A Brief Study of the Ten Commandments

“Far too many people look at the Law apart from Christ.  They go from the Ten Commandments straight to its application to life, never asking the question: What about Christ?  That inevitably leads to legalism, or the belief that we are able to fulfill the law.”  So writes John Fesko in the introduction to his new little booklet, The Rule of Love: Broken, Fulfilled, and Applied (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2009).  He concludes his brief intro by explaining the proper way to read, study, and apply the Ten Commandments: by considering the historical, covenantal, and redemptive context of the law.  That is the basic paradigm for the entire book – his discussion on each individual commandment.

The book is helpful because it is clear and concise.  Fesko explains the historical setting of each commandment, how Christ fulfilled it, and how it applies to us as Christians, those in Christ.  Each chapter is only around 10 pages long and concludes with a few study questions.  This is a smaller hardcover book for the average parishioner.  As I read it, I was thinking how it would be a great Bible study book (for a short study), a great book to give to friends just coming into the Christian faith, and a good little reference for sermons/studies on the Ten Commandments.   Again, it is not a scholarly resource with footnotes and extensive quotes; it is a basic and clear Reformational treatment of the Law – as a tutor to drive us to Christ and as a guide to Christian gratitude.

I’ll post a little more on this at a later date.  For more info, check it out at the publisher’s site (here).

shane lems

sunnyside wa

The Pastor and the Church: Abraham Kuyper

I just finished Our Worship (Onze Eredienst; 1911) [ed.  Harry Boonstra, trans. Boonstra, et. al (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009)] by Abraham Kuyper.  The book is a series of published articles on public worship and liturgy which Kuyper penned around the turn of the 20th century in a Dutch Reformed  “magazine,” De Heraut.  The topics include liturgy, the assembly, the meeting, the prayers, song, preaching, elders, deacons, and so forth – 316 pages of such discussion.

I enjoyed the first chapters quite a bit.  Here’s a golden section from the first chapter, “Revival of Liturgical Awareness.”

“In a genuine church…the gathering of believers” originates in “a historical past that goes back all the way to Pentecost in Jerusalem.  Such a church is rooted in a past of eighteen centuries, in which a temporary minister serves for only a set number of years to accomplish his holy service, and then that same service continues under the ministry of his successor.  That means that it is not the minister who created the church, but that the church existed long before him.  He was born in the church, he served in it, and therefore had to honor the traditions that developed within the church over the centuries.” (p. 7; emphasis mine).

That’s great: Kuyper is reacting to the “free-reining spirit” common in America (yes, even back in c. 1900) where a minister starts his own church, gets some followers and goes from there.  Kuyper said that such a conglomeration is “nothing other than a circle gathering around a talented speaker” (Ibid.).  Kuyper’s response is classic: the minister is a very tiny part of a much greater thing.  He does not have the liberty to do what he wants with the church.  He’s an important servant in some sense, but he must remember that the church existed before him and will be there long after his tongue no longer speaks.  He’s a tool in the hands of Christ, used for a time to build something much more significant than himself: the body of Christ.   This is a great note for me as a pastor to remember: “The church has authority over the minister and not the minister over the church” (Ibid., 6).

The minister serves Christ and his church – not the other way around.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Another New One On Calvin

In light of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birthday, a host of all things Calvin is hitting the bookstores, blogs, and even other media.  Here’s another new compilation on Calvin, edited by Burk Parsons – John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology (Orlando: Reformation Trust, 2009).  Nineteen pastors/teachers contributed, from Joel Beeke to Sinclair Ferguson to Thabiti Anyabwile to Phillip Johnson to Derek Thomas to Jerry Bridges.

The chapters include topics such as Calvin’s humility, life, and devotion; his role as churchman, reformer, writer, preacher; Calvin’s teaching on redemption, election, reprobation, union with Christ, justification, and so forth.  A great many topics are covered.

