Cream of blog 12.5.11
December 5, 2011
B.B. Warfield (1851-1921), the great Princeton theologian of the late 19th and early 20th Century, wrote and published a small pamphlet titled, “A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith,” (Adapted from Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, edited by John E. Meeter. Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1970, 407-410) in which he reduced the central truths of Reformed Theology to 13 points. As you read, you can see that Warfield relies heavily on the language of Scripture and the doctrinal formulations of the Westminster Standards in the articulation of these points:
1. I believe that my one aim in life and death should be to glorify God and enjoy Him forever; and that God teaches me how to glorify and enjoy Him in His holy Word, that is, the Bible, which He has given by the infallible inspiration of His Holy Spirit in order that I may certainly know what I am to believe concerning Him and what duty He requires of me.
2. I believe that God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and incomparable in all that He is; one God, but three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier; in whose power and wisdom, righteousness, goodness and truth I may safely put my trust.
3. I believe that the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is, are the work of God’s hands; and that all that He has made He directs and governs in all their actions; so that they fulfill the end for which they were created, and I who trust in Him shall not be put to shame, but may rest securely in the protection of His almighty love.
4. I believe that God created man after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, and entered into a covenant of life with him upon the sole condition of the obedience that was his due: so that it was by willfully sinning against God that man fell into the sin and misery in which I have been born.
5. I believe, that, being fallen in Adam, my first father, I am by nature a child of wrath, under the condemnation of God and corrupted in body and soul, prone to evil and liable to eternal death; from which dreadful state I cannot be delivered save through the unmerited grace of God my Savior.
6. I believe that God has not left the world to perish in its sin, but out of the great love wherewith He has loved it, has from all eternity graciously chosen unto Himself a multitude which no man can number, to deliver them out of their sin and misery, and, of them, to build up again in the world His kingdom of righteousness; in which kingdom I may be assured I have my part, if I hold fast to Christ the Lord.
7. I believe that God has redeemed His people unto Himself through Jesus Christ our Lord; who, though He was, and ever continues to be the eternal Son of God, yet was born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who are under the law: I believe that He bore the penalty due to my sins in His own body on the tree, and fulfilled in His own Person the obedience that I owe to the righteousness of God, and now presents me to His Father as His purchased possession, to the praise of the glory of His grace forever: wherefore renouncing all merit of my own, I put all my trust only in the blood and righteousness of Christ my Redeemer.
8. I believe that Jesus Christ my Redeemer, who died for my offenses was raised again for my justification, and ascended into the heavens, where He sits at the right hand of the Father Almighty, continually making intercession for His people, and governing the whole world as head over all things for His Church: so that I need fear no evil and may surely know that nothing can snatch me out of His hands and nothing can separate me from His love.
9. I believe that the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ is effectually applied to all His people by the Holy Spirit, who works faith in me and thereby unites me to Christ, renews me in the whole man after the image of God, and enables me more and more to die to sin and to live unto righteousness; until, this gracious work, having been completed in me, I shall be received into glory: in which great hope abiding, I must ever strive to perfect holiness in the fear of God.
10. I believe that God requires of me, under the Gospel, first of all, that, out of a true sense of my sin and misery and apprehension of his mercy in Christ, I should turn with grief and hatred away from sin and receive and rest upon Jesus Christ alone for salvation; that, so being united to Him, I may receive pardon for my sins and be accepted as righteous in God’s sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to me and received by faith alone: and thus, and thus only, do I believe I may be received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.
11. I believe that, having been pardoned and accepted for Christ’s sake, it is further required of me that I walk in the Spirit whom He has purchased for me, and by whom, love is shed abroad in my heart; fulfilling the obedience I owe to Christ my King; faithfully performing all the duties laid upon me by the holy law of God my heavenly Father; and ever reflecting in my life and conduct, the perfect example that has been set me by Christ Jesus my Leader, who has died for me and granted to me His Holy Spirit, just that I may do the good works which God has afore prepared that I should walk in them.
12. I believe that God has established His church in the world and endowed it with the ministry of the Word and the holy ordinances of Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and prayer; in order that, through these as means, the riches of His grace in the Gospel may be made known to the world, and, by the blessing of Christ and the working of His Spirit in them that by faith receive them, the benefits of redemption may be communicated to His people: wherefore also it is required of me that I attend on these means of grace with diligence, preparation and prayer, so that through them I may be instructed and strengthened in faith, and in holiness of life and in love; and that I use my best endeavors to carry this Gospel and convey these means of grace to the whole world.
13. I believe that Jesus Christ has once come in grace, so also is He to come a second time in Glory, to judge the world in righeousness and assign to each His eternal award: and I believe that if I die in Christ, my soul shall be at death made perfect in holiness and go home to the Lord; and when he shall return in his majesty I shall be raised in glory and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity: encouraged by which blessed hope it is required of me willingly to take my part in suffering hardship here as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, being assured that if I die with Him I shall also live with Him, if I endure, I shall also reign with Him.
And to Him, my Redeemer,
with the Father,
and the Holy Spirit,
Three Persons, one God,
by glory forever, world without end,
Amen, and Amen.
