Reformation Theology Blog

Two Hesitations About TULIP.

Visitor: 

I have two hesitations about TULIP. It starts with total depravity while the Bible starts with God, and man made in his image. Second, we as finite beings, live in a time bound world. We cannot begin to explain a perspective from outside of time. God knows the end from the beginning but we make choices everyday. We are not puppets. We don’t explain away these choices because God knows the end. As Joshua said, Choose you this day who you will serve.

Response:

What are the principal propositions that constitute the federal theory?

by Francis Turretin

a) Adam by nature was obliged to obey God, without thereby having any right to a reward. 

b) God had created him mutable, and he also possessed no right to an immutable state. 

c) His natural relationship to God already included the he, if sinning, must be punished by God.

d) All this was a natural *relationship* in which Adam stood. Now to this natural relationship a *covenant* was added by God, which contained various positive elements.

e) These positive elements were the following. 

God Saves Sinners

J. I. Paker has made the point that all the tenets of Calvinism--that faithfully biblical system of theology that joyfully embraces the rich, comforting, God exalting, self-abasing, Christ-honoring, scriptural message of the  sovereignty of God in salvation and all things--reduce to one overarching claim: "God saves sinners." Each of these words is important for understanding what the Bible teaches about salvation. First, God saves sinners. God, not man, saves. He does not make us potentially savable. He does not enable us to save ourselves. He saves.

The Church in the World

Dear saints,

I came across this and thought it would be worth sharing.

This is an excerpt from The Epistle to Diognetus, one of the earliest pieces of Christian apologetic writing.  While we are not sure of the author, it was probably written sometime in the 100's.  For the sake of reference, Justin Martyr, the most well known apologist of the early church, lived roughly 100-165.

"He is Altogether Lovely"

by Samuel Rutherford

“If there were ten thousand thousand millions of worlds, and as many heavens full of men and angels, Christ would not be pinched to supply all our wants, and to fill us all. Christ is a well of life, but who knoweth how deep it is to the bottom?

This soul of ours hath love, and cannot but love some fair one. And, O, what a fair One, what an only One, what an excellent, lovely, ravishing One is Jesus! Put the beauty of ten thousand thousand worlds of paradises like the garden of Eden in one.

Road to Nowhere

Many years ago as a college freshman, before I knew the Lord, a friend of mine and I, while on some mind altering substance, decided to take a drive into the mountains:

I said, "let's take this road."

He asked, "where does it go?."

I answered "nowhere"

He replied, "I like that place." And so we went.

What is the Gospel?

The gospel is not behavior modification, becoming a better person or learning to become more moral. It is not taking the life of Jesus as a model way to live or transforming/redeeming the secular realm. It is not living highly communal lives with others and sharing generously in communities who practice the way of Jesus in local culture. These may all be good things but they are not to be confused with the gospel.

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