Reformers' Exposition of Justification

J.I. Packer offers a summery of the Reformers' teaching on Justification. He "boils down" his summary into seven points (cited from A Quest for Godliness, pp 152):

1. Every man faces the judgement [sic] seat of God, and must answer to God for himself. The church cannot shield him from this.
2. Every man is a sinner by nature and practice, a nonconformist so far as God's law is concerned, and therefore can only expect God's wrath and rejection.
3. Justification is God's judicial act of pardoning the guilty sinner, accepting him as righteous, and receiving him as a son.
4. The source of justification is grace, not human effort or initiative.
5. The ground of justification is Christ's vicarious righteousness and blood-shedding, not our own merit.
6. The means of justification, here and now, is faith in Jesus Christ.
7. The fruit of faith, the evidence of its reality, is a manifested repentance and a life of good works.

The Spirit's Working

I just finished up (re)working through Vaughn Roberts' God's Big Picture. In chapter 7, Roberts offers a concise and helpful passage on the Spirit's work in salvation.

The Bible uses three tenses to speak of our salvation.... If we trust in Christ, we have already been saved, in the past, from the penalty of sin by the death of Christ: 'By grace you have been saved' (Ephesians 2:8). We shall have nothing to fear on judgment day because Christ has already faced our punishment in our place. But sin, sadly, is very much a reality in our lives. It is only in the future, after Christ returns, that we shall be saved from the presence of sin. So the Bible sometimes speaks of our salvation as something that is still to come. We shall receive its full blessings only in the future (e.g. I Corinthians 3:15; I Timothy 2:15). That just leaves the present tense (e.g. I Corinthians 1:18; 15:2). We are being saved, in the present, from the power of sin. Although we shall never be sinless this side of heaven, God is at work within us by his Spirit to help us fight sin in our lives and become more like Jesus. We must certainly play our part and work hard to resist evil, but we are not left to do so on our own. It is 'by the Spirit' that we are to 'put to death the misdeeds of the body' (Romans 8:13).

In addition to many helpful sections (such as the one above), Roberts' books provides a quality outline of Scripture's main themes (particularly Christocentrism). God's Big Picture (for those unfamiliar with its content) will prove to be an invaluable tool for interpreting Scripture. For anyone who hasn't read this brief, quite approachable book, I highly recommend it.

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Calvin On Worship

John Calvin offers a prolific commentary on freedom in worship:

God did not will in outward discipline and ceremonies to prescribe in detail what we ought to do (because he foresaw that this depended on the state of the times, and he did not deem one form suitable for all ages).... Because he has taught nothing specifically, and because these things are not necessary to salvation, and for the upbuilding of the church ought to be variously accommodated to the customs of each nation and age, it will be fitting (as the advantage of the church will require) to change and abrogate traditional practices and to establish new ones. Indeed, I admit that we ought not to change into innovation rashly, suddenly, for insufficient cause. But love will best judge what may hurt or edify; and if we let love be our guide, all will be safe (quoted in John Piper's Let the Nations Be Glad!).

A Trinitarian Interpretation of Luke 7

I've been considering the interpretation of Christian Scripture lately. John Frame asserts that because truth emanates from God, truth, by nature, is trinitarian. From this, Tim Keller and Ed Clowney explain (I'm sure along with many others) that (all?) Scripture can be interpreted in three ways, directly corollary to truth's trinitarian nature. We interpret Scripture doctrinally (Father), pietistically (Son), and as restoring culture (Spirit).

I'm going to attempt applying this truth to Luke 7.

Faith—one of the significant themes in Luke, and probably the most significant, is faith. For our purposes, we will consider faith in Christ as the peak of Luke’s narrative. Luke’s seventh chapter pictures Jesus in the midst of his teaching ministry (4:14-21:38). The author gives us four events:
The Faith of the Centurion 1-10 (see 2 Kings 5)
Jesus Raises a Widow's Son 11-17 (see 1 Kings 17)
Jesus and John the Baptist 18-35 (see Isaiah 35: 5-6)
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman 19-51
We must consider these four narratives in Luke 7 holistically (this approach is especially necessary, yet somewhat difficult, when attempting to study a single chapter). We need to understand how each story’s message fits this particular section of Luke, asking “what it the common thread weaving through Luke 7?”

