Reformed Baptist Congregation Exaltation | Edification | Evangelism
“I cannot think on the one without quickly being encircled by the splendor of the three; nor can I discern the three without being straightway carried back to the one.” Gregory of Nazianzus
Calvin admired this saying of Gregory’s and I confess I like it too (see Institutes I. 13. 17).
Here are the next 2 questions in An Orthodox Catechism. These begin the first part of the Catechism focusing on Man’s Misery.
Q.3. From what source do you know your misery?
A. From the Law of God
Q.4. What does the Law of God require of us?
A. That which Christ summarily teaches us, Matthew 22:37–40. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment; and the second is like it, You shall live your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.
According to Calvin in his Institutes (1.8.13), Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when it’s certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit…those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.
The testimony of the the Holy Spirit is more excellent than reason or nature. General revelation leads us only so far but no further – that there is a God. God alone is a perfect witness of himself in his Word, and his Word only finds acceptance in our minds and hearts when it is sealed by the inward witness of the Spirit. The sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd and they follow him.
I like how Calvin put it: “those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated; hence , it is not right to subject it to proof and reasoning. And the certainty it deserves with us it attains by the testimony of the Spirit. For even if it wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore, illumined by its power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men. We seek no proofs, no marks of genuineness upon which our judgment may lean, but we subject our judgment and wit to it as to a thing far beyond any guesswork!”
Here are the first two questions of the Orthodox Catechism. These two questions form the introduction to the catechism.
Q.1. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That both in soul and body, whether I live or die, I am not my own, but belong wholly unto my most faithful Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. By his most precious blood fully satisfying for all my sins, He has delivered me from all the power of the devil, and so preserves me, that without the will of my heavenly Father not so much as a hair may fall from my head. Yes, all things must serve for my safety and by His Spirit, also He assures me of everlasting life, and makes me ready and prepared, that from now on I may live to him.
Q.2. How many things are necessary for you to know that, enjoying this comfort, you may live and die happily?
A. Three. The first, what is the greatness of my sin and misery. The second, how I am delivered from all sin and misery. The third, what thanks I owe to God for this delivery.