Satan is impotent apart from God.
4. The practical use of the history of the creation
  1. Creation calls us to faith in God.
  2. Creation is God’s “most beautiful theater” and we should “piously delight” in it
  3. Creation was created “out of nothing” and is upheld by God’s word.
  4. God displays His glorious perfections in Creation.
  5. God created all things for our good and salvation.
  6. Our reaction should be greater trust, praise, and love for God.
  7. “Let us study to love and serve Him with all our heart.”
Chapter 15 – Discussion of Human Nature as Created, of the Image of God, of Free Will, and of the Original Integrity of Man’s Nature
1. Man considered before the Fall
  1. “A curb was laid on our pride from the outset” because God formed man from dust of the ground (Gen 2.7).
  2. God created man with a soul and a body, the immortal soul being the “nobler part.”
2. Man’s soul is created immortal
  1. Scripture confirms the immortality of the soul: Job 4:19; 2 Cor. 5:4; 2 Pet. 1:13, 14; 2 Cor. 5:10; 7:1; 1 Pet. 2:25; 1:9; 2:11; Heb. 13:17; 2 Cor. 1:23; Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:5; Heb. 12:9; Luke 16:22; 2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Acts 23:8.
  2. The soul is a “thing”, that is, it has essence. It is not an energy or breath.
3. The image of God (imago dei) is in man’s soul
  1. What consists of the “image of God”?
    1. Intelligence
    2. Affections
    3. Senses
    4. Understanding
  2. WCF 4.2: “After God had made all other creatures, He created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after His own image;”
  3. Colossians 3:10 – “and [we] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
  4. Ephesians 4:24 – “and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
  5. In the Fall, “the image of God was not utterly effaced [wiped out] and destroyed in him, it was, however, so corrupted, that anything which remains is fearful deformity.”
  6. In Christ, the image of God is being restored/renewed within us.
  7. “God’s image is the perfect excellence of human nature which shone in Adam before his defection, but was subsequently so vitiated [spoiled] and almost blotted out that nothing remains after the ruin except what is confused, mutilated, and disease-ridden. Therefore in some part it now is manifest in the elect, in so far as they have been reborn in the Spirit; but it will attain its full splendor in heaven.”
4. Refutations of errors concerning the nature of man’s soul
  1. Manicheans/Servetus: The soul is a transmission of part of God’s substance/nature
  2. Osiander [Lutheran theologian]: The divine image consists of a transfusion of divine righteousness into man.
  3. “The renewal of the image in man is not a matter of participating in the divine substance, but in being transformed by the Holy Spirit.” (see 2 Corinthians 3:18)
5. The faculties of the soul
  1. 2 things: Understanding and Will
  2. Understanding helps us to distinguish good from evil, what we should do and not do.
  3. Will chooses and follows what the understanding pronounces as good.
  4. We must distinguish between 2 states of man
    1. Unfallen (man was able to sin or able not to sin)
    2. Fallen (man is unable not to sin)
  5. Before the Fall, man was excellently guided by the faculties of his soul and the image of God within him was perfect.
  6. Before the Fall, Adam possessed “free will” and if he had exercised his freedom rightly, he had the power to attain eternal life.
  7. These faculties have been marred by the Fall.
6. Summation: “Man at his first creation, was very different from all his posterity; who, deriving their origin from him after he was corrupted, received a hereditary taint.”

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(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.13

