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Post by Admin on Sept 21, 2023 20:15:45 GMT -5
Chapter Seven
The Mutual Delight of Sinners
Romans 1:32
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
According to the general impression and opinion, the fire of the hotel in Lansing a few days ago was an awful tragedy.1 Undoubtedly it was. We can only imagine a little of the horror of
men and women trapped in a fiery furnace to be burned alive, or to find death in the icy waters of the Grand River. We cannot imagine the horror of it. We can also perhaps understand that the horror changed to righteous indignation when it was told us the next day that the fire was probably caused by the rowdiness of a drunken party.
Let us try to carry that awful picture just a little further. Suppose that fire was actually due to the rowdiness of drunken men. Suppose that the majority of these drunken men had es-
caped the fire. Suppose that some days later these same men, now sober, now at another party, are still reliving that night. They talk about the party they had, laugh about the things that took place at that party, and still rejoice in the drunken revelry, even though it was the cause of the awful death of many.
You say, “That would be the depth of degradation!” Yet this is the picture the text gives of natural man. It is exactly this that characterizes him.
From this point of view, verse 32 is the climax of Romans 1. Paul does not hesitate to describe men who have been given over by the wrath of God to a reprobate mind as rejoicing to see men on their way to hell. This is the text. They know, the text says, that they who do such things are worthy of death. They know that this is the righteous judgment of God. They know, therefore, that they who do such things are on their way to hell. Although they know that they who do such things are on their way to hell, they not only do these things, but they also delight in them who do them. The text, therefore, pictures to us the mutual delight of sinners.
A Wicked Delight
This mutual delight ofsinners is, first of all, a wicked delight. The apostle expresses this especially in the last part of the text. You understand that when the apostle says they not only do the things enumerated in the preceding verses, but that they also have a pleasure in them who do them, he characterizes their wickedness as being the depth of degradation. That the passage is very real we can know from everyday life. The sinner seeks the sinner. Sinners delight in one another’s corruption. This is evident not only from the text and in Paul’s
day; it is equally true in our modern world. All along the line you will find the reality of the text. You can start in the underworld. They not only have their robberies, their holdups, and their killings, but they also have their parties at which they tell about their robberies and the crimes they have committed, laugh about them, and rejoice in their wicked deeds. Anyone who does not rejoice with them has no place among them. Men come to the shop on Monday morning and tell all about how they spent the Sunday. They tell how they spent the pay they had received on Saturday in drunken revelry and filth, and they laugh about the things they have committed. They delight in each other’s filth.
It is evident in the business world. Businessmen come together and tell about how they cheated and about the crooked deals they pulled off, and they rejoice in it.
We find these two things: men do such things, and they have pleasure in them who do them. When they come together, they agree together and laugh about each other’s corruption. Why is the delight that men have in each other’s sin a worse sign of corruption than the deed itself?
The answer is evident. Sin may be committed because one looks for the fruit of that sin. Sin looks good to him, not because of the sin itself, but because of what it brings him. A man may tell a lie because it seems to him that in telling that lie he will be benefited. A man may be a drunkard, not because of that sin as such, but because he enjoys himself in the carnal lust of drunkenness.
But the apostle says that this is not all. Even if they do not do these things themselves, they have a delight in them who do them. Even if there is no personal gain in it, they have a delight in these things. They delight in such corruption. They will even try to make you commit these things. The drunkard likes to see you drunk. He will try to make you drunk. Men delight in one another’s corruption and sin.
What does this mean? It means, in the first place, that the sinner loves sin for sin’s sake. He has pleasure in corruption. He has pleasure in sin even if there is no personal gain in it. It is only in this light that we can understand the rest of the text. The sinner loves sin; he has pleasure in corruption. This is a very wicked delight.
In the second place, it means that the sinner who commits sin wants the darkness to prevail in general. If you ask, “Why does the sinner delight in them who commit sin?” the answer is that the sinner’s great desire is that sin abound everywhere and in everyone.
Let us ask the opposite question: “Why does the sinner hate the righteous?” Sinners hated and finally killed Jesus. The sinner hates the righteous, and he will in principle kill him every time. Why does the sinner hate the righteous? Because the righteous man, in his testimony and work, is a manifestation of the truth. That manifestation of the truth, as it is in the righteous, condemns that sinner. He hates that righteous man because the sinner wants to hold the truth under in unrighteousness in order to sin peacefully. The sinner wants to have company. He tries to kill the testimony of the righteous. This is natural man. They have pleasure in one another’s sin although they know that they who do such things are worthy of death. Let me use an illustration. Again, there is a steep, slippery road that ends in a precipice. Men are sliding down that slippery road. The text means that although they know they are sliding down it, they want to enjoy their slide. Although they know that at the end is the precipice, they want others to enjoy that slide with them, and they take them along.
A Cruel Delight
This is why the text calls our attention to a cruel delight. We must notice that this is an everyday delight. The wicked take each other along to hell. This is true of the father with regard to his son, whom he does not want to walk in the way of righteousness. This is true of the mother with regard to her daughter. This is true of the whole world. Knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also have pleasure in them who do them.
Notice that the apostle says that they know this way of sin ends in death. The question has been asked, “What death does the apostle mean? Does he mean physical death?” Then the
apostle would mean they know that those who commit this corruption will die the physical death. This would not make sense. Besides, when Scripture speaks of death without further
designation, it always means the final state of death; it means eternal desolation. Death is hell; therefore, we may say that men who are on that sliding road know that the end is hell.
How do they know this? In the first place, they know it because God has revealed it from the beginning. The fact that death is the wages of sin, God has revealed from paradise. This revelation was not entirely lost so that men outside the church do not know that the wages ofsin is death. This revelation was preserved. It has been declared throughout history that the wages of sin is death. Men hold this truth under in unrighteousness, but in their deepest hearts they know that the wages of sin is death.
In the second place, this is the clear testimony of general revelation. The apostle shows in this chapter how, by the power of the wrath of God, man is drawn to everlasting desolation. This is simply the direction of sin. Everybody can see that the direction of natural debauchery is physical death. When a man lives a life of spiritual debauchery, the result is more spiritual debauchery, and this is death.
Finally, there is the testimony of the Spirit of God in the heart, establishing this connection. The testimony of the Spirit in the heart of the wicked establishes this testimony: the end of sin is death. Knowing that they who do such things are worthy of death, they not only do them but have a delight in them who do them. The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. They not only like to slide down themselves, but they want to take others along. They rejoice when others go along with them to hell. This is awful. This is the movement of sin in the heart of all of us. This is why sin is so terrible. We may try to cover up that sin as soon as it touches us personally. But we are by nature so corrupt that we not only commit these sins; we also delight in them who do them.
An Inexcusable Delight
This is inexcusable. The apostle does not say merely that they do these things and know the end is death. No, the apostle says two things. They know that it is the judgment of God. They know that they are worthy of it. They know that the judgment is righteous. Knowing the judgment of God, that they who commit such things are worthy of death, they are without excuse. They cannot say, and they do not say, “This is our lot; we can’t help it.” No. What they say in their own consciousness is this: “God judges me to be worthy of hell, and this judgment is correct.”
How does man know it? How does man know the righteous judgment of God? God has revealed it. They know it because they know that God is. All men know this. Atheism is a phi-
losophy. All men know that God is. All know that God is eternal in power and Godhead. All men know that this God must be glorified and thanked. This is the inevitable “Thou shalt” written in the heart of man. Knowing this truth of God, not wanting this God, and refusing to glorify and to thank Him, man knows that he runs into eternal destruction.
What shall we do? What shall we do if this is the condition of the sinner? What shall we do if man would rather go to hell than abandon sin? What shall we do? Shall we scare him into
abandoning his way? Shall we preach hell and damnation to him? That will not help; they try that in the world. When corruption gets a little too bad, they say we must tell men what will be the consequence of certain sins. But the text says that men have a delight in the sins of others. These measures are doomed to fail.
