If we really wish to be reckoned among the number of the children of God, the Holy Spirit teaches us, that we must show ourselves to be such by a holy and an upright life; for it is not enough to serve God by outward ceremonies, unless we also live uprightly, and without doing wrong to our neighbors. (Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 15)
Augustine’s Principle of Providence
Augustine lays down a simple principle for providence. He says, “nothing is more absurd than that anything should happen without God’s ordaining it because it would then happen without a cause.” In other words, God is the cause alone of all things and he maintains all things.
The Hope of Glory
The Christian life and experience cannot be lived vicariously. This means that you cannot live the Christian life by clinging to the coat-tails of another Christian, nor can you live your spiritual life through someone else. Nobody lives your life, but you. Reading your Bible with your spouse or children is no substitute for reading the Bible on your own. Praying with others is no substitute for praying alone before God. These activities are important, but they do not replace your personal responsibility towards God. There are many, however, who think like this and live like this. [Read more…]
Clarity
“For just as our eyes, when dimmed with age or weakness or by some other defect, unless aided by spectacles, discern nothing distinctly; so, such is our feebleness, unless Scripture guides us in seeking God, we are immediately confused.” (Calvin, Institutes I. 14. 1)
The Distinctions in the Godhead
The Persons of the Godhead are a distinction and not a division. Augustine speaks clearly of the distinctions within the Godhead meaning as they belong to the Persons of the Trinity, when he says,
“Christ with respect to himself is called God; with respect to the Father, Son. Again, the Father with respect to himself is called God; with respect to the Son, Father. In so far as he is called Father with respect to the Son, he is not the Son; in so far as he is called the Son with respect to the Father, he is not the Father; in so far as he is called both Father with respect to himself, and Son with respect to himself, he is the same God.”
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