The Golden Chain of Redemption

For the next few weeks we shall look at what is known as the Golden chain of redemption (Found in Romans 8:29-30), this week we shall look at the doctrine of foreknowledge.

'To the question, “On what basis did God choose individuals for salvation?” it is sometimes replied: on the basis of his foreknowledge that when faced with the gospel they would choose Christ as their Savior. In that reply, foreknowledge means passive foresight on God’s part of what individuals are going to do, without his predetermining their action. But
(a) Foreknow in Romans 8:29; 11:2 (cf. 1 Pet. 1:2 and 1:20, where the NIV renders the Greek foreknown as “chosen” ) means “fore-love” and “fore-appoint”: it does not express the idea of a spectator’s anticipation of what will spontaneously happen.
(b) Since all are naturally dead in sin (i.e., cut off from the life of God and unresponsive to him), no one who hears the gospel will ever come to repentance and faith without an inner quickening that only God can impart (Eph. 2:4-10). Jesus said: “No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him” (John 6:65, cf. 44; 10:25-28). Sinners choose Christ only because God chose them for this choice and moved them to it by renewing their hearts.
Though all human acts are free in the sense of being self-determined, none are free from God’s control according to his eternal purpose and foreordination.
Christians should therefore thank God for their conversion, look to him to keep them in the grace into which he has brought them, and confidently await his final triumph, according to his plan.'

 See R C Sproul below!

The holy Spirit

Sometimes described as the 'Shy Sovereign' or even the 'forgotten God', the deity and personality of the holy Spirit is the subject of our latest study.

 'Before Jesus’ passion, he promised that the Father and he would send his disciples “another Counselor” (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). The Counselor or Paraclete, from the Greek word parakletos (meaning one who gives support), is a helper, adviser, strengthener, encourager, ally, and advocate. Another points to the fact that Jesus was the first Paraclete and is promising a replacement who, after he is gone, will carry on the teaching and testimony that he started (John 16:6-7).
Paraclete ministry, by its very nature, is personal, relational ministry, implying the full personhood of the one who fulfills it. Though the Old Testament said much about the Spirit’s activity in Creation (e.g., Gen. 1:2; Ps. 33:6), revelation (e.g., Isa. 61:1-6; Mic. 3:8), enabling for service (e.g., Exod. 31:2-6; Judg. 6:34; 15:14-15; Isa. 11:2), and inward renewal (e.g., Ps. 51:10-12; Ezek. 36:25-27), it did not make clear that the Spirit is a distinct divine Person. In the New Testament, however, it becomes clear that the Spirit is as truly a Person distinct from the Father as the Son is. This is apparent not only from Jesus’ promise of “another Counselor,” but also from the fact that the Spirit, among other things, speaks (Acts 1:16; 8:29; 10:19; 11:12; 13:2; 28:25), teaches (John 14:26), witnesses (John 15:26), searches (1 Cor. 2:11), determines (1 Cor. 12:11), intercedes (Rom. 8:26-27), is lied to (Acts 5:3), and can be grieved (Eph. 4:30). Only of a personal being can such things be said.
The divinity of the Spirit appears from the declaration that lying to the Spirit is lying to God (Acts 5:3-4), and from the linking of the Spirit with the Father and the Son in benedictions (2 Cor. 13:14; Rev. 1:4-6) and in the formula of baptism (Matt. 28:19). The Spirit is called “the seven spirits” in Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6 partly, it seems, because seven is a number signifying divine perfection and partly because the Spirit ministers in his fullness.
The Spirit, then, is “he,” not “it,” and he must be obeyed, loved, and adored along with the Father and the Son.
Witnessing to Jesus Christ, glorifying him by showing his disciples who and what he is (John 16:7-15), and making them aware of what they are in him (Rom. 8:15-17; Gal. 4:6) is the Paraclete’s central ministry. The Spirit enlightens us (Eph. 1:17-18), regenerates us (John 3:5-8), leads us into holiness (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:16-18), transforms us (2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 5:22-23), gives us assurance (Rom. 8:16), and gifts us for ministry (1 Cor. 12:4-11). All God’s work in us, touching our hearts, our characters, and our conduct, is done by the Spirit, though aspects of it are sometimes ascribed to the Father and the Son, whose executive the Spirit is.
The Spirit’s full Paraclete ministry began on Pentecost morning, following Jesus’ ascension (Acts 2:1-4). John the Baptist had foretold that Jesus would baptize in the Spirit (Mark 1:8; John 1:33), according to the Old Testament promise of an outpouring of God’s Spirit in the last days (Joel 2:28-32; cf. Jer. 31:31-34), and Jesus had repeated the promise (Acts 1:4-5). The significance of Pentecost morning was twofold: it marked the opening of the final era of world history before Christ’s return, and, as compared with the Old Testament era, it marked a tremendous enhancing of the Spirit’s ministry and of the experience of being alive to God.
Jesus’ disciples were evidently Spirit-born believers prior to Pentecost, so their Spirit-baptism, which brought power to their life and ministry (Acts 1:8), was not the start of their spiritual experience. For all who have come to faith since Pentecost morning, however, beginning with the Pentecost converts themselves, the receiving of the Spirit in full new-covenant blessing has been one aspect of their conversion and new birth (Acts 2:37; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13). All capacities for service that subsequently appear in a Christian’s life should be seen as flowing from this initial Spirit-baptism, which vitally unites the sinner to the risen Christ.'