Sometimes they say it in the church. They say, let us preach hell and damnation. It is all right to tell men about it, but if the purpose is to turn man from the way of sin, it is at the outset doomed to fail. Knowing that they who commit sin are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but have a delight in them that do them.
What shall we do? There is only one answer. The apostle gives that in verses 16 and 17: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” This gospel preaches the righteousness of God that is by faith in ChristJesus. This gospel is the vehicle of the righteousness that descends from heaven. This righteousness can be had in the only possible way in which righteousness can be had, namely, by faith.
Therefore, the apostle calls this gospel the power of God. The end of it is, “The righteous shall live by faith.” He puts away all his own righteousness, all that is of self. He puts all his trust in the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Christ Jesus.
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1. Preaching this sermon in the late 1930s, Hoeksema refers to a fire in Lansing, Michigan, that captured the attention of the public. It is worthy of note that Hoeksema would press such an event into the service of the Word.
— Herman Hoeksema
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Post by Admin on Oct 5, 2023 15:45:20 GMT -5
THE DOCTRINE OF THE ANTITHESIS
Published by:Randolph Protestant Reformed Church
Randolph, Wisconsin
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The Doctrine of the Antithesis
Reformed churches have historically taught the doctrine of the antithesis. Specifically, the Protestant Reformed Churches in America teach and preach this doctrine and its implications. Yet sadly, many Reformed believers do not understand this doctrine.
An antithesis is an opposite, or a contrast, of something else. In his book Doctrine According to Godliness, Rev. Ronald Hanko identifies the antithesis as “the separation and opposition between darkness and light, believer and unbeliever, church and world” (page 209).
Although the word antithesis is not found in Scripture, the doctrine of the antithesis is taught in Scripture. A classic statement regarding the antithesis is found in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”). This passage teaches that God has created a distinction between His church of godly believers on the one hand, and the world of ungodly unbelievers on the other. This distinction is pictured by the distinction between light and darkness. Light and darkness are antithetical contrasts; they are always separate from each other.
Antithetical contrasts such as light and darkness, or the believing church and the unbelieving world, cannot be combined. Yet some do attempt to combine believers with unbelievers, and to join the church and the world. Such a joining is called a synthesis. The common way to attempt this synthesis is that of convincing the church that society’s values, views, and morals are actually pleasing to God; thus the church becomes more like the world, and less like the church as God intended her to be. But just as it is impossible to combine light and darkness, so it is ultimately impossible to synthesize the world with the church. Man’s attempts to do so manifest man’s hatred of God, of His covenant, and of His church. That church which does join herself to the world shows herself not to be God’s church.
Fundamentally, the doctrine of the antithesis teaches that God is perfect and holy, the opposite of everything sinful. So we read in Scripture that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). God reveals His perfect holiness by His Word to us - both His Word incarnate, Jesus Christ, who is “the light of the world” (John 8:12), and His written Word, the Scriptures, which are compared to “a light that shineth in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). Antithetically opposite this holy God - unable to exist in harmony and fellowship with Him - are the devil, the lie which the devil speaks, and the whole human race as it is corrupted by sin through the influence of the devil.
Regarding God”s gracious work of salvation, the doctrine of the antithesis teaches that God calls His people out of the darkness of sin and unbelief, into the light of the knowledge of the truth and fellowship with God (I Peter 2:9). In saving His church, God does not destroy the antithesis between Himself and sinful humanity; rather, He creates an antithesis among men, separating one part of humanity (His church of believers) from the other part (the world of unbelievers), and drawing His church into fellowship with Him in the way of knowing the truth and turning from sin. God’s creation of this antithesis among men is rooted in His sovereign eternal decree of election and reprobation, based on Christ’s limited atonement, and realized by the work of His Spirit applying all the blessings of salvation to the elect for whom Christ died. All of this is taught in a nutshell in Genesis 3:15.
The doctrine of the antithesis has application to the lives of God’s people and church.
First, as regards God’s people, this doctrine requires us to serve God in faith and obedience, and to avoid serving the devil in unbelief and disobedience. Already Adam was required to do this, by eating of the tree of life, and not eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9, 17). Likewise we must say “Yes” to God, and “No” to the devil. So God commanded His covenant people: “Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2, I Peter 1:15-16).
This also is why God calls His people to a life of separation from the world of ungodly unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14-18), being not conformed, but transformed (Romans 12:2). Notice, God does not call us to physical separation from the world, as if the church is required to live geographically apart from unbelievers in Christian communes. Rather, God calls us to spiritual separation from the world - to live a life of faith and obedience in the midst of ungodly unbelievers. This is the idea of walking in the light (Ephesians 5:8, 1 John 1:7), and of our being a light unto the world (Matthew 5:14-16). Practically speaking, this means that God’s children must avoid sinful activities such as drunkenness, sexual immorality (that is, any sexual relations with a person other than one’s God-given spouse), and rebellion against any rightful authority. This also means that God’s children must not join ungodly organizations, such as lodges and even labor unions (the latter promote rebellion against one’s employer). Finally, this means that although believers must necessarily interact with unbelievers, we must avoid close friendships with any unbelievers.
Second, as regards God’s church as a body, this doctrine requires the church to preach the truth of Scripture and to warn God’s people against the many devilish lies that men promote (2 Timothy 4:2ff). It requires her to call men everywhere to faith and repentance. It requires churches to join themselves in federation with other churches which preach the same truth over against the lie, and to avoid ecumenical relations with other churches which no longer preach the truth. To say this is not to ignore or work against Jesus’ prayer “that they may be one” (John 17:11), for here Jesus prays for the true, spiritual unity of those whom the Father gave Him (the elect for whom He died), in the way of confessing the truth about Jesus Christ. For the church to join forces with those who deny the truth is for her to live synthetically, not antithetically. Always God’s church and people are to avoid the synthesis, and to manifest the antithesis.
Manifesting the antithesis in her life, the church shows forth the virtues of Jehovah, for which purpose God saved her: “that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9).
Bibliography
The Standard Bearer, (Grandville, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association) volume 4, page 353: “Antithesis, Synthesis, and Dualism” by Rev. Herman Hoeksema.
The Standard Bearer, volume 62, pages 97-120 (Special issue on the subject of the antithesis).
The Standard Bearer, volume 73, pages 157f, 275f, and 301f: “Antithesis” by Rev. Steven Key.
Herman Hanko, For Thy Truth’s Sake (Grandville, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association), chapter 10: “Doctrine of the Antithesis.”
Ronald Hanko, Doctrine According to Godliness (Grandville, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association), pages 209-210: “The Antithesis”
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Post by Admin on Oct 5, 2023 16:19:24 GMT -5
DOCTRINAL QUESTION
Is There a Falling Away of the Sanctified?
For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:26-29.
Two questions on this passage were submitted by two different readers. Both refer to the same problem. One reader writes: “How can these men have been sanctified?” The other reader writes: “Please could you explain these verses. Since I understand that an elect child of God cannot lose his salvation, what do they mean?”
The problem is clear enough. The text obviously describes people who have received the knowledge of the truth and have, for a time, confessed it. But in the course of their life as “Christians,” they have sinned willfully, according to vs. 26. For these people there is “no more sacrifice for sin,” but instead, terrible judgments.
There is no difficulty in all this. But in vs. 29 these same people are described as being “sanctified.” They are charged with the sin of counting the blood of the covenant, wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing, and they did despite to the Spirit of grace.
Sanctified people are regenerated and saved people. The text describes them as sanctified. How then can such terrible judgments, including eternal desolation in hell, be ascribed to them?
