Some Thoughts about Assurance and Good Works

July 1, 2024Posted inFaith, Justification by Faith
There is a question inherent in Reformed soteriology: if justification is by faith alone, why can we not have assurance of justification apart from holiness? Doesn’t this make our justification in part dependent on good works? The antinomians answer it by saying that we don’t need personal holiness. Another answer to the question is that…

Some Thoughts about Assurance of Justification

June 25, 2024Posted inFaith, Justification by Faith
I have occasionally heard the phrase “consciousness of justification” or “consciousness of salvation.” I do not like that phrase. I would say that assurance, confidence and certainty are synonyms and belong to faith. Knowledge also is good; it’s prominent in John: …that you may know that you have eternal life (1 Jn 5:13) for just…

Faith has an Object

June 20, 2024Posted inFaith
Jesus said, If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. It may seem that Jesus here guarantees that he will give us anything we ask for, as long as we believe. If I…

Faith is Not a Work

June 11, 2024Posted inFaith
The Arminian notion that faith is a product of man’s free will and our contribution to the work of salvation implies that faith is a work, and that we are saved because of faith—language that the Scriptures never use—rather than by or through faith. This is simply a subtle form of Semi-Pelagianism, which teaches that…

Faith is Knowledge

June 4, 2024Posted inFaith
The Heidelberg Catechism is a confession of Reformed churches of Dutch and German extraction. It defines faith as not only a certain knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in His Word, but also a hearty trust which the Holy Ghost works in me by the Gospel, that not…

Faith is a Gift of God

May 31, 2024Posted inFaith
Many Christians today think that faith is our contribution to God’s saving work. God does everything except this last little bit: you must believe; you must accept Christ; God wants to save you, but he cannot or will not exercise his power to make you come to him; you must exercise your free will and…

Psalm 80: Restore us, O God!

May 21, 2024Posted inPsalms Commentary
Verse 2 of Psalm 80 shows us that this song of testimony belongs to the time following the end of the northern kingdom, and the Asaph mentioned here is not the Asaph whom David appointed to serve in the temple, but a later Asaph who may also have written Psalms 74 and 79. Those two…

Psalm 107: Celebration of the Return from Exile in Babylon

May 14, 2024Posted inPsalms Commentary
Psalm 107 celebrates the Lord’s lovingkindness and wonders towards the sons of man. It has six stanzas. Introduction, verses 1–3 The Lord’s Care in the Wilderness, verses 4–9 The Lord’s Breaking of Chains, verses 10–16 The Lord’s Deliverance from Destruction, verses 17–22 The Lord’s Calming of a Storm, verses 23–32 Conclusion, verses 33–43 One of…

Israel and the Nations

May 7, 2024Posted inIsrael and the Nations
“The Nations,” (or “the Gentiles”; it’s usually the same word in Hebrew) is an important theological concept in the Old Testament. It was not simply s designation for the different ethnic groupings found in the world of that time, nor a way of distinguishing descendants of one ancient figure from those of another; it was…