Friday, September 30, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Lloyd-Jones on Van Til on Barth
Christianity and Barthianism
Cornelius Van Til
Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1962
464 pp, clothbound
ISBN: 978 0 87552 481 8
Dr. Lloyd-Jones writes:
This is Dr. Van Til’s second book on Karl Barth and Neo-orthodox teaching. His first, The New Modernism, appeared in 1947. That publication did not receive the attention that it merited.
This new volume is in a sense a sequel to the former. It is, however, strikingly different in many respects. It is much more comprehensive and thorough, and the theological element is very much more prominent. In addition it is very much more readable. It is indeed a magisterial volume which, it seems to me, should be compulsory reading for all who are interested in the present church and theological position.
Read the rest of the article.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
John Calvin on True Spirituality, Work, Service to God
Let us leave the Papists to get on with their fooling around with God. Why do they fret themselves so much? Because they have never known how God wishes to be served and honored. According to them, his ordinances are nothing compared to their foolish inventions. Let me give you an example. A man works honestly in order to make a living; though he only has brown bread to his heart’s content, he still calls upon God in the morning and praises him in the evening. If he has children, he denies himself as much as possible in order to feed and clothe them. If God sends afflictions to his household, he bears them patiently. If he practices some kind of handicraft, or some other trade, he will refrain from cheating on his neighbors. He would prefer to die rather than to wrong anyone.
This man, who lives first and foremost an honest life, will not be arrogant enough to seek self-advancement without restraint. He will not be given over to intemperate habits. He will be modest in his eating and drinking, patient in all adversities. What kind of man is this according to the Papists? ‘Oh, he’s a secular man; in other words, he is a man of the world.’ This is how much they value the pure service of God. We know that the principal service that God requires of us is that we devote ourselves entirely to him; this means that we will glorify him in affliction as well as in prosperity, and that we will follow the vocation we have when we are called, without pride, ambition or envy. God takes delight in this, but according to the definition of the Papists, those who live in this way are worldly!
The Papists do not engage in digging earth, nor do they get involved with sewing or tailoring, or anything else. Theirs is a contemplative life, and they are in a state of perfection. Can you not see how the world has been deceived? Such people, who make God into little statues, well deserve the pit for devising such absurd errors. As for ourselves, let us be aware that our God is Spirit, and that he wants to be served spiritually, as he tells us in his Word. At the same time, let us be wary of becoming trapped in the foolish notions which bewitch these wretches; let us, instead, realize that God speaks with us so that we might have recourse to him in all holiness, righteousness and uprightness. Let us measure our lives against the law and not against our own opinions or those of the world. Let us be concerned with what God commands and forbids, since we have to give account to him, and knowing that we have no other judge than God himself.
May we exercise ourselves in all these things, believing that if we do so, we will not be laboring in vain. Leave the Papists to break their legs and their necks, all the while unsure of what they are doing, yet vexing God and provoking him more and more. In order that we do not strive in vain, or wander about here and there following this or that opinion without a fixed destination, let us exercise ourselves in the things that Paul teaches us in this passage. Subsequently, we will not be condemned for occupying ourselves with meaningless things which God disapproves of, detests, and declares to be frivolous.
John Calvin. Thirty-Six Sermons of John Calvin (Kindle Locations 4561-4569). Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.
This man, who lives first and foremost an honest life, will not be arrogant enough to seek self-advancement without restraint. He will not be given over to intemperate habits. He will be modest in his eating and drinking, patient in all adversities. What kind of man is this according to the Papists? ‘Oh, he’s a secular man; in other words, he is a man of the world.’ This is how much they value the pure service of God. We know that the principal service that God requires of us is that we devote ourselves entirely to him; this means that we will glorify him in affliction as well as in prosperity, and that we will follow the vocation we have when we are called, without pride, ambition or envy. God takes delight in this, but according to the definition of the Papists, those who live in this way are worldly!
The Papists do not engage in digging earth, nor do they get involved with sewing or tailoring, or anything else. Theirs is a contemplative life, and they are in a state of perfection. Can you not see how the world has been deceived? Such people, who make God into little statues, well deserve the pit for devising such absurd errors. As for ourselves, let us be aware that our God is Spirit, and that he wants to be served spiritually, as he tells us in his Word. At the same time, let us be wary of becoming trapped in the foolish notions which bewitch these wretches; let us, instead, realize that God speaks with us so that we might have recourse to him in all holiness, righteousness and uprightness. Let us measure our lives against the law and not against our own opinions or those of the world. Let us be concerned with what God commands and forbids, since we have to give account to him, and knowing that we have no other judge than God himself.
May we exercise ourselves in all these things, believing that if we do so, we will not be laboring in vain. Leave the Papists to break their legs and their necks, all the while unsure of what they are doing, yet vexing God and provoking him more and more. In order that we do not strive in vain, or wander about here and there following this or that opinion without a fixed destination, let us exercise ourselves in the things that Paul teaches us in this passage. Subsequently, we will not be condemned for occupying ourselves with meaningless things which God disapproves of, detests, and declares to be frivolous.
John Calvin. Thirty-Six Sermons of John Calvin (Kindle Locations 4561-4569). Monergism Books. Kindle Edition.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
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