Before I answer this question specifically, we ought to remind ourselves of the reason why this epistle was written.
During the course of the progress of the gospel, many Jews were brought into the church. This began on Pentecost and continued throughout the apostolic era as Paul began his work in a new city by preaching first of all to the Jews in the synagogues.
These Jews were often the objects of persecution, especially by their fellow Jews who considered converted Jews to be traitors to the religion of their fathers. They, under the pressure of persecution, were tempted to abandon their Christian faith and return to Judaism to placate their compatriots. The temptation was strong to become “backsliders.”
Against these the apostle warns. This epistle is a powerful testimony of the fact that all the Old Testament types and shadows have been fulfilled in Christ. The key word in the Hebrews is “better.” The fulfillment of the types and shadows is “better” than the shadows. Far better. Melchisedek was “good”; how much better is He who is priest forever after the order of Melchisedek.
But accompanying that teaching are warnings. They are sharp warnings, and the gist of them is this. Judgment awaits all those who die in unbelief and who in their unbelief reject the gospel. But much greater judgments come upon those who once confessed the truth as it is in Christ, but, after confessing it, turn away from it. Their judgment is greater on the principle which our Lord Himself lays down: To whom much is given, of him shall much be required. And, The one who knew his Lord’s will and did not do it shall be beaten with more stripes than one who did not know his Lord’s will.
This is the reason why these people are described in the text as having received the knowledge of the truth, but sinning willfully after they had received such knowledge. They have abandoned that which formerly they confessed.
Having understood this, let us also agree with the writers of these questions, that there is no falling away of the saints. Scripture is clear and sharp on that truth. John 10:27-30 teaches this in unmistakable language.
Implied in the preservation of the saints is the fact that those in the church who eventually fall away (and there are many of them) have never really been sanctified. If they had been sanctified, they would have been made holy – for this is what sanctification means. And if they had been made holy, they would have been people of God, elect, purchased with the blood of atonement. Then also, they would have remained that, even if they had, at any time, fallen into sin.
These people are, therefore, like those who are mentioned by John in I John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
Why then are they called “sanctified?” The answer to that question is that they confessed at one time that they were sanctified. They claimed to be among the sanctified. They cast their lot with the sanctified people of God. They said before the church and the world that they were sanctified in Christ. Now they deny that. They had received the knowledge of the truth; now they want it no longer. Thus they count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and they do despite to the Spirit of grace.
They are those Jews who were brought into the church, but who now return to their former Judaism.
This interpretation is not foreign to Scripture. In II Peter 2:1, reference is made to people who belonged to the church, but now turn against the truth and become false prophets. They are described in the text as “denying the Lord who bought them.” Christ did not actually die for them and purchase them with His blood. But they confess that this was so; and now they deny it.
What a powerful warning to us to be careful lest we too turn against that which once we confessed!
—Prof. Herman Hanko
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2023 18:52:22 GMT -5
THE TRINITY
The biblical doctrine of the Trinity is the most important and also one of the least appreciated of all the doctrines of the Bible. Though most believers understand that this doctrine separates Christianity from all heathen religions and from the sects, they do not see its value. It seems to them to have little connection with their life or their assurance. We wish especially to show that the doctrine of the Trinity is of the greatest possible value to believers. To know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is to know God. To know God is life eternal ( John 17:3).
Before we talk about the ways in which this doctrine is valuable, however, let us make sure we understand it. First, we should know that belief in the Trinity is not tritheism, or belief in three gods. Sects like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and false religions like Islam say that Christians believe in three Gods. They are wrong. We believe that the Lord our God is one Lord (Deut. 6:4). The word Trinity emphasizes this. It means “triunity.” Following the teaching of Scripture, we also believe that in God there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Moreover, they are real persons—distinct and individual personalities with different names, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—names which reflect their personal characteristics.
Many who claim to believe in the Trinity actually deny that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are real persons. Some, for example, speak of the Holy Spirit not as a person, but merely as a power that can be manipulated and used. Others teach a “oneness”doctrine that sounds very biblical, but is really a denial of the Trinity. According to this false teaching, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are only different offices, names, or ways in which the one God reveals himself. This teaching was condemned in the early history of the New Testament church. Then it was called monarchianism or Sabellianism.
In contrast, the Bible ascribes to the Son, to the Holy Spirit, and to the Father all the characteristics of real persons, while emphasizing that they are all one God. They are not mere names or powers or works of God. If they are not real persons, all that we believe about Jesus Christ is worthless, and we have no person in the Trinity to come in the likeness of our sinful flesh, to stand in our place, to take our sins as his own, to die for us and make redemption for us, and to represent us before the Father. Nor do we have the person of the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts and to bring us into a close, personal relationship with God. Our confession of the Trinity is the confession of Psalm 48:14: “This God is our God . . . he will be our guide even unto death.”
Rev. Ronald Hanko
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In The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 9, the “SCRIPTURAL WITNESS ON THE TRINITY” is treated as thus: All these things we know from the testimonies of Holy Scripture as well as from the effects of the persons, especially from those we feel within ourselves.
The testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, which teach us to believe in this Holy Trinity, are written in many places of the Old Testament, which need not be enumerated but only chosen with discretion.
In the book of Genesis God says, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." So "God created man in his own image"-- indeed, "male and female he created them"(Gen. 1:26-27). "Behold, man has become like one of us" (Gen. 3:22).
It appears from this that there is a plurality of persons within the Deity, when he says, "Let us make man in our image"-- and afterwards he indicates the unity when he says, "God created."
It is true that he does not say here how many persons there are—but what is somewhat obscure to us in the Old Testament is very clear in the New.
For when our Lord was baptized in the Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard saying, "This is my dear Son" (Matt. 3:17); the Son was seen in the water; and the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove.
So, in the baptism of all believers this form was prescribed by Christ: "Baptize all people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19).
In the Gospel according to Luke the angel Gabriel says to Mary, the mother of our Lord: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and therefore that holy one to be born of you shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35 ).
And in another place it says: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you" (2 Cor. 13:14).
"There are three who bear witness in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit—and these three are one" (1 John 5:7 ).
In all these passages we are fully taught that there are three persons in the one and only divine essence. And although this doctrine surpasses human understanding, we nevertheless believe it now, through the Word, waiting to know and enjoy it fully in heaven.
Furthermore, we must note the particular works and activities of these three persons in relation to us. The Father is called our Creator, by reason of his power. The Son is our Savior and Redeemer, by his blood. The Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier, by his living in our hearts.
This doctrine of the holy Trinity has always been maintained in the true church, from the time of the apostles until the present, against Jews, Muslims, and certain false Christians and heretics, such as Marcion, Mani, Praxeas, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Arius, and others like them, who were rightly condemned by the holy fathers.
And so, in this matter we willingly accept the three ecumenical creeds—the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian—as well as what the ancient fathers decided in agreement with them.
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These extracts from “Doctrine according to Godliness” and The Belgic Confession of Faith” is posted with permission from their publisher, Reformed Free Publishing Association, Grandville, Michigan
Next: Part I God and His Word - THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRINITY
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Post by Admin on Oct 31, 2023 11:09:54 GMT -5
Here is an anti postmillenial post
Rod Bongat
How nice it would be if we did not have to worry about persecution, about the terrible tribulation of the Antichrist's kingdom. How nice it would be if we could rather look forward to our faith pervading all the world. The song of postmillennialism is a lullaby. It is a sweet siren song that gradually sings the child of God to sleep. It is a song which is so beautiful, so entrancing, that he forgets all about his calling to watch for the coming of the Lord. And so when a very beautiful and glorious kingdom comes to this world, he will say: Ah, our dreams are realized, our hopes are fulfilled, our longings are satisfied; the kingdom of our Christ has come. But, lo and behold, it is the kingdom, not of Christ, but of Antichrist.