Faith—it's not difficult discerning Luke’s theme and message of faith in Christ in Luke 7. Undoubtedly, the centurion (1-10) shows great faith in Jesus. But where is faith found in healing the woman’s son (11-16)? The woman apparently does not know that Jesus is even to attempt raising her son, so it seems a stretch to suggest that she has faith that he can. John the Baptist surely demonstrates faith (18-35), but this story suggests empirical belief more than faith. Much like the first scene, the story of the sinful woman (36-50) indeed presents faith. So this chapter bookends with stories of strong faith, and fits well into Luke's broader message. We can also see three themes specific to this chapter (though obviously not exclusive). But which one is correct?

Jesus’ authority—the four stories presented coalesce around the reality of Jesus authority, in both the spiritual and physical realms, pointing to God’s glory in salvation. Jesus shows authority over sin, sickness, and even death. Thus this chapter strongly testifies to Christ’s deity through his authority.

Jesus’ compassion—rooted in his sinlessness, Jesus' compassion for the centurion’s servant, the mother’s loss, all who are healed (and saved!) in 18-35, and for the sinful woman provides a quintessential example for the church.

Jesus’ restoring culture—this view is least comfortable in our context (conservative evangelicalism), but nonetheless, we see Jesus reaching out to the poor and oppressed with a message that all have equal worth in Christ; “the good news is preached to the poor” (22). We see Jesus accept and even commend the sinful woman, a societal outcast. In this way, we indeed see Jesus correcting a culture saturated with Pharisaism.

All three interpretations are fully correct. I summit the matrix below, arguing for a trinitarian interpretation of the passage as one meaning:
Father: the doctrine of Jesus' authority
Son: Jesus’ compassion gives an example for the pious Christian to follow
Spirit: correcting injustices and promoting equality (he promotes that all are equally unable) pictures Jesus restoring culture (source)

The Gospel Coalition provides some helpful material on this passage (here). I particularly benefited from sermons by Alistair Begg, Mark Dever, and Kent Hughes.

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The CHRISTian Good News

As I worked through some of Neighboring Faiths today, I read an important section dealing with the nature of the Christian Gospel, especially in regards to Shinto and other Japanese religions. Corduan says:

Thus the church's mission is defined by the tasks given by God: evangelism and nurture. Its mission is not defined by numerical objectives or successes the church may have in these tasks. I am emphasizing this fact because to violate it will almost invariably violate the nature of Christianity as well. Christians may erect buildings that compete favorably with local temples [local to Japanese culture]; they may link Christian worship to various practices that are associated with pagan worship in the minds of local people; they may soft- pedal the gospel in order to gain a hearing. And they might just raise the numbers of nominal Christians in the process. But if the gospel is no longer the true message of redemption from God, nothing of genuine consequence has been gained.

As a Christian I see the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. Consequently, sharing the gospel is the highest good I can do for another person. Clearly, I need to abide by New Testament exhortations regarding my conduct in doing so. For instance, I may never force the gospel on another person. However, I also need to remember that by compromising the gospel in order not to cause offence, I may actually deprive someone of the good news that has been entrusted to me. In the end, everyone needs to know the authentic gospel: that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord (335).

This is a helpful statement to consider as we seek to share our faith within particular cultures.

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Observing All Things

Some friends and I just started a new blog, observing all things. Each of the contributors (and perhaps more will contribute in the future) is a good friend of mine, and indeed a partner in doing life Christianly. My goal for this blog (for my part) is to interact with theology proper, and from that, flesh-out some practical implications; we will attempt to ascertain orthopraxy from orthodoxy.

Our exact format for interacting together is still developing, and will continue to be flexible. But for the most part, we will attempt to post regarding certain doctrines, cultural dilemmas, Scripture passages, etc., and then post well thought out agreements and/or counter arguments.

I hope that our new blog will benefit all who read it, my friends and I will grow in love for God and each other, and that Christ will be magnified in all things.

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Musical Reminders

O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord, take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.
("Come Thou Fount")

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
("It Is Well")

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