Death of Christ: Justice of God Satisfied

The end of every free agent is either that which he effecteth, or that for whose sake he doth effect it.

. . .

The end which God effected by the death of Christ was the satisfaction of his own justice: the end for whose sake he did it was either supreme, or his own glory; or subordinate, ours with him (John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ,Vol. 10 of the Works of John Owen, 1852 (reprinted, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2007), 50).

. . .

Now, the end of the death of Christ is either supreme and ultimate, or intermediate and subservient to the last end.

1. The first is the glory of God, or the manifestation of his glorious attributes, especially of his justice, and mercy tempered with justice, unto us (89).

. . .

2. There is an end of the death of Christ which is intermediate and subservient to that other, which is the last and most supreme, even the effects which it hath in respect of us, and that is it of which we now treat; which, as we before affirmed, is the bringing of us unto God (90).

Calvinism: J.I. Packer

From J.I. Packer's Introductory Essay to John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ(The Banner of Truth Trust, 5).

Calvinism is something much broader than the "five points" indicate. Calvinism is a whole world-view, stemming from a clear vision of God as the whole world's Maker and King. Calvinism is the consistent endeavor to acknowledge the Creator as the Lord, working all things after the counsel of His will. Calvinism is a theocentric way of thinking about all life under the direction and control of God's own Word. Calvinism, in other words, is the theology of the Bible viewed from the perspective of the Bible--the God-centered outlook which sees the Creator as the source, and means, and end, of everything that is, both in nature and in grace.

Reality is Real

G.K. Chesterton in 1908: “You cannot call up any wilder vision than a city in which men ask themselves if they have any selves. You cannot fancy a more skeptical world that that in which men doubt if there is a world.”

N.D. Wilson in 2009: “Hide behind big words, or listen to a child’s first laugh and know that this world is here, that you are in it, and that its flavors are deep and layered and its lights are bright. Know that it’s real.”

John Calvin: Mere Christianity

"If it be inquired then by what things chiefly the Christian religion has a standing existence amongst us, and maintains its truth, it will be found that the following two not only occupy the principal place, but comprehend under them all the other parts , and consequently the whole substance of Christianity, viz., a knowledge, first, of the mode in which God is duly worshipped; and, secondly, of the source from which salvation is to be obtained. When these are kept out of view, though we may glory in the name of Christians, our profession is empty and vain. After these come the Sacraments and the Government of the Church, which as they were instituted for the preservation of these branches of doctrine, ought not to be employed for any other purpose and, indeed, the only means of ascertaining whether they are administered purely and in due form, or otherwise, is to bring them to this test" (John Calvin, The Necessity of Reforming the Church, 13-14).

Christ of the Covenants

O. Palmer Robertson introduces The Christ of the Covenants with two aims: To foster a correct understanding of the significance of God's covenants and the relation of the two testaments. He argues that the various covenants and the testaments are organically unified in Christ; they are unified by the "Immanuel principle"--a principle that "binds the whole of Scripture together" (51). Christ is the fulfillment of that principle; Jesus Christ is the Immanuel--God with us. Below is an extended quote from Robertson's book:

Classically, covenant theology has spoken of a “covenant of works” and a “covenant of grace.”

The term “covenant of works” has been applied to God’s relation to man prior to his fall into sin. This relationship has been characterized as a covenant of “works” in an effort to emphasize the testing period of Adam. If Adam should “work” properly, he would receive the blessings promised by God.

The phrase “covenant of grace” has been used to describe the relationship of God to his people subsequent to man’s fall into sin. Since man became incapable of works suitable for meriting salvation, this period has been understood as being controller primarily by the grace of God.

This division of God’s covenant dealings with men in terms of “covenant of works” and a “covenant of grace” has much to commend it. It emphasizes properly the absolute necessity of recognizing a pre-fall relationship between God and man which required perfect obedience as the meritorious ground of blessing. In this structure, Adam cannot be regarded purely as a mythical figure. In real history God bound himself to the man he had made to be “very good.”

This distinction also provides an overarching structure to unite the totality of God’s relation to man in his fallen state. Because of its inherent emphasis on the unity of God’ redemptive program, this structure delivers the church from the temptation to draw too strongly a dichotomy between old and new testaments.

However, the terminology traditionally associated with this scheme has significant limitations. No criticism may be offered with respect to the general structure of this distinction. Two basic epochs of God’s dealings with man must be recognized: pre-fall and post-fall. All the dealings of God with man since the fall must be seen as possessing a basic unity....The terms “covenant of creation” and “covenant of redemption” may serve much more appropriately as categorizations of God’s bond with man before and after the fall. The “covenant of creation” refers to the bond with God established with man by creation. The “covenant of redemption” encompasses the various administrations by which God has bound himself to man since the fall.

Love, Again

"Love is the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others....[Love] is first a deeply satisfying experience of the fullness of God's grace, and then a doubly satisfying experience of sharing that grace with another person" (John Piper, Desiring God, 119-120).

Love

"Love is not a bare choice or a mere act. It involves the affections. It does not just do the truth. Nor does it just choose the right. It rejoices in the way of truth" (John Piper, Desiring God, 114-115).

Christian Courage

George Weigel's conclusion from an article about the communist war against the Catholic Church (First Things, April 2011): "The communist war against Christianity was a bloody affair, in which Christian martyrdom reached new heights of sacrifice. That war also involved billions of man-hours of work and billions of dollars of public expenditure and was thus a form of theft form civil society. Deeply committed and politically shrewd Christian pastors and laity eventually won out over communism. The blood of martyrs, however, was the seed of the Church's victory. Their sacrifice and what we can learn from it about the cardinal virtue of fortitude--courage--must never be forgotten."