6/25/2017

Chapter 13 – The Unity of the Divine Essence in Three Persons Taught, In Scripture, From the Foundation of the World
1. First Section: The Orthodox doctrine concerning the Holy Trinity
  1. The essence of God
    1. God’s infiniteness should deter us from measuring Him by our senses.
    2. God’s spiritualness forbids us to indulge in speculation about Him.
    3. So how are we to understand anything about God if He is so far above us?
    4. “Who is so devoid of intellect as not to understand that God lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children? Such modes of expression, therefore, do not so much express what kind of a being God is, as accommodate the knowledge of him to our feebleness. In doing so, he must, of course, stoop far below his proper height.”
  2. The meaning of “person”
    1. The Trinity is a unique way in which God presents Himself and distinguishes Him from all other gods. God is one single essence (substance) in three persons (hypostases).
    2. There is nothing wrong in using non-Scriptural terms if the point is to explain Scriptural teaching.
    3. What’s the use/good of using such technical language or seeking to be precise/exact with such language?
      1. Arius acknowledged that Christ was God and the Son of God, but he also maintained that Christ was created and had a beginning like other creatures. His deception was revealed by distinguishing between homoousios (“same substance”) and homoiousios (“similar substance”).
      2. “That little word distinguished between Christians of pure faith and the blasphemous Arians.”
      3. “Technical language about the Trinity remains necessary so long as error obscures the truth about God and heresy is able to gain a foothold.” –J. Mark Beach
      4. Calvin’s definition for Trinity: “there is a Trinity of Persons in one Divine essence”
  3. The Deity of Christ
    1. The ancient prophets spoke by the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:10-11)
    2. Hebrews 1:2 – “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
    3. Proverbs 8:22 – “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.” (Compare 1 Corinthians 1:30 – Jesus became to us wisdom from God)
    4. John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
    5. John 17:5 – “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
    6. Psalm 45:6 – “Your throne, O God [Elohim], is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;” Quoted in Hebrews 1:8 and applied to Jesus.
    7. Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God [El], Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”
    8. “The angel of the Lord” in various places in the Old Testament
    9. “When he said of himself, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,” the Jews, though most dull in regard to his other sayings, perceived that he was laying claim to divine power. And, therefore, as John relates, (John 5:17,) they sought the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”
  4. The Deity of the Holy Spirit
    1. 1 Cor. 3:16 – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
    2. Acts 5:3-4 – “But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
    3. Matt. 12:31 – “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.”
  5. Concerning the Trinity
    1. Matt. 28:19 – “Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”
    2. There is one God.
    3. There are 3 persons within the one Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
    4. The 3 persons are distinct, yet are not divided or separated.
    5. The Father is not the Son; The Son is not the Spirit; the Spirit is not the Father.
    6. The Father is God; The Son is God; The Spirit is God.
    7. Economic Trinity: The Father sends. The Son Incarnates. The Spirit Regenerates.
2. Second Section: Refutation of Trinitarian Heresies
  1. Jesus is Not Fully God
    1. Ebionitism (Islam): Jesus is only a human being and a special prophet.
    2. Arianism (Jehovah’s Witness): The Son is a created being, not eternal, who becomes God.
    3. Adoptionism: At Jesus’s birth (or baptism), God adopted the human Jesus to be His son and gave him special power (the Christ-spirit)
  2. Jesus is Not Fully Human
    1. Docetism: Jesus was only divine and His humanity is an illusion.
    2. Modalism (Servetus, T.D. Jakes, Oneness Pentacostalism): God is one and expresses Himself in different modes. Sometimes He is Father, at other times He is Son or Spirit. There is no permanent distinction.
    3. Apollinarianism: Jesus is fully God but only partially human. He had human flesh but not a human mind or will.
  3. Errors on the Relationship of Christ’s divinity and humanity
    1. Monophysitism: Jesus’ human nature is absorbed by His divine nature. He only has 1 nature.
    2. Nestorianism: Jesus is 2 persons (divine Christ & human Jesus) living together in Jesus Christ.
  4. Orthodoxy:
    1. Jesus is fully God and fully man, with a fully divine nature and a fully human nature, in one person, “without confusion, change, division, or separation.”
  5. “The whole substance of the doctrine has, I trust, been faithfully expounded, if my readers will set bounds to their curiosity, and not long more eagerly than they ought for perplexing disputation. Let us then willingly leave to God the knowledge of himself.”

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(Vespers) Reformation Sunday - John Knox

(Vespers) The Five Solas of the Reformation

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - Recap of Books I-II

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.16b-17

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.15-16a

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.12-14

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.9-11

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.8

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.6-7

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.4-5

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.2-3

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - II.1

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.16-18

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.14-15

(Vespers) Calvin's Institutes - I.13

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