Packer, J. I.

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The Deity of Christ!

With some recent conversations with Muslims fresh in my mind, I felt it was incumbent upon me to upload a post on the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a lengthy post, but I am sure you will appreciate such a vital doctrine necessitates this sort of length, the text below is from Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones, one of the finest expositors of the Scriptures of the 20th century. The full sermon can be found at http://www.mlj.org.uk/home.

The Deity of Jesus Christ:

Now we find at once that the Bible tells us two main things. The first is that it makes many claims to the effect that He is divine; it asserts and teaches His divinity or, still more accurately, His deity. The evidence for this is voluminous and it could occupy a great deal of time, so we must just look at some brief headings at this point. You can look at the evidence and check it for yourselves at leisure; I simply want to classify it in order to make your study a little more easy.

The first evidence is that certain divine names are ascribed to Him. Indeed, altogether some sixteen names are ascribed to Him, each of which clearly implies His deity. Here are some of them. He is described as the ‘Son of God’ forty times; He is referred to as ‘his Son’ (God’s Son); God refers to Him audibly as ‘my Son’. So there in various forms is that title ‘Son’, ‘Son of God’.

Then five times He is also referred to as the ‘only begotten Son of God’. You find it in John 1:18—‘the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father’—and there are many others: a notable one is the parable of the wicked husbandman, when God says, ‘They will reverence my son’ (Matt. 21:37). The teaching there is perfectly clear, the words are uttered by our Lord Himself.

He is described in Revelation 1:17 as ‘the first and the last’, and in verse 11 of the same chapter as the ‘Alpha and Omega’, the beginning and the end. These are obviously terms of deity; there is nothing before the beginning and nothing after the end. Then Peter, preaching in Jerusalem—you will find it recorded in Acts 3:14—refers to Him as the ‘Holy One’: ‘But ye denied the Holy One and the Just.’ Again, these are terms of deity.

Take also that great term ‘the Lord’ which is used of Him several hundred times in the New Testament. That word is equivalent to the Old Testament term ‘Jehovah’, which we have already considered together, one of the highest titles ascribed to God. Another term used for Him is ‘the Lord of glory’. You will find that in 1 Corinthians 2:8: ‘Had they known it,’ says Paul, ‘they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.’ It is a most exalted term.

Then He is actually referred to as ‘God’; Thomas says, ‘My Lord and my God’ (John 20:28). He is also described as ‘Emmanuel … God with us’ in Matthew 1:23; and there is a most remarkable statement in Titus 2:13 where He is referred to as our ‘great God and Saviour Jesus Christ’. Again, another equally remarkable ascription is found in Romans 9:5: ‘Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.’

So there you have a number of names which are ascribed to Him, all of which are divine names.

But, second, the Bible also ascribes to Him certain divine attributes. You remember that when we were dealing with the doctrine of God we considered the divine attributes. Now you will find that those very attributes are also ascribed to our Lord. For instance, omnipotence: Hebrews 1:3 says that He upholds ‘all things by the word of his power’—no stronger statement than that is possible—and that ‘all things are put under him’ (1 Cor. 15:27). There are others also which you can find for yourself.