Do you respond to this by saying , "Never fear. I will be able to tell the difference. I can never possibly confuse the two. I know how Christ's kingdom is different from that of Antichrist"?
If you say this, then all I can do is warn you that the deception is very real and very much a possibility. The Lord was deeply concerned about this very thing when He told us, "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch, that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before" (Matthew 24:23-25). The hope of the believer, and for this I am profoundly grateful, is not on any kingdom in this sorry world, but is fastened with eagerness, with longing and with great optimism, on the everlasting kingdom of righteousness which shall be realized only in the new heavens and in the new earth where sin shall be no more.
–Prof. Herman Hanko
Reply
3h
Rod Bongat
Rev. Herman Hanko is professor emeritus at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, MI.
Reply
3h
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2023 0:26:56 GMT -5
DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLINESS
Rev. Ronald Hanko
PART I – GOD AND HIS WORKS
ONE COVENANT (3/5)
If God’s covenant is everlasting, and Scripture often says that it is, then there can be only one covenant. A temporary covenant can be replaced, but God’s covenant is not temporary.
Also, if the covenant is unbreakable, there can be but one covenant. That it is unbreakable, Scripture testifies in Judges 2:1, Psalm 89:34, Jeremiah 33:20, 21, and many other passages. It is therefore also the only covenant.
If the covenant is God’s covenant, and if God’s covenant is the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity, then, too, the covenant must be one, because God is one.
We hold to one covenant over against dispensationalism, with its many covenants. And we teach one covenant over against the Baptist position, which distinguishes between the old covenant and the new, at least as far as the sign of the covenant is concerned. We also reject the older teaching that there is a separate and distinct “covenant of works” with Adam.
The many Scripture passages that speak of an everlasting covenant (singular) prove this. We refer our readers to such Scriptures as Genesis 17:7, 2 Samuel 23:5, Psalm 105:8–10, Isaiah 55:3, Ezekiel 16:60–62, and Hebrews 13:20.
But what about all the passages that speak of covenants in the plural? (Rom. 9:4; Gal. 4:24; and others). And what about the passages that speak of an old and a new covenant? (Jer. 31:31–33; Heb. 8:6–13). Unless we are willing to accept the idea that the Bible can contradict itself (and that therefore God can contradict himself), we must reconcile these passages with those that teach one covenant. Scripture helps us do that by some of the language it uses.
Scripture speaks of God’s remembering his covenant (Lev. 26:42; Luke 1:72), giving his covenant (Num. 25:12; Acts 7:8), declaring it (Deut. 4:13), and keeping it (1 Kings 8:23). These expressions help us see that when God establishes his covenant or makes a covenant, he is not discarding the old and bringing in an entirely new covenant, but only giving a new revelation of his one covenant of grace. In that sense only are there old and new covenants, or more than one covenant.
This one covenant can never be anything but a covenant of grace. There is no other basis on which we can live in a relationship with God except by his undeserved favor toward us. Even Adam, though he by his obedience could continue to enjoy a covenant relationship with God, was not in that relationship by merit.
We reject, therefore, the teaching that the covenant with Adam was a covenant of works based on merit, and not on grace. Especially we reject the idea that in that covenant Adam could have merited eternal life by his obedience.
Luke 17:10 destroys every possibility of merit when it says,“So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable [unmeriting] servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” The everlasting covenant of God is all of grace.
—Rev. Ronald Hanko
Next: Part I God and His Word - THE COVENANT OF GRACE
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Post by Admin on Nov 8, 2023 10:24:09 GMT -5
DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLINESS
Rev. Ronald Hanko
PART 4 - THE COVENANT AND SALVATION
THE NATURE OF THE COVENANT (1/14)
What is the covenant? Scripture speaks of it often, and it is necessary, therefore, to know what Scripture is talking about.
Most would define a covenant by speaking of a contract or an agreement. They say that God’s covenant with man is of the same sort as a human covenant, such as that between Isaac and Abimelech (Gen. 21:27–32), with various duties, promises, and penalties.
Such a covenant is made by two parties or sides, depends to some
extent on each, and can be broken by either. Adam, so it is said, was the original covenant-making party with God, but now that Adam has fallen, Christ has replaced him.
God’s covenant with men is not that kind of covenant. Man can
never be a party with the living God in making such a covenant. Because God is God and man is a creature, owing his very existence to God, there are no duties man can assume by way of a special agreement besides those duties that he is already obliged to perform. The creature cannot make a contract with the Creator.
Nor can man ever merit anything with God in such a covenant by
his own works or by fulfilling certain conditions. When he has done all that is required of him, he is still an unprofitable servant (Luke 17:10). Certainly man could not merit eternal life in the covenant, as some teach. Eternal life comes only through him who is the Lord from heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:47, 48).
Scripture teaches that the covenant is not an agreement, but a sov-
ereignly established bond or relationship between God and his people in Christ. This is clear from the often-repeated words of Scripture through which God reveals his covenant: “I will be thy God, and ye shall be my people” (Gen. 17:8; Ex. 6:7; 2 Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:3).
These words, found in slightly different forms, become a kind of
covenant formula throughout Scripture. They show us that a particular passage is speaking of the covenant.
Other passages actually describe such a relationship between God
and his people. Genesis 5:22–24, Genesis 6:9, Genesis 18:17–19, Psalm 25:14, John 17:23, James 2:23, and 1 John 1:3 are a few such passages. All of them show that God’s covenant is the blessed relationship of fellowship and friendship that he establishes with them by grace alone and through the saving work of Jesus Christ.
This relationship is sovereignly established by God: he makes and
guarantees the relationship. In no sense does the covenant depend on man as a second party, but it is wholly the work of God and all of grace,that is, of undeserved favor. The covenant is always a covenant of grace.
Rev. Ronald Hanko
Next: Part 4 - The Covenant and Salvation: 1/14 - The Covenant with AdamTHE COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM
Rev. Ronald Hanko
THE COVENANT PROMISE (5/5)
One of the most precious aspects of God’s covenant is the promise by which he makes his covenant known to us. In that promise he shows that his covenant really is a covenant of grace. By that promise he multiplies mercy and adds grace to grace.
That promise is found repeatedly in Scripture and is a kind of covenant formula. With minor word changes, it is this Word of God:“I will be your God and ye shall be my people” (Gen. 17:7, 8; Deut. 7:6; 2 Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:3).
One could not imagine a greater promise than that or anything better than having God as our God, knowing him, loving him, and having fellowship with him. Yet God adds grace to grace and blessing to blessing, for that is not the whole promise of the covenant.
In mercy God adds to this the promise that he will also be the God of our children. Although we ourselves do not deserve anything from him, he not only promises us salvation, but he promises it as well to our children. What unspeakable grace!
That Word of God regarding the children of believers is part of the covenant promise, both in the Old and the New Testaments. It is found first in Genesis 17:7, 8 at the beginning of God’s dealings with Abraham. It is found again at the beginning of the history of the New Testament church in Acts 2:39.
We must understand that this promise never was, and never will be, a guarantee that God will save every one of our children. There are always Esaus and Cains in the families of God’s people, to their great grief. God’s promise is that he will continue his covenant with his people and their families, and that they—with their families and in their generations—will not be cut off.
This is the promise that is commemorated and signified when the infants of believers are baptized. This is the promise that motivates all covenant instruction and discipline and gives assurance that these will be effective. It is the promise by which God shows us just how great his grace is.
We would emphasize, too, that it is a promise, an oath sworn by God who does not change and who does not lie. That is something for parents to hold on to through all the trials and tribulations of rearing a family. It is a reason for them to continue to pray when a son or daughter is wayward and disobedient.
May God by this most precious of all promises show to many the grace and faithfulness of his covenant (Ps. 25:14).
