The Source of True Teaching

From the August 2009, Tabletalk

Q. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? 

A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.

(Westminster Shorter Catechism  Q & A 2)

When someone begins a statement with “I think God is like…,” I immediately know that this person doesn’t have a clue as to what God is like. The reason I can say this is because God is an infinite spiritual being, which means that we can know nothing about Him unless He has revealed Himself, which He does through creation and in His Word. While creation tells us that God is eternal and all-powerful (Rom. 1:20), the creation cannot tell us that God is triune, nor that He sent His eternally begotten Son to save us from our sins. The knowledge of these things must be revealed to us in God’s Word, in which we find the supreme revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ (John 14:9). This is why when someone attempts to tell us what God is like apart from Scripture — where God chooses to reveal Himself — we can be sure that all they can give us is mere opinion. And since all men and women are liars (Ps. 116:11), such opinion is apt to be wrong, no matter how sincerely offered (Rom. 1:22–23).

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Open and Shut

From the July 1, 2009 edition of Tabletalk

Q. What is the Office of the Keys? 

A. The preaching of the Holy Gospel and Christian discipline; by these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers. 
(Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 83)

Church discipline is one of those topics no one really wants to talk about. Not only do people fear that such discipline entails church officers snooping around in their private business and then outing their private sins to others in the church, church members also don’t want to be perceived as being judgmental toward others. If snooping is what biblical church discipline entails, then people would be right to be worried. Fortunately, this is not the case.

One example where church discipline is applied in the New Testament is in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Paul describes a situation in which a member of the church (presumably a prominent member) has taken “his father’s wife.” Paul seems completely perplexed that someone could do such a thing. “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans” (1 Cor. 5:1). Not only was this man’s behavior a violation of biblical commandments, but such an act was considered scandalous among pagans outside the church. Paul’s remedy for this was to excommunicate this man: “You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (v. 5).

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Marching Orders

From the June 1, 2009 edition of Tabletalk

Q. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all of which are made effectual to the elect for salvation. (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 88)

Presbyterian and Reformed churches are ruled by elders. In fact, the term Presbyterian comes to us from the Greek word presbyteros, meaning “elder.” It is closely related to the term episkopos, often translated “overseer” (as in the ESV). Both Presbyterian and Reformed churches are churches ruled by men (elders or overseers, and ministers) whose duties are spelled out throughout the New Testament — especially in the so-called Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, Titus) but also in James and 1 Peter.

While many people’s eyes wax over with disinterest when the subject of church government comes up, how churches are to organize and govern themselves is a major theme throughout the New Testament. Church government is an important topic in virtually all the Protestant confessions and in most of our major systems of theology. Whether the subject piques our interest, the biblical writers thought it very important and devoted much time and attention to direct those who would come after them as to how to organize and govern their congregations. Remember that all those who trust in Jesus Christ are part of His body and are to be members of a local church. Christ’s church must ensure that the souls of God’s people are cared for, that they are protected from heresy as well as from those who confess their faith in Christ but who still behave like pagans.

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Our Only Mediator

Q. But who now is that Mediator, who in one person is true God and also a true and righteous man?

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given unto us for complete redemption and righteousness. 

(Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 18)

Christians believe that the human race is fallen in Adam. It is not as though the human race is sick and faces imminent demise because of the effects that sin will have upon us if we do nothing about it; rather, Scripture teaches that we are already dead in sins and trespasses (Rom. 5:12–19; Eph. 2:1). This means that we do not need a cure for the disease of sin before that disease kills us — it is too late for that. Instead, we need someone to pay for our sins, resurrect us from the dead, and give us new life. Unless and until this happens, we remain dead in sin, unable to do anything to help ourselves.

The Bible does not tell us how much time elapsed between the time God created Adam and the first man rebelled against Him in Eden. But the Bible does say that as soon as the human race fell into sin and received its wage, which is death (Gen. 3:14–19), God immediately promised to send a redeemer who would save His people, crush the serpent (Satan), and yet suffer in the process (v. 15). This wonderful promise is called the proto-evangelium (the first gospel announcement), and it is the basis for all of what follows in the Bible. In fact, from the third chapter of Genesis forward, all of what follows in redemptive history is the unfolding of God’s plan to save His people from both the guilt and the power of sin in fulfillment of this very promise.

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"The Cause and the Effect"

Q. What is sanctification?

A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. 

(Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 35)

Several times I have heard Christians recite the following formula: “Christians are saved by grace, justified by faith, and sanctified by works.” On first hearing, this sounds right as the slogan attempts to capture three important biblical emphases. Yes, we are saved by grace and not by our works (Rom. 6:14; Eph. 2:8). Yes, the ground of our justification is the merit of Christ, which becomes ours through faith alone (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 2:16). And yes, good works will be found in the lives of those who are saved by grace and justified by faith (Eph. 2:10). But — and here is where the slogan takes us in the wrong direction — we are not sanctified by our good works.

This is a very important point and is often misunderstood by many. The reason why the last part of the above formula is incorrect (“sanctified by works”) is because when discussing sanctification, the formula confuses the cause (God’s grace) with the effect (good works). To put it another way, while the process of sanctification inevitably leads to the production of good works, good works do not produce our sanctification.

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Adopted Sons and Daughters

 Q. Why did Christ command us to address God thus: “Our Father?”

A. To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer that childlike reverence for and trust in God, which are to be the ground of our prayer, namely, that God has become our Father through Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of Him in faith than our parents refuse us earthly things.

(Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 120)

It is not uncommon to hear critics of Reformation theology complain that Martin Luther, John Calvin, and those who followed them, were so preoccupied with justification, that they depreciated the family relationship that sinners enjoy with their creator (adoption). This charge stems from the Reformation (and biblical) doctrine of justification, in which it is understood that the righteousness of Christ is reckoned (or imputed) to a sinner through the means of faith, so that the sinner is given a right-standing before God and therefore saved from His wrath.

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Basking in the Benefits

From the February 1, 2009 edition of Tabletalk

Q. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? 

A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

(Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 36) 

Many of us take for granted how wonderful it is to place our heads on the pillow at night and know deep down inside that it is well with our souls. There are other times when our minds are much noisier and we cannot sleep. Life’s troubles seem like they will overwhelm us. There are those frightening moments when doubt comes rushing in like a flood. We question whether or not we are Christ’s, or ever were. At other times we worry that we may have done something that will cause Christ to cast us away.

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Protestants and Creeds

 

Protestants and Creeds (from the January 2009 Tabletalk)

Q. What is then necessary for a Christian to believe? 

A. All that is promised us in the gospel, which the articles of our catholic, undoubted Christian faith teach us in sum.   (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 22)

I’ll never forget the first time I worshiped in a Presbyterian church. I had been raised in independent Bible churches where it was a given that Christians believed the Bible, while Roman Catholics relied on tradition. We had “no creed but Christ.” You can imagine how I was taken aback when the Presbyterian faithful recited the Apostles’ Creed with great gusto, including the line that, at the time, I could not bring myself to repeat: “I believe…in the holy catholic church.”

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What Is Your Only Comfort?

Ligonier has recently updated their website, and is making available a number of previously published articles from Tabletalk magazine.

Here's my short piece on the first question and answer from the Heidelberg Catechism from April 2008.  Click here