Then omniscience is attributed to Him: in Matthew 11:27 we read, ‘No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.’ In John 2:24–5 you will find the same claim: ‘he knew what was in man’. It was not necessary for anybody to tell Him.

Then in a very extraordinary way omnipresence is attributed to Him also. In Matthew 18:20 it says, ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I …’ In Matthew 28:20 He says, ‘And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end …’ And in John 3:13 there is a very striking statement: ‘No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.’ He said those words while He was on earth—the Son of man who is ‘in heaven’. And, indeed, the apostle Paul writes, He ‘filleth all in all’ (Eph. 1:23)—again, a very comprehensive statement.

Another divine attribute is His eternity: ‘In the beginning was the Word’ (John 1:1). We also have statements about His immutability: He cannot change. Hebrews 13:8 tells us, ‘Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.’ Then, of course, the Bible asserts His pre-existence. Colossians

Finally, to sum it all up, we have another comprehensive statement of His deity in Colossians 2:9 where Paul says, ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’

Then, third, we go on to consider certain divine offices which He is said to hold and to fill. First of all creation: ‘All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made’ (John 1:3). You find the same thing repeated in Colossians 1:16, and again in Hebrews 1:10. But we are also told that He preserves everything. Hebrews 1:3 refers to Him ‘upholding all things by the word of his power’. And again in Colossians 1:17 you will find that ‘by him all things consist’.

Notice also that He did not hesitate to claim the power to forgive sins. He said to the paralysed man, ‘Thy sins be forgiven thee’ (Mark 2:5). He also claimed power to raise the dead; you will find that mentioned several times in John 6:39–44, ‘I will raise him up,’ he said, ‘at the last day.’ The apostle Paul claims that He also has power to transform our bodies: ‘Who shall change our vile body [or this body of our humiliation], that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself’ (Phil. 3:21).

Judgment, too, is committed to Him; read John 5:22–3: ‘For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.’ Again, Paul makes that claim in Acts 17:31, and you also find it in 2 Timothy 4:1: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead.’ So the power of judgment is given to Him, and also the power of bestowing eternal life: ‘And I give unto them eternal life’ (John 10:28). John 17:2 says the same thing: ‘… that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him’.

The fourth piece of evidence for His deity is this: statements in the Old Testament which are made distinctly of Jehovah are, in the New Testament, ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ and are definitions of Him. I shall not give you the words in full but I will give you the texts so that you can look them up for yourself: Psalm 102:24–7 (compare Hebrews 1:10–12); Isaiah 40:3–4 (compare Matthew 3:3; Luke 1:76); Isaiah 6:1, 3, 10 (compare John 12:37–8); Isaiah 8:13–14 (compare 1 Peter 2:7–8).

Now we can sum up all that by putting it like this: in the Old Testament the term ‘Lord’ is always used of God, except when the context makes it perfectly clear that it is used of a man in the sense of ‘Sir’. In exactly the same way when the term ‘Lord’ is used in the New Testament, it is always used of the lordship of Jesus Christ—that is, His deity—except when the context makes it quite plain that ‘Sir’ is intended. So we have this tremendous fact that these specific terms which are used directly of Jehovah are also used of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then the fifth piece of evidence is the way in which the names of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are coupled together. There are several examples of this. Christ Himself said, ‘Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’ (Matt. 28:19). Romans 1:7 speaks of ‘God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ’. In 2 Corinthians 13:14, in the so-called ‘apostolic benediction’, we read, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.’ 1 Thessalonians 3:11 says, ‘Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.’ And, indeed, you will find it in James 1:1, ‘James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ …’

That brings us to the sixth bit of evidence: divine worship is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He accepted such worship from men and women when He was on earth. You will find that in Matthew 28:9 and in Luke 24:52. But you get it also by way of exhortation in 1 Corinthians 1:2 where Paul refers to ‘all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord…’ That is worship. In 2 Corinthians 12:8–9 Paul tells us, ‘For this thing I besought the Lord thrice…’—it is the Lord Jesus Christ, that is quite clear from the context. In Acts 7:59 we read of Stephen, as he was being stoned: ‘And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Indeed, our Lord Himself already prepared us for all this when He said, ‘That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him’ (John 5:23). There are other instances, also, of worship ascribed to Him, and the claim in Philippians 2:10 is that a time is coming when ‘at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.’