Rev. Ronald Hanko
Next: Part 4 - The Covenant and Salvation: 1 - The Nature of the Covenant
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Post by Admin on Nov 10, 2023 23:51:37 GMT -5
THE BIBLE’S DIVINE CHARACTER
The issue of the Bible's divine character is among the issues that atheists and Bible believers are continually contesting seemingly to no end. The atheists argue that the Bible is just an invention and a product of man's fanciful imagination and therefore is untrue and may not be used in any way or form in the regulation of man's life. The Bible believers however contend that the Bible is not only authored and given by God but also that, as His Word, the use of it as a guide for man's faith and life, is warranted.
Which is true? And which of these views serves God's sovereign purpose? Is the Bible really just an invention of fallible man?; or, is it the God-breathed Word of the sovereign creator God?
Rev. Ronald Hanko addressed this issue in his book "Doctrine according to Godliness." His treatment of it goes under three subtopics: The Inspiration of Scripture, The Infallibility of Scripture, and The Authority of Scripture. Rev. Hanko wrote:
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The Inspiration of Scripture
In some ways the doctrine of Scripture’s divine inspiration is the most important of all doctrines. Every other doctrine and all instruction in piety and godliness come from Scripture. Without Scripture we cannot know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, whom to know is life eternal. All that God reveals of himself in Christ is there. Without Scripture we cannot know how to please God. Scripture is our only guide for holiness. If Scripture is not the inspired Word of God, we lose everything.
This doctrine of inspiration is taught in 2 Timothy 3:15–17. There God says of his Word that it is all “God-breathed” (the words ‘given by inspiration of God’ are a translation of one Greek word meaning “God-breathed”). This is a very striking way of saying that Scripture is the work of the Spirit of God (“breath” and “Spirit” are the same word in Greek), and that Scripture is therefore the very speech of God’s own mouth.
Because Scripture is the breath of God, it must be perfect and without error. To speak against Scripture is to speak against God himself. When we read the Bible, we hear the sweet voice and smell the sweet breath of him whose lips are “like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh” (Song of Sol. 5:13). Who, then, dares to be critical?
Scripture in 2 Timothy 3 does not only teach ‘inspiration,’ but also teaches ‘plenary’ inspiration. The word ‘plenary’ means “full” or “complete” and refers to the fact that Scripture is inspired in all its parts, in all the different kinds of literature that it contains and in all matters that it addresses. Not only in its doctrines, but also in matters of geography, history, science, culture, and life, it is God-breathed and therefore perfect and infallible. Even its grammar is God-breathed, a reason we must insist on a careful translation of Scripture and must not be satisfied with anything less.
Because the Scriptures are fully inspired, they are profitable in four ways: doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (vv. 15–17). Without speaking in detail of each one of these, let us only notice that there is a beautiful completeness here. The Scriptures are profitable for ‘everything’ we need for salvation. They show us the way of salvation (the basic meaning of ‘doctrine’). They bring us to the way by convicting us of sin (‘reproof’), without which we will never know our need of Christ and his cross. They keep us in the way by ‘correction,’ thus restoring us when we are weak and wandering. They also nurture us in the way (the word translated ‘instruction’ is the same word that is translated “nurture” in Ephesians 6:4). They lead us to spiritual maturity, perfection, and glory in Christ. There is nothing else necessary in the Christian’s life! The Scriptures are able to make us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (v. 15).
What more can we ask? Let us, then, receive the Scriptures as Godbreathed and use them accordingly.
The Infallibility of Scripture
Scripture is the Word of God, it is also perfect. To find error in Scripture is to find error in God. To receive Scripture as anything less than infallible is to deny the immutability and sovereignty of God. John 10:35 clearly teaches the infallibility of Scripture. In that verse Jesus says, “The scripture cannot be broken.” He uses the singular, Scripture, to show that the Bible is the one Word of God, though it was given through many different men and in many different times. Because it is one, any attempt to tamper with Scripture is an attempt to destroy it. No one can take away parts of it or deny that they are forever true without leaving only a ruin behind.
It is interesting that Jesus not only says that we may not break the Scripture, but also that it cannot be broken. He means to say that all the efforts of men to find error in Scripture or to throw off its demands are in vain. They are, when they find fault with the Scriptures, taking counsel against the Lord and against his Anointed, and he who sits in heaven laughs at them (Ps. 2:2–4). They, not Scripture, are broken on the unbreakable Word of God when they claim to find fault with the words or teachings of Scripture, for by such efforts they come under the judgment of God.
The context of John 10:35 is important, too, where Jesus quotes from the Old Testament in support of his claim to be God. He refers to Psalm 82:6, which calls earthly rulers gods. He says that if they can be called gods, then surely he who is sanctified and sent of the Father into the world ought not be accused of blasphemy when he says, “I am the Son of God.” Without going into the question of how earthly rulers can be called gods, we should notice that this is a remarkable statement. We would not dare to say it if it were not in Scripture, and even then we probably find it difficult to understand. Jesus assumes that the statement must be true and an infallible guide simply because it is found in Scripture. Just the way he quotes and uses Scripture is a great lesson for us on the theme “The Scripture Cannot Be Broken.”
It is significant, too, that Jesus refers to these words from Psalm 82 as “law.” He means that all Scripture, because it is the infallible Word of God, is the divine rule for our whole life. There is nothing in Scripture that is not the will of God for us, nor is there any counsel we need that is not found in Scripture. History, poems, prophecies, letters—all are God’s law for us. This is perhaps the most important point of all. It is not enough simply to say that Scripture is infallible and inerrant. We must also bow before it, submit to its teaching at every point, and receive it as willing and obedient servants of God. Otherwise, our confession of inspiration and infallibility is mere hypocrisy.
Do you believe that Scripture is infallible? Then ask yourself this question:“Is Scripture the law of God for me in everything I believe and do?”
The Authority of Scripture
Because Scripture is the inspired and infallible Word of God, it has supreme authority. There is no human authority that is greater, no man made rule that can supersede its rule, and no teaching that can contradict anything it teaches.
It has authority in all matters of doctrine. This is implied in 1 Timothy 3:16, where doctrine is mentioned first. In that passage the authority of Scripture is not the thing being emphasized, but its profitableness. We must understand, however, that Scripture is of profit because it has authority: its teaching is always the “last word” in any matter, especially in matters of doctrine.
It has the same authority in all matters of practice and Christian living. The fact that it was written thousands of years ago, in different cultures and to different people, makes no difference at all. Because it is the Word of God himself, who knows the end from the beginning and who does not change, the changing circumstances of life in this world do not destroy the authority of anything Scripture says.
Because Paul wrote about the place of women in the home and church in a different culture than ours does not make what he says invalid. It is not Paul who says it, but God himself.
Indeed, it is a reason for amazement to those who believe in the inspiration of Scripture to see how often Scripture, as the Word of eternal God, anticipates present-day false teachings and practices. A good example of this is found in 2 Peter 3:1–7, where the theory of evolution is undermined and destroyed by Scripture’s repudiation of uniformitarianism, the assumption that all things continue the same from the beginning of time.
Scripture’s authority is supreme even in matters of history, geography, science, or any other academic discipline insofar as it has anything to say on those matters. It does not have authority only in the area of theology and Christian living. So great is its authority that the believer must accept what it says even in the face of opposition from science.
We must understand that Scripture’s authority is the authority of God himself. To say that Scripture is the Word of God is to say that it has all authority. To deny it is to deny God; to contradict it is to contradict God himself.
No one can say that he accepts Scripture’s authority at one point and rejects it at another. He cannot say he accepts what it says about Jesus, but not what it says about creation. It is all God’s Word, and all of it is crowned with God’s authority. God and God’s speech cannot be accepted or rejected at will. His Word cannot be broken (John 10:35).
