Reformed Baptist Congregation Exaltation | Edification | Evangelism
“There can be then no calling on God, and his praises must necessarily cease, where evil-speaking prevails.”
“That we may therefore rightly praise God, the vice of evil-speaking as to our neighbor must be especially corrected.”
“He, then, who truly worships and honors God, will be afraid to speak slanderously of man.”
(James Commentary, Vol. 22, p. 323)
“I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person.” (Job 32:21 ESV)
“For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.” (Job 32:22 ESV)
“For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is can open grave; they flatter with their tongue.” (Ps. 5:9 ESV)
“Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.” (Ps. 12:2 ESV)
“May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, ‘With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?'” (Ps. 12:3, 4 ESV)
“A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin.” (Prov. 26:28 ESV)
“For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” (Rom. 16:18 ESV)
“For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is witness.” (1 Thess. 2:5 ESV)
“Now God’s truth requires us to look for something different when we think of ourselves – namely, a knowledge which banishes our arrogant belief in our own strength and which removes every excuse for vainglory, leading us instead to humility. This is a rule we ought to follow if we want to reach the goal of right thinking and right action. I know how much nicer it is for men to be allowed to recognize their gifts and praises, than to see and understand their poverty, shame, vileness and frailty. There is nothing our mind desires more than to be wooed by honeyed words and flattery…thus because man is so prone to self-flattery, nothing can please him more than to be tickled with empty praise.”
John Calvin (Institutes, French Edition, 1541, pp. 29, 30)
Basil of Caesarea says in his little work “On the Spirit” that the “truth is always a quarry hard to hunt, and therefore we must look everywhere for its tracks.”
The truth can be right in front of our eyes and sometimes we don’t want to see it or hear it, yet the Lord said, “the truth shall set you free.”
Let’s love the truth because the truth is of God.
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.”
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.