And that brings me to the seventh point, which is our Lord’s own self-consciousness and His own specific claims to deity. I shall simply give you some of the references which I regard as most important, though there are many others. The first is found in Luke 2, in the incident described in verses 41–52, when He said that He must be about His Father’s business or, ‘about the things of my Father’—a most remarkable claim made when he was but a twelve-year-old boy. You get exactly the same thing at His baptism. When He went to John to be baptised, John remonstrated with Him and said, ‘I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?’ Now our Lord did not reject that statement, but simply replied, ‘Suffer it to be so now’ (Matt. 3:14–15). In other words, He accepted John’s words, and thereby acknowledged His superiority to John. And in this connection we notice again the voice from heaven that attested His deity (v. 17).

Then you find much the same kind of thing in the account of His temptation. The devil tempted Him like this each time—‘If thou be the Son of God …’—and He never said He was not. He accepted the devil’s statement and proved to Him that He is the Son of God. Thus by accepting the statement He asserted and claimed His own deity. And He did so, of course, in many other ways. In the calling of the Twelve, for instance, He was clearly asserting it, and in giving power to them, in giving them the message and the power to cast out devils, He was, again, claiming this uniqueness. And you also get it in the fact that He specifically said of believers in Him that, ‘In my name shall they cast out devils’ (Mark 16:17).

We find, too, that He made this unique claim of deity for Himself in the Sermon on the Mount. He did it by contrasting what they had heard from ‘them of old time’ with what He Himself said, (Matt. 5:21, 27, 33). And then there is the specific claim in John 8:58: ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’ Once more also I would refer you to that statement in Matthew 11:27 where He claimed unique knowledge of the Father. But in many ways the most important section of Scripture under this heading is to be found in John chapters 14–17. As you study them at your leisure, notice His claim to and His consciousness of His unique deity.

Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (1996). God the Father, God the Son (266–271). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

The Trinity

Having established the truth that the bible is the word of God, we shall now move on to God Himself, and first we shall look at God as Trinity, for this we shall seek the aid of one of my all time favourite theologians R C Sproul.



THE TRIUNITY OF GOD


The doctrine of the Trinity is difficult and perplexing to us. Sometimes it is thought that Christianity teaches the absurd notion that 1+1+1=1. That is clearly a false equation. The term Trinity describes a relationship not of three gods, but of one God who is three persons. Trinity does not mean tritheism, that is, that there are three beings who together are God. The word Trinity is used in an effort to define the fullness of the Godhead both in terms of His unity and diversity.
The historic formulation of the Trinity is that God is one in essence and three in person. Though the formula is mysterious and even paradoxical, it is in no way contradictory. The unity of the Godhead is affirmed in terms of essence or being, while the diversity of the Godhead is expressed in terms of person.
Though the term Trinity is not found in the Bible, the concept is clearly there. On the one hand the Bible strongly affirms the unity of God (Deuteronomy 6:4). On the other hand the Bible clearly affirms the full deity of the three persons of the Godhead: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church has rejected the heresies of modalism and tritheism. Modalism denies the distinction of persons within the Godhead, claiming that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are just ways in which God expresses Himself. Tritheism, on the other hand, falsely declares that there are three beings who together make up God.
The term person does not mean a distinction in essence but a different subsistence in the Godhead. A subsistence in the Godhead is a real difference but not an essential difference in the sense of a difference in being. Each person subsists or exists “under” the pure essence of deity. Subsistence is a difference within the scope of being, not a separate being or essence. All persons in the Godhead have all the attributes of deity.
There is also a distinction in the work done by each member of the Trinity. The work of salvation is in one sense common to all three persons of the Trinity. Yet in the manner of activity, there are differing operations assumed by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father initiates creation and redemption; the Son redeems the creation; and the Holy Spirit regenerates and sanctifies, applying redemption to believers.
The Trinity does not refer to parts of God or even to roles. Human analogies such as one man who is a father, son, and a husband fail to capture the mystery of the nature of God.
The doctrine of the Trinity does not fully explain the mysterious character of God. Rather, it sets the boundaries outside of which we must not step. It defines the limits of our finite reflection. It demands that we be faithful to the biblical revelation that in one sense God is one and in a different sense He is three.