It is one thing to confess Scripture’s authority; however, it is another thing to bow to it. At every point in our Christian life, our submission to Scripture is tested. Nor is it easy to submit to Scripture’s commands when they cross our wills, or to Scripture’s teaching when it runs contrary to every fleshly inclination, as it usually does.
Only by grace do we obey. God, who gave Scripture, also gives us the necessary grace. We say with Augustine, ”Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.”
–Rev. Ronald Hanko
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Post by Admin on Nov 17, 2023 11:17:54 GMT -5
THAT GOD IS ONE IS BIBLICAL
TRINITARIANS believe that GOD IS ONE: but not in the “limited” way and sense that most proponents of IT do who chop off and ignore essential texts necessary for a full, proper, honest and factual Bible interpretation. The Reformed Creeds and Confessions had proved and established God's Oneness and Triune essence. The following are representative exposition proofs.
The Belgic Confession of Faith, Articles 8 and 9 teach:
Article 8: That God is one in Essence, yet nevertheless distinguished in three Persons.
According to this truth and this Word of God, we believe in one only God, who is the one single essence, in which are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct, according to their incommunicable properties; namely, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father is the cause, origin and beginning of all things visible and invisible; the Son is the word, wisdom, and image of the Father; the Holy Ghost is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless God is not by this distinction divided into three, since the Holy Scriptures teach us, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, have each his personality, distinguished by their properties; but in such wise that these three persons are but one only God. Hence then, it is evident, that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, and likewise the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless these persons thus distinguished are not divided, nor intermixed: for the Father hath not assumed the flesh, nor hath the Holy Ghost, but the Son only. The Father hath never been without his Son, or without his Holy Ghost. For they are all three co-eternal and co-essential. There is neither first nor last: for they are all three one, in truth, in power, in goodness, and in mercy.
Article 9: The proof of the foregoing article of the Trinity of persons in one God.
All this we know, as well from the testimonies of holy writ, as from their operations, and chiefly by those we feel in ourselves. The testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, that teach us to believe this Holy Trinity are written in many places of the Old Testament, which are not so necessary to enumerate, as to choose them out with discretion and judgment. In Genesis, chapter 1:26, 27, God saith: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, etc. So God created man in his own image, male and female created he them. And Genesis 3:22. Behold the man is become as one of us. From this saying, let us make man in our image, it appears that there are more persons than one in the Godhead; and when he saith, God created, he signifies the unity. It is true that he doth not say how many persons there are, but that, which appears to us somewhat obscure in the Old Testament, is very plain in the New. For when our Lord was baptized in Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard, saying, This is my beloved Son: the Son was seen in the water, and the Holy Ghost appeared in the shape of a dove. This form is also instituted by Christ in the baptism of all believers. Baptize all nations, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. In the Gospel of Luke, the angel Gabriel thus addressed Mary, the mother of our Lord, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God: likewise, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you. And there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. In all which places we are fully taught, that there are three persons in one only divine essence. And although this doctrine far surpasses all human understanding, nevertheless, we now believe it by means of the Word of God, but expect hereafter to enjoy the perfect knowledge and benefit thereof in Heaven. Moreover, we must observe the particular offices and operations of these three persons toward us. The Father is called our Creator, by his power; the Son is our Savior and Redeemer, by his blood; the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier, by his dwelling in our hearts. This doctrine of the Holy Trinity, hath always been defended and maintained by the true Church, since the time of the apostles, to this very day, against the Jews, Mohammedans, and some false Christians and heretics, as Marcion, Manes, Praxeas, Sabellius, Samosatenus, Arius, and such like, who have been justly condemned by the orthodox fathers. Therefore, in this point, we do willingly receive the three creeds, namely, that of the Apostles, of Nice, and of Athanasius: likewise that, which, conformable thereunto, is agreed upon by the ancient fathers.
The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 8, Q & A 24 and 25 also teach:
Question 24: How are these articles [of the Apostle's Creed] divided?
Answer: Into three parts: the first is of God the Father and our creation; [1] the second, of God the Son and our redemption; [2] the third, of God the Holy Ghost and our sanctification. [3]
1. Gen. 1.
2. 1 Pet. 1:18, 19.
3. 1 Pet. 1:21, 22.
Question 25: Since there is but one only divine essence, [4] why speakest thou of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?
Answer: Because God hath so revealed Himself in His Word, [5] that these three distinct persons are the one only true and eternal God.
4. Deut. 6:4.
5. Gen. 1:26. Isa. 61:1. John 14:16, 17. 1 John 5:7. John 1:14. Mat. 28:19. 2 Cor. 13:14.
Moreover, works of notable expositors of the Word are to be found in the churches' archives as well as in the writings in recent times of Reformed theologians proving the doctrine of God's Oneness and Triune essence. To serve the purpose of this post, we will quote just one representative example.
Prof. David Engelsma, in his book. The Reformed Faith of John Calvin (The Institutes in Summary), pp. 81-82, writes: Specifically, the significance and importance of the Trinity for Calvin are, first, that the doctrine distinguishes the true God from all idols. In fact, this is Calvin’s approach to the doctrine in the Institutes. The section prior to his treatment of the Tinity has to do with the idols. From a condemnation of idols and idolatry, Calvin turns to the worship of the true God by setting forth the doctrine of the Trinity. He writes, ”God also designates himself by another special mark to distinguish himself more precisely from all idols.” The one true God is triune. Such is the importance of the Trinity that “unless we grasp these [three persons] only the bare and empty name of God flits around in our brains, to the exclusion of the true God.”
Second, the importance of the Trinity is that upon this doctrine depend the deity of Jesus Christ and the deity of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. For Calvin, it is absolutely necessary for salvation that Jesus Christ be very God and that the Holy Spirit be very God. Calvin’s thinking is this: If the one who died on the cross is not God, his sacrifice does not have the worth and value to pay for our sins. Likewise, if the Spirit who dwells within us is not God, he cannot raise us from our spiritual death, sanctify us, and raise our body from the grave.”
HENCE IN LIGHT OF THE FOREGOING: GOD IS ONE IN ESSENCE NEVERTHELESS DISTINGUISHED IN THREE PERSONS.
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Post by Admin on Nov 25, 2023 17:13:33 GMT -5
DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLINESS
Rev. Ronald Hanko
PART 4 - THE COVENANT AND SALVATION
THE LAW AND THE COVENANT (8/14)
The unique feature of the covenant with Israel was, of course, the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. What is the relationship between the law and the covenant?
Fundamental to an understanding of this relationship is Galatians 3:17–21. This passage shows, first, that the covenant with Abraham four hundred years before the giving of the law is the covenant that was “confirmed in Christ,” that is, the one everlasting covenant of God; and, second, that the giving of the law could not disannul this covenant (v. 17). In fact, the law is not even against the covenant (v. 21).
Exodus 24:7 goes so far as to call the law “the book of the covenant,” the book in which God makes known his covenant with his people. If the covenant to which it belonged is the covenant that was confirmed in Christ—the same covenant to which we belong—then the law is still the book of the covenant, though much has been added to that book since then.
According to Galatians 3:19, this written law was added to the covenant because of transgressions, until Christ should come. This means that the law, by revealing sin, shows us our need for Christ. It was “our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (v. 24) in him.
Romans 10:4 says much the same thing. It does not say that Christ is the end of the law in the sense that he takes the law away, but that he is the end of the law by being its goal and purpose. The law was given with Christ as its goal, and it accomplishes its purpose when, by discovering sin, it showed true Israel their need for Christ and for justification through faith in him.
That the law continues to have this function Paul clearly shows in Romans 7:7: “I had not known sin, but by the law.” Galatians 3 also proves this when it says that the law was not only the Jews’ schoolmaster, but “ours also” (vv. 23, 24).