OT: Proverbs 31 Woman

Go here to read commentary on Proverbs 31:10-31 by Peter Leithart. His conclusion: Proverbs 31 is a heroic poem celebrating the domestic labor, that is, the domestic warfare of the virtuous woman.

On Writing

William Zinsser's priceless observation: "Like the minister's sermon that builds to a series of perfect conclusions that never conclude, an article that doesn't stop where it should stop becomes a drag and therefore a failure" (On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, 63).

I have heard those sermons and read those articles. "A drag and therefore a failure," ouch.

Christian Charity

The Didache is one of the earliest manuscripts we have on Christian teaching, written at the end of the first or the beginning of the second century. Regarding Christian charity, the Didache quotes from an unknown source: "Let your gift to charity sweat in your hands until you know to whom to give it."

Christian Education

"The establishment of a Christian school movement is in principle a threat to the current establishment, and the establishment knows it" (Douglas Wilson, The Case for Classical Christian Education, 36).

"The philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said that without an infinite reference point, every finite point is absurd. This statement is exactly correct and explains why every secular classroom is a manifest absurdity. The need for an infinite reference point explains why an understanding that each child bears the image of God is so central to the process of Christian education" (49).

"In order to teach a child rightly, his parents and teachers must know both who and what they are, and they must know this on the authority of God's Word. They must understand that mankind has fallen away from the initial task assigned in the Garden of Eden, but that Jesus Christ came in order to make it possible for people to resume work on that task. Given the nature of the case, men and women must either serve God or refuse to do so. They must either serve God or man. This is the fundamental question before us in all our debates about education" (50).

The Lenten Gospel, Again

Writing after Christ's accomplishment, John the Evangelist said: "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).

During the Lenten season we prepare for and anticipate celebrating a historical event. In a word, the Atonement; when Christ destroyed the works of the devil. Which is why Christians sing: "Death, where is your sting?"

The Lenten Gospel

From Richard A Muller's Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms:

"protoevangelium: literally, the protogospel; the first announcement of the redemption to be effected in and through Christ, given figuratively to Adam and Eve in the words of God to the serpent, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15); in Reformed federalism, the inception of the covenant of grace."

Lent

“The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40).

It is Ash Wednesday. It is the genesis of the Lenten season. In preparation for Easter the Church has historically found this to be an opportune time for confession of sin and imitation of Christ. Such practices are good and lawful; Spirit-led, that.

It is, therefore, a time for disciples, the pupils, the followers and adherents to the way of Christ, to confess sins and become as their master.

Function of Doctrine

"The function of doctrine is to make Christian prayer as difficult as it ought to be" (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord's Prayer & the Christian Life, p. 22).

OT: Psalm -- 133

Psalm 133: Why are the mountains of Zion wet with Dew? And why is godly unity compared to that image?

Revelation 21:2 -- Zion, the New Jerusalem, the holy city -- she is the Church who was "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Christ is the husband, and the Father has created the Church, the Bride. Therefore, the mountains of Zion are wet because she, the Church, is covered with the Dew-wetness of new birth. The Church is wet with Dew because she has been born by the regenerating work of the Spirit, she has left the womb, is wet with new birth and has been given to the Son.

Spirit and water are present and that is why godly unity exists between men who are wet with the waters of Baptism; men who are now united in Christ.

Popish Mass

Question 80 from The Heidelberg Catechism: "What difference is there between the Lord's supper and the popish mass? Answer: The Lord's supper testifies to us, that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself has once accomplished on the cross; and, that we by the Holy Ghost are ingrafted into Christ, who, according to his human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven, at the right hand of God his Father, and will there be worshipped by us. But the mass teaches, that the living and dead have not the pardon of sins through the sufferings of Christ, unless Christ is also daily offered for them by the priests; and further, that Christ is bodily under the form of bread and wine, and therefore is to be worshipped in them; so that the mass, at bottom, is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry."

Travel here to read an article about the University Chorale from my alma mater, who sang last year at a Wednesday evening Mass at Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Unsettling, that.

Revelation: Christian Future - The New Jerusalem

'"I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I John saw a holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." In taking these words for my text I placed myself at the point where the whole teaching of Scripture culminates. Here, at the last step, we have a definite and satisfactory completion of the former doctrine of the future. There is to be a perfect humanity; not only perfect individually, but perfect in society. There is to be a city of God. "The Holy City!" - there is the realization of the true tendencies of man. "New Jerusalem!" - there is a fulfilment of the ancient promises of God' (Thomas Dehany Bernard, The Progress of Doctrine in the New Testament, 217).

Saint Augustine: A Few Excerpts

A few excerpts demonstrating my generalizations from the previous post:

"Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this two-fold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought."

"'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' Now faith will totter if the authority of Scripture begin to shake. And then, if faith toter, love itself will grow cold. For if a man has fallen from faith, he must necessarily also fall from love; for he cannot love what he does not believe to exist."

"Accordingly the Holy Spirit has, with admirable wisdom and care for our welfare, so arranged the Holy Scriptures as by the plainer passages to satisfy our hunger, and by the more obscure to stimulate our appetite."

"And by this sign of the cross all Christian action is symbolized, viz., to do good works in Christ, to cling with constancy to Him, to hope for heaven, and not to desecrate the sacraments."

"Now Scripture enjoins nothing except charity, and condemns nothing except lust, and in that way fashions the lives of men. . . . Now Scripture asserts nothing but the catholic faith, in regard to things past, future, and present."

"For the Church, without spot or wrinkle, gathered out of all nations, and destined to reign for ever with Christ, is itself the land of the blessed, the land of the living . . ."