Summary
  1. The doctrine of the Trinity affirms the triunity of God.
  2. The doctrine of the Trinity is not a contradiction: God is one in essence and three in person.
  3. The Bible affirms both the oneness of God and the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  4. The Trinity is distinguished by the work assumed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  5. The doctrine of the Trinity sets the limits of human speculation about the nature of God.

Biblical passages for reflection:
Deuteronomy 6:4
Matthew 3:16-17
Matthew 28:19
2 Corinthians 13:14
1 Peter 1:2


Sproul, R. C. (1996). Essential truths of the Christian faith.

Scripture is God's word!

This blog is designed to promote and explain Theology in a simple and straightforward way, all our posts will be biblically based and therefore it is imperative that we first of all, explain and show that the bible is: trustworthy, inerrant, and indeed God's very word.

The following from Packer should help us as we kick off this blog!


Christianity is the true worship and service of the true God, humankind’s Creator and Redeemer. It is a religion that rests on revelation: nobody would know the truth about God, or be able to relate to him in a personal way, had not God first acted to make himself known. But God has so acted, and the sixty-six books of the Bible, thirty-nine written before Christ came and twenty-seven after, are together the record, interpretation, expression, and embodiment of his self-disclosure. God and godliness are the Bible’s uniting themes.

From one standpoint, the Scriptures (Scriptures means “writings”) are the faithful testimony of the godly to the God whom they loved and served; from another standpoint, through a unique exercise of divine overruling in their composition, they are God’s own testimony and teaching in human form. The church calls these writings the Word of God because their authorship and contents are both divine.

Decisive assurance that Scripture is from God and consists entirely of his wisdom and truth comes from Jesus Christ and his apostles, who taught in his name. Jesus, God incarnate, viewed his Bible (our Old Testament) as his heavenly Father’s written instruction, which he no less than others must obey (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10; 5:19-20; 19:4-6; 26:31, 52-54; Luke 4:16-21; 16:17; 18:31-33; 22:37; 24:25-27, 45-47; John 10:35), and which he had come to fulfill (Matt. 5:17-18; 26:24; John 5:46). Paul described the Old Testament as entirely “God-breathed”—that is, a product of God’s Spirit (“breath”) just as the cosmos is (Ps. 33:6; Gen. 1:2)—and written to teach Christianity (2 Tim. 3:15-17; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11). Peter affirms the divine origin of biblical teaching in 2 Peter 1:21 and 1 Peter 1:10-12, and so also by his manner of quoting does the writer to the Hebrews (Heb. 1:5-13; 3:7; 4:3; 10:5-7, 15-17; cf. Acts 4:25; 28:25-27).
Since the apostles’ teaching about Christ is itself revealed truth in God-taught words (1 Cor. 2:12-13), the church rightly regards authentic apostolic writings as completing the Scriptures. Already Peter refers to Paul’s letters as Scripture (2 Pet. 3:15-16), and Paul is apparently calling Luke’s gospel Scripture in 1 Timothy 5:18, where he quotes the words of Luke 10:7.

The idea of written directives from God himself as a basis for godly living goes back to God’s act of inscribing the Decalogue on stone tablets and then prompting Moses to write his laws and the history of his dealings with his people (Exod. 32:15-16; 34:1, 27-28; Num. 33:2; Deut. 31:9). Digesting and living by this material was always central to true devotion in Israel for both leaders and ordinary people (Josh. 1:7-8; 2 Kings 17:13; 22:8-13; 1 Chron. 22:12-13; Neh. 8; Ps. 119). The principle that all must be governed by the Scriptures, that is, by the Old and New Testaments taken together, is equally basic to Christianity.

What Scripture says, God says; for, in a manner comparable only to the deeper mystery of the Incarnation, the Bible is both fully human and fully divine. So all its manifold contents—histories, prophecies, poems, songs, wisdom writings, sermons, statistics, letters, and whatever else—should be received as from God, and all that Bible writers teach should be revered as God’s authoritative instruction. Christians should be grateful to God for the gift of his written Word, and conscientious in basing their faith and life entirely and exclusively upon it. Otherwise, we cannot ever honor or please him as he calls us to do.


Packer, J. I.