We have no difficulty, therefore, in saying that the law was and is part of the covenant. It certainly was part of the covenant in the Old Testament, as Galatians 3:19 reminds us. That it still belongs to the covenant is clear from the fact that the same law continues to be to us a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. What has changed is our relationship to the law as covenant people, but that is another subject entirely, the subject of Galatians 4:1–7.
This is not to deny that there were “rudiments of the world” attached to the law and elements that were purely ceremonial (Col. 2:20–23). These have ceased, but even in the Old Testament they were part of God’s covenant in that they pointed to Christ and functioned as a “schoolmaster” to bring Israel to Christ.
The point is that there is but one covenant, a covenant that is not in
conflict with the law, a covenant of grace in Christ to which all true Israel belongs. God’s law was not, is not, and never will be against God’s covenant.
Rev. Ronald Hanko
Next: Part 4 - The Covenant and Salvation: 1 - The Law’s Function in the Covenant
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Post by Admin on Nov 27, 2023 10:37:41 GMT -5
DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLINESS
Rev. Ronald Hanko
PART 4 - THE COVENANT AND SALVATION
THE COVENANT AND THE LAND OF PROMISE (5/14)
Genesis 15 shows clearly that God's covenant with Abraham—and through Abraham also with true Israel and with us—is a covenant of grace. That same chapter, however, reminds us of another notable feature of the Abrahamic covenant: it involved a promise of the land.
The land promise, however, is very often misunderstood and leads many to look for some future restoration of the nation of Israel in the earthly land of Canaan. We believe this to be a vain hope.
The covenant with Abraham shows just how vain that hope is. If the covenant with Abraham as a land covenant involved the promise of an earthly land, then that promise was never fulfilled to Abraham himself.
The Word tells us in Acts 7:5 that God gave Abraham no inheritance in the land, not so much as to set his foot on. Yet as verse 5 says, God promised it not only to Abraham's seed, but also to him. There cannot be, in our estimation, clearer proof that the land promise and all such promises in the Old Testament had a spiritual fulfillment. The promise of the land was always essentially the promise of a heavenly inheritance, and not really the promise of any earthly land or inheritance.
Hebrews 11:8–16 confirms this. When Abraham, by faith, left Ur to go to the land God had promised him, he "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (v. 10). Isaac and Jacob, too, always "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (v. 13) and declared that they were seeking "a better country, that is, an heavenly" (v. 16). In fact, if they had been looking for an earthly inheritance, they might have had opportunity to go back to the land from which they first came (v. 15), but that was not their hope. Nor is it ours. Because the land promise to Abraham was really a promise of spiritual and heavenly things, all the true children of Abraham (Rom. 3:28, 29; Rom. 4:16, 17; Gal. 3:29), those who believe in Abraham's God, both Jews and Gentiles, shall enjoy the fulfillment of that promise and of all the other promises of the covenant that God made to Abraham and his seed. Not one shall fail to obtain what was promised—not Abraham himself, not those believing Jews who were scattered after the captivity and never returned to Canaan, and not the Gentile believers who are also true children of Abraham by faith.
Thus all Abraham's children inherit with Abraham something far better than the hills and rivers and cities of the earthly land. They enter that blessed inheritance of which Hebrews 12:22–24 speaks, and there is none better.
Rev. Ronald Hanko
Next: Part 4 - The Covenant and Salvation: 6/14 - The Covenant with Israel
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Post by Admin on Dec 8, 2023 9:35:11 GMT -5
DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLINESS
Rev. Ronald Hanko
PART 4 - THE COVENANT AND SALVATION
The Old and New Covenants Compared (12/14)
We have shown from Hebrews 8:6–13 that the old and new covenants are not two separate and different covenants. At all essential points they are the same.
The differences between them are only in what we call administration, or administrative details. It is only in respect to these details that one is “old” and the other “new,” and that the old perishes and passes away. A new President is a change of administration, and therefore is a new government in that limited sense, not a change in the type of government or of the constitution.
How, then, are the old and new covenants different? According to Hebrews 8, in three ways:
First, there is a change of mediator (v. 6). Christ replaces Moses. This is not an essential difference, however, because Moses was a type of Christ. In Hebrews 3:5 Moses is even called “a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.” Also, in Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses himself speaks of Christ as a “Prophet . . . like unto me.” This difference,
therefore, is only administrative.
Second, there is also a change in the way the law is written (Heb. 8:10). As we have pointed out, the law itself is not taken away; it is simply rewritten on fleshly tables of the heart instead of on tables of stone. This, too, is only an administrative change, though it has great significance for the New Testament believer. Something rewritten is not something different and separate from what went before.
This second point is especially important because in both Deuteronomy 4:13 and Hebrews 8:10, the giving of the law is called the giving of the covenant. One cannot, then, argue that although the law was the same, the covenants are different. They are identified in both Deuteronomy and Hebrews.
Third, the new covenant also brings a fuller and more complete revelation. This is what Hebrews 8:11 is talking about. This fuller revelation is of such a kind that all God’s people know the Mediator directly, and not any longer through the intervention of earthly mediators. There is not under the new covenant the need of teachers like the priests and Levites of the Old Testament (see Mal. 2:6, 7 for proof that they, especially, were the teachers of the Old Testament).
This is also an administrative change. The new covenant does not bring a new (different and separate) revelation of God, but a better revelation (Heb. 8:6), that is, one that is completed and that reveals the realities only prophesied under the old covenant.
There is only one, everlasting covenant of God.
Rev. Ronald Hanko
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Post by Admin on Dec 10, 2023 7:49:22 GMT -5
DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLINESS
Rev. Ronald Hanko
PART 4 - THE COVENANT AND SALVATION
The Consummation of the Covenant (13/14)
One reason we do not believe that the covenant is an agreement or contract by which salvation is brought to God’s people has to do with the consummation of the covenant. The consummation of the covenant is its final realization and glory in the everlasting and heavenly kingdom of Christ our Lord.
If the covenant were a contract or agreement to bring salvation, then at the consummation, when we receive the fullness of our salvation, the covenant would be set aside or discarded in the same way that any other contract would be finished when all that had been contracted was completed.
But this cannot be. For one thing the covenant is everlasting. It is not something that is useful only for a time and then set aside, as a contract or agreement would be.
We believe, therefore, that the covenant is a relationship or bond between God and his people in Christ. That relationship is described in Scripture by the covenant formula: “I will be your God, and ye shall be my people.”
If that is indeed the essence of the covenant—that God is ours and we are his—then in heaven the covenant will not be left behind or abandoned but fully realized. That is what heaven is all about—that we will be with God to glorify him and to enjoy him forever.2
That is exactly how Revelation 21:3 describes the glory of the new heavens and the new earth. When all is new, there will be no more tears, no more death, no more crying or sorrow or pain. How wonderful that will be!
But even more wonderful is that which the voice from heaven foretells: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
Notice that this passage has in it the same covenant formula that is used throughout Scripture: “I will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” There is nothing more desirable or wonderful than that!
Notice, too, that the passage speaks of God’s tabernacle. In the Old Testament that was the place of his covenant, the place where he dwelt with his people and revealed himself as their God (Ex. 29:42–46). That Old Testament tent was a type and shadow of better things, for it pictured the Lord Jesus Christ himself, in whom and through whom God dwells with us and is our God, and by whom he reveals himself to us in all his glory. In Christ he meets with us and speaks with us.In Christ he dwells among us. That is the everlasting blessedness of
God’s covenant.
