Calvin says in his commentary on James 1:23 that, “heavenly doctrine is indeed a mirror in which God presents himself to our view, so that we may be transformed into his image.”
Tabernacle Types
Thomas Goodwin makes a great point in his work on Justifying Faith (Works, Vol. 8) where he speaks of Christ justifying us.
He says the Ark of the Covenant is a type of the Person of Christ and the Mercy Seat is a type of God’s grace. I prefer to think of it as a type of the Propitiation of Christ. So the Person and Work of the Son are necessary elements in our being justified. There can be no justification apart from the other. Just as the Ark and the Mercy were joined together, so too is the Person and Work of the Son.
The Works of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 8, Book 2, Chp. 1, p. 141.
Calvin’s Fourth Rule on Prayer
Here’s a wonderful excerpt from the Institutes on prayer.
“The fourth rule is that, thus cast down and overcome by true humility, we should be nonetheless encouraged to pray by a sure hope that our prayer will be answered. These are indeed things apparently contrary: to join the firm assurance of God’s favor to a sense of his just vengeance; yet, on the ground that God’s goodness alone raises up those oppressed by their own evil deeds, they very well agree together. For, in accordance with our previous teaching that repentance and faith are companions joined together by an indissoluble bond, although one of these terrifies us while the other gladdens us, so also these two ought to be present together in prayers. And David briefly expresses this agreement when he says: “I through the abundance of thy goodness will enter thy house, I will worship toward the temple of thy holiness with fear” [Ps. 5:7]. [Read more…]
The Knowledge of Faith
Calvin says in his Institutes that “the knowledge of faith consists in assurance rather than in comprehension.” Faith, of course, must also comprehend, for it is not a blind faith that we have. What Calvin means, is that faith grasps that which cannot be seen. He says in the same section that, “faith is so far above sense that man’s mind has to go beyond and rise above itself in order to attain it. Even where the mind has attained, it does not comprehend what it feels.” He uses Paul in Ephesians 3:18, 19 to say that faith “is the power to comprehend…what is the breadth and length… and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge”. This knowledge, he says, is lofty and we are “more strengthened by the persuasion of divine truth than instructed by rational proof.” We thus, acknowledge that we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:6, 7), and in this we are assured. (See Institutes III.2.14)
The Morality of Immorality
Deny everything!
Accuse everyone else!
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