Our good works do not justify us. They do not sanctify us. They do not save us, but they are the “fruit and evidence” of a true and lively faith. Christ saved us by his obedience, death and resurrection. The Spirit sanctifies by his grace. Our good works are theContinue Reading
In Reformed theology, the noun salvation is typically used in two ways. Sometimes it is used as a synonym for justification. When used this way, it does not include sanctification, since, according to the Reformed confession, justification is a declarative act of God whereby he credits (imputes) to sinners theContinue Reading
As I noted in Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry (2007) and have noted in this space since that time, almost as soon as the Reformation achieved clarity on salvation it came under attack from two sides: the antinomians, who would not tolerate the abiding validity of the moral law asContinue Reading
Making salvation by grace and works or by grace and faithfulness necessarily turns our eyes back upon our own performance and the quality of our faith and the quality of our sanctification. That is a spiritual dead-end. Suspending our future salvation upon our present performance has never and can never beContinue Reading
Our obedience is either the ground (the basis), the instrument (the means), or the evidence (the fruit) of our salvation. The Reformed doctrine is the latter. It is the case that believers will be progressively sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit, through the due use of ordinary means,Continue Reading
As the author comes to the final warning passage in Hebrews 12:25–29, it helps if we see its apparent severity in the light of the principle that the indicatives of grace give rise to the imperatives of obedience. “You have not come … But you have come” (Heb. 12:18, 22).Continue Reading
Romans chapters 6 through 8 are a unit, written by a Christian, for Christians, about Christians. We are in a covenant of grace, not a covenant of works. We are sinners. We have been freely saved and justified, and we are, therefore, being sanctified. It is all true at theContinue Reading
Marathons, mud runs, CrossFit, Yoga, diets, non-GMO and gluten-free foods, Christian financial programmes, anti-vaccination and homeschooling have — each in their own way — taken over the driver’s seat of the lives of so many in the church. While all of these things in and of themselves may be good things and haveContinue Reading
Michael Horton writes: “When Jesus Christ arrived, He did not revive the Sinai theocracy as His contemporaries had hoped. Instead of driving out the Romans, He commanded love for our enemies. Gathering the new Israel — Jew and Gentile — around Himself, by His Spirit, through Word and sacrament, JesusContinue Reading
Rev. Nicholas Batzig writes: If you want to demean someone in the church, you simply have to use the “L-word” when speaking to or about that person. The number of times one believer has called another believer a legalist is inestimable. Name-calling often ensues when someone in the church believesContinue Reading