Just a quick thumbnail statement on the Trinity. As Thomas Adams once said, “It is rashness to search, godliness to believe, safeness to preach, and eternal blessedness to know the Trinity.” A great deal of practical confusion exists concerning our relationship to our Triune God. Of course, Christians believe in the Trinity — but they …
Not Humanly Devised
Book 2/Chapter 14 Two natures (section 1) 1. What two things must we not attribute to the two natures of Christ? 2. How then did the Son of God become the Son of man? 3. What illustration of this does Calvin use? Divinity and humanity (section 2) 1. How do we know that this doctrine …
Okay, Okay . . . Miss California
Well, let me say just a couple of serious things before I talk about what makes me wheeze. I saw an interview with Miss Carrie Prejean about her now infamous run-in with the kind of insane interaction that must have occurred on Lot’s front porch. She seemed like a sweet and sincere Christian to me, …
Christ and the Virgin Mary
Book 2/Chapter 13 Christ and the Virgin Mary (section 3) 1. According to Calvin, the genealogy in Matthew was whose? 2. Although the male line is the basis for reckoning in the political order, does this exclude women? 3. What does Calvin argue concerning Mary engendering Christ from her seed? True man and sinless (section …
Peace With God/Romans 17
INTRODUCTION: Recall that the first three chapters of Romans address the universal problem, the problem of sin. Sin afflicts the Gentiles, as we saw in chapter 1. It afflicts the Jews, as St. Paul shows in chapter 2. Sin has both Jew and Gentile in its grip—that is the argument of chapter 3. In the …
Partisanship: The New Funding Model of Journalism
The shift occurred quietly (well, relatively quietly) and without a lot of fanfare. I used to read the newspaper regularly, faithfully, on almost a daily basis, for many, many years. And then one day I found that I wasn’t doing that anymore, and I didn’t need to subscribe to any papers, and I was just …
Fleeing the Incarnation
Book 2/Chapter 13 True manhood (section 1) 1. In this part of the Institutes, Calvin is answering three groups. Who are they? 2. What were the two options suggested by these groups for the “body of Christ”? Emptied Himself (section 2) 1. What does Calvin say Paul is not doing in Phil. 2:5-7? 2. What …
Just So Many Moo Cows
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 165 “He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor” (Prov. 28:8) Usury is a big subject, but in this case we can limit our treatment of it. …
Running on All Pauline Cylinders
I am listening to Ken Myers’ interview of William Cavanaugh on Mars Hill Audio. I get lots of book purchase ideas from listening to Ken’s stuff, and so I commend it to you. This interview with Cavanaugh was concerning his book Being Consumed, a book I have already read and reviewed here. But listening to …
Foolish Speculation?
Book 2/Chapter 12 A necessary Incarnation (section 4)? 1. What “speculation” does Calvin address next? 2. What does Calvin think of those who “leap over these bounds”? Whose mistake is it (section 5)? 1. Who is Calvin addressing in this section? 2. Does Calvin believe that Adam’s fall precedes God’s decree in time? Osiander’s doctrine …