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Post by Admin on Dec 10, 2023 17:18:56 GMT -5
DOCTRINE ACCORDING TO GODLINESS
Rev. Ronald Hanko
PART 4 - THE COVENANT AND SALVATION
The Covenants Summarized (14/14)
We believe that we have shown from Scripture that the different covenants mentioned in Scripture are not separate covenants, but different revelations of the one everlasting covenant of God. We now wish to summarize what we have written earlier by listing the different covenants and what each of them shows as a revelation of that one covenant.
The first revelation of the covenant was to Adam in paradise. That covenant might be called The Covenant of Life, since it revealed the essential character of the covenant. It showed what the covenant was, revealed God as the sovereign Lord of the covenant, and clearly delineated man’s place in the covenant (Gen. 1; Gen. 2; Hos. 6:7).
The second great revelation of the covenant was to Adam after the fall. That covenant could be called The Covenant of Promise. It revealed God as the faithful, covenant-keeping God who maintains his covenant with his people by the power of sovereign, redemptive grace (Gen. 3, esp. v. 15). In it Christ is revealed as the promised Seed and the great Sacrifice (vv. 15, 21).
The third important revelation was to Noah. The covenant is best remembered as The Covenant of Creation. In it God revealed the universal character of his covenant, to include not all men, but all creation as well (Gen. 9:1–17). In it Christ is revealed as Reconciler and Lord of all creation (Gen. 9:15, 16; Col. 1:20).
The fourth revelation was to Abraham. That covenant could well be called The Covenant of the Family, since it showed more clearly than ever before that God’s covenant is very much a family covenant (Gen. 15; Gen. 17). The Father reveals to Abraham through his Son that he, God,will be the God of believers and their children.
The fifth great revelation was to Israel. Since the giving of the law was the main feature of that revelation, that covenant should be called The Covenant of Law. In it God revealed that law and covenant are not opposed, but belong together (Ex. 19; Ex. 20; Gal. 3; Gal. 4). He showed Israel that it is the law that defines and sets boundaries for our lives as God’s covenant people.
The sixth and last revelation in the Old Testament was that to David, and it might well be remembered as The Covenant of the Kingdom. In it God revealed especially the orderly structure of his covenant (2 Sam. 7; Ps. 89), as well as the unique place of Christ as sovereign Head and Lord of the covenant.
The whole New Testament itself is called in Scripture the new covenant, not because it is an entirely different covenant, but because it is a new revelation of the covenant, not of types and shadows, but of the realities to which those types pointed (Heb. 😎. Here, finally, Christ comes with all his blessings and fulfills the types and shadows.
Now we still wait for the day of the consummation of the covenant, when the covenant will be realized in all its fullness. Then the tabernacle of God will be with men; he will dwell with them and be with them as their God, and they shall be his people (Rev. 21:3).
Rev. Ronald Hanko
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Post by Admin on Jan 6, 2024 11:05:11 GMT -5
_________________________SAVED BY GRACE (TULIP)
1st INSTALLMENT
CHAPTER I - SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
1. God's sovereignty affirmed.
One truth distinguishes what is known as the Reformed faith, or Calvinism. That truth is the sovereignty of God.
Many people suppose that the heart of Calvinism is its teaching of predestination. When they hear of Calvinism or that someone is a Calvinist, they immediately think of election and reprobation.
Now certainly, it is true that the doctrine of predestination has an important place in the teaching of Calvinism, as it did in the teaching of John Calvin himself. Nevertheless, predestination is not the central truth of the Reformed faith. The heart of Calvinism is not the doctrine of predestination, or, for that matter, any one of the other Five Points of Calvinism. The central truth proclaimed by Calvinism, Calvinism that is faithful to its heritage, is the absolute sovereignty of God. Calvin saw the essential place that the confession of the sovereignty of God has in relation to the whole body of biblical truth: "Unless we fully believe this (i.e., God's sovereignty) the very beginning of our faith is periled, by which we profess to believe in God Almighty" (Calvin's Calvinism, "The Eternal Predestination of God," p. 43).
The distinguishing feature of the Reformed faith is unquestionably its conception of God. What we believe about God matters most. Everything else that we believe stands connected to and is affected by what we believe about God. The most important question that any man faces is the question "Who is God?" It is true, as Calvin writes in the opening paragraph of his Institutes, that all "... true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves" (I, 1, 1).1 But as he goes on to say, "... it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself" (I, 1, 2).2 Not only is the knowledge of God of great importance, it is also the chief end of man. The opening question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks: "What is the chief end of man?" The answer is: "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever." But man cannot glorify God or enjoy Him, if man does not know God. Man's chief end and calling, therefore, is to know God.
Not only is the knowledge of God man's highest calling, it is also his greatest good. Jesus teaches that in John 17:3: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Salvation itself consists in knowing God. Those who have eternal life possess a right and saving knowledge of God.
The God Whom we must know is a sovereign God. Knowledge of God begins with the affirmation of faith that God is and that God is sovereign. Since God is, He is sovereign. If He is God, He must also be a sovereign God. If God is not sovereign, the inescapable implication is that He is not God.
This is the great issue that divides true religion and false religion! This is the great issue that separates the true church of Jesus Christ in the world from the false and apostate church! This is the issue that distinguishes faith from unbelief: the sovereignty of God!
The confession of God's sovereignty is gladly made by every believer. It is the teaching about God set forth in the infallible Scriptures, the source of our knowledge about God. And this is the truth confessed about God by Reformed Christians.
A. The Doctrine
God's sovereignty is His absolute authority and rule over all things. To say that God is sovereign is to say that God is God, and that because He is God He does as He pleases, only as He pleases, and always as He pleases. That God is sovereign means that He is the Lord, the Ruler, the Master, the King. The one who confesses the sovereignty of God confesses that God is Almighty, Omnipotent, the One Who exercises all power in heaven and on earth. To confess the sovereignty of God is to confess that nothing is outside of God's control, but that all things take place according to His will and appointment.
Two fundamental truths stand at the basis of God's sovereignty. The first of these truths is the oneness of God. God is God alone; and there is no other god than the Lord God. Obviously, two cannot be almighty. Two cannot be omnipotent. Two cannot be sovereign. God is sovereign because He and only He is God.
In the second place, the sovereignty of God rests on the truth that He is the Creator. God has made everything that exists. By His almighty power He brought everything into existence in the beginning, "... call(ing) those things which be not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17). The entire universe owes its existence to God. By virtue of the fact that He is the Creator, God is sovereign over all things.
Parents have the right to rule over their children. God gives them that right because they are their children. They have conceived them; they have brought them forth; they have given them their life and existence. If this is true of earthly parents in relationship to their children, how much more is this not true of God in relationship to the universe!
God's sovereignty is an absolute sovereignty. By this we mean that God's sovereignty is over everything and everyone - nothing is excluded from God's sovereign control. God rules in the realm of the natural, exercising His power over inanimate creatures as well as the brute creation. God rules over men and angels, time and history, the world and the church. God's rule extends not only to those circumstances we regard as good, but also to the bad: sickness, famine, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Beyond this, God is sovereign even over sin and sinners, the devil and the demons of hell. They do nothing apart from His sovereign will.
Not only is God absolutely sovereign in the realm of the natural, but He is sovereign also in salvation. God's sovereignty in salvation means that God saves whom He wills to save and there is no power able to frustrate the sovereign power of God at work in the saving of the sinner. Not the natural obstinacy of the sinner himself, not the power of the devil, formidable though it is, not the opposition of the wicked world, intense though it may be, are able to stand in the way of the sovereignty of God. Not only can none of those frustrate the sovereign power of God in salvation, but under the sovereignty of God they actually serve the ultimate salvation of God's people.
Rev. Ronald Cammenga and Rev. Ronald Hanko
This extract from “Saved by Grace” is posted with permission from its publisher, Reformed Free Publishing Association, Grandville, Michigan
Next: Chapter I The Sovereignty of God - B. Scripture Proofs
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