Book 3/Chapter 5 Indulgences (section 1) 1. From which doctrine does the practice of granting indulgences flow? 2. Does Calvin want to argue with the men who advance these notions? Root and fruit (section 2) 1. What do many people see, and what do they miss? 2. What do indulgences establish? Fathers against indulgences (section …
Oaks, Not Cabbages
On the physical level, the whole body is involved in singing, and in making music with various instruments. This means there is something else to remember as we pursue musical reformation in our congregation. The apostle Paul addresses a common problem with body life, a mistake that is easy to make. That is the mistake …
Round About
Keeping the Supper faithfully is not a matter of jinning up holy feelings. It is not a matter of introspection, figuring out a hundred and one reasons why you ought not to be partaking. Neither is it a summons to theological logic-chopping, where you try to figure out what happens to the bread and why, …
The Brightness of the Trinkets
Our Father and God, You have established Your Church as a royal priesthood in this world, and so we intercede for the nations of men now, confessing on their behalf so that the grace of Your forgiveness will soon be extended to them all. Father, we live among a people that have been dazzled and …
A Handy Compass
A question arose in a recent thread that I thought I could address very quickly here. The question was, “just how much of a real threat is radical Islam?” Fortunately, we have the kind of leaders now who are very helpful in this regard — the president, for instance. The leadership of the West is …
For They Do Gender Strife
After sub school, I spent about a year and a half on the USS Tusk, a vintage submarine of the WW2 type. I think it was commissioned the year after the war, but it was that kind of critter. I was just eighteen, full of beans, and had come from a family that placed a …
Past and Future
Book 3/Chapter 4 Orientation (section 33) 1. What is the difference between discipline and punishment with respect to time? 2. While we as children of God are afflicted, what is it for? Not to lose heart (section 34) 1. Why must believers be exhorted not to lose heart? David’s discipline (section 35) 1. Why was …
God”s Spoken World
“Imagine a poem written with such enormous three-dimensional words that we had to invent a smaller word to reference each of the big ones; that we had to rewrite the whole thing in shorthand, smashing it into two dimensions, just to talk about it. Or don’t imagine it. Look outside. Human language is our attempt …
Discipline and Punishment
Book 3/Chapter 4 Penalty and guilt (section 30) 1. Does the Bible teach that Christ paid the penalty for our sins? 2. If we are delivered from guilt through Christ, what must happen with the penalties? Punishment and discipline (section 31) 1. What are the two kinds of judgment, according to Calvin? 2. What role …
Three Kinds of Death/Romans XXI
INTRODUCTION: As we continue to work through this great letter of the apostle, we can see in various ways how his mind works. We see it in how he answers objections—”one of you will say to me then . . .” We also see in this passage a typical Pauline move, where he says, “These …