You say awesome, I say awful
February 11, 2010
One of our favorite hymns begins, How sweet and awful is the place with Christ within the doors. Well, John Newton wrote it that way. The editors of the 1990 Trinity Hymnal “updated” it so that now we sing How sweet and awesome is the place…The substitution of awesome for awful (as in, “full of awe”) works. The meaning is nearly identical. But as a lover of words and sometimes reverse-chronological snob, I will often still sing awful in place of awesome anyway. I do the same thing with the last line of last verse of Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, singing the original
Let the amen sound from his people again gladly for aye (with long a) we adore him.
instead of the revised,
Let the amen sound from his people again loudly fore’er we adore him.
But I digress. Awful is one of the English words that is an auto-antonym (AKA antagonym, contranym, Janus word, enantiodrome, self-antonym, oxymoronym). Gene Edward Veith recently posted a partial list of English words with two contradictory meanings:
apology
(1) an admission of error accompanied by a plea for forgiveness (2) a formal defense or justification (as in Plato’s Apology), also referred to as an apologia
before
(1) in advance of (“the future is before us”) (2) at an earlier time, previously (“our forefathers came before us”)
cleave
This is a homophone, where two words, spelled and pronounced alike, have different origins. (1) “To adhere firmly”, from Old English clifian. (2) to split (as with a cleaver), from Old English cleofan
critical
Can mean “vital to success” (a critical component), or “disparaging” (a critical comment).
custom
As a noun, this means “conventional behavior”; but as an adjective, it means “specially designed”.
sanction
“To permit” or “to restrict” (as in “economic sanctions.”)
seed
To add seeds, is in seeding a field, or to remove seeds, as in seeding a fruit.
strike
Normally meaning “to hit”, in baseball it means “to miss”, and an extension of this usage has led to the meaning “to make a mistake”. Further adding to the contradiction, in bowling it refers to the best possible play. Another contradiction results with the phrase strike out: the baseball lineage leads to the meaning “to run out of hope”; but the original lineage also leads to the meaning “to start pursuing a desire”
suspicious
Can mean that a person is acting in a way that suggests wrong-doing, i.e. “He seems very suspicious.” or can mean that the person in question suspects wrong doing in others, i.e. “He was suspicious of her motives.”
Lamentations and Haiti
January 21, 2010
Friday, January 29, First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi, will host the annual Mid-South Men’s Rally. This year’s speaker will be Dr. Michael A. Milton, president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Milton has posted an essay in which he applies the form and theology of the Old Testament book of Lamentations to the devastation of Haiti. Take the the time to read it.
Here’s an excerpt:
The earthquake that hit Haiti last about 30 seconds. And in that time hundreds of thousands of souls left this planet. But even as I write, even more, all over the world, will suddenly pass from this world into the presence of the Creator. Are we ready to go? For the brevity of life is ever before us, beckoning, calling, crying that we turn to the Lord while there is time. Jesus also calls for us to repent, to examine ourselves and to turn to Him. For God will punish unrepentant sin.
Again, it is not a time to point fingers in judgment at people Haiti. It is not time to think we can explain it all. That is not only unbiblical but inhumane and just plain dumb. But it is a time to pray for them, and to weep for them, but also to realize again the brevity of life and that I will soon stand before God myself. It is a time to recall that every horror here reminds us of the horror of being separated forever from God. It is a time for me to turn again to God and repent.
Bach, hope, gospel, and Japan
January 14, 2010
Many of us at FPC Kosciusko were moved by the concert and presentation by Roger Lowther last September. I recently found this 2000 article in First Things about the popularity of Johann Sebastian Bach in Japan, and how that popularity has created surprising opportunities to connect gospel truth and hope with a hard-to-reach people group.
Carson on basic questions
November 17, 2009
Below are three brief videos from Dr. Don Carson on three basic questions:
- How do we know God exists?
- How can God allow suffering and evil in the world?
- How can God be loving and still send people to hell?
These videos are part of an excellent series called A Passion for Life.
Cream of blog: 29 September 2009
September 29, 2009
- Explore the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, a vast library of print and audio media files from Colson and many others.
- From Gene Edward Veith’s blog, a glimpse at where the debate about gay marriage is heading for some–the abolition of marriage itself.
- Also from Veith, thoughts concerning the Christian origins of health care as we know it in the West. (Atheists are fond of claiming that Christianity is a toxic presence in the history of civilization.)
- Actions steps for anxiety from Tullian Tchividjian.
- A review of Paul Miller’s A Praying Life from Coram Deo, Omaha, Nebraska.
Truth Project begins May 20
May 18, 2009
FPC Kosciusko folks have been hearing about The Truth Project, which begins May 20, as part of our Wednesday Night Connection. Sunday evening we showed a promotional video. If you missed it or want to see it again, here it is:
Everyone is invited. Youth and their parents are especially encouraged to attend. Grant Carroll and Culley Newman will serve as facilitators.
That’s Easter
April 16, 2009
Below are two videos we showed in last Sunday evening’s Changed by Jesus service. They are produced by an Anglican church in London, St. Helen’s Bishopsgate:
U.S. now taking no embryonic prisoners
March 11, 2009
Below are links to three good opinion pieces on President Obama’s March 9 executive order allowing federal funding to be used in embryonic stem cell research.
- Yuval Levin of the Ethics and Public Policy Center on four myths about embryonic stem cell research.
- Mark Bates, pastor of Village Seven PCA in Colorado Springs, Colorado (and a man who used to be my pastor) on the convergence of Orwell and Huxley in the policy change.
- John Mark Reynolds with a brief critique that displays a sanctified use of sarcasm.