I’m not going to actually quote the book a bunch here. I simply want to flag the book for those interested.  In my opinion, the book is a great one to give to those Christians who 1) are leery of Calvin, 2) have heard of Calvin but never read anything about him, or 3) know a little of Calvin’s teaching and want to learn more.  This book is probably too much an introduction to Calvin and his thought for it to be overly useful to those of us who have read the Institutes or parts of his Commentaries.

One small quibble I have with the book is that some contributors didn’t really seem to get “into” Calvin’s thought.  For one example, Jerry Bridges wrote about holiness, and he only quoted from a tiny section of the Institutes (sometimes known as “The Little Golden Book”) but left out some other huge Calvin emphases that came to mind.  Joel Beeke’s chapter, “The Communion of Men With God” followed Bridges; it certainly “breathed” Calvin.  These two chapters sort of display the diversity of contributors.  Another chapter that didn’t “breathe” Calvin was John MacArthur’s chapter, “Man’s Radical Corruption,” (a.k.a. Total Depravity) which he said was one of Calvin’s “most important legacies” along with a few other points (p 138).  True enough, but this is sort of a reduction of all of Calvin’s thought down to several “points.”  In summary, some chapters are solid reading, others are somewhat superficial.

I realize an author and a book can only do so much.  And I realize the benefits of having Christians of all traditions say that Calvin is good and helpful.  Again, this is a good introductory level book for Calvin’s thought and life in simple language, but you may not need or want it if you’ve already read some things on Calvin.

For those of you who want more than a broad introduction, see this Beeke book or this one by Godfrey – both of which are also introductions to Calvin.  These are two men (among others I know) who have read and studied the Calvin “autographa” for years, and who are Calvinistic from head to toe.  These two books (among others) may just serve a better purpose than the one I’m reviewing here.

Finally, if you want a scholarly book on Calvin, check out Richard Muller’s, The Unaccommodated Calvin. I’m guessing most of our readers who have been “reading us” awhile are probably able to dig into the Institutes themselves.  Start there, and patiently read.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Gilead: On the Lighter Side

A parishioner told me that I need to read more than theology.  I do, but her point was well taken, so I’m reading the book she loaned me: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (New York: Picador, 2004).  The story is about an elderly Congregationalist minister who – in a very creative and lyrical way – is recounting his life (including the 25 feet tall stack of 40 years of sermons in the attic that he just can’t forget about).  Here’s one little blurb.

After lamenting his age, Reverend Ames (the one writing the story) says he wanted to recount the old days by doing a little waltz in his study (sort of a way to defy his age, or fight it).

“I have thought I might have a book ready at hand to clutch if I begin to experience unusual pain, so that it would have an especial recommendation from being found in my hands.  That seemed theatrical, on consideration, and it might have the perverse effect of burdening the book with unpleasant associations.  The ones I considered, by the way, were Donne and Herbert and Barth’s Epistle to the Romans and Volume II of Calvin’s Institutes.  Which is by no means to slight Volume I” (p. 115).

The book is a flowing narrative, so it is good for the sake of story (it won a Pulitzer Prize).  There are some great episodes in it as well.  The oddest thing for me, however, apart from the gun-totin’ abolitionist preacher is that the book doesn’t have chapters!  Still, go get it if you want a light-hearted enjoyable read.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

A Final Judgment for the Justified According to Works?

Not the way some would have you think.  Cornelis Venema writes:

If the confessions of the Reformation clearly speak of justification as a once-for-all act of God, which does not comport with a final justification according to works, this still leaves open the question regarding the way they handle the final judgment and the obvious role that works play in this judgment.  How do they treat the subject of the role of good works in the context of the final judgment?

To answer this question, it is significant to observe that the confessions of the Reformation clearly affirm the reality of a final judgment according to works.  They also openly acknowledge that the good works of believers are genuine works that please God and are accordingly rewarded by him.  However, they are careful to note that the good works God rewards in this context have at least three important characteristics.

First, they are not the kinds of works that could ever justly deserve the verdict of free justification.  Such works could never be ‘the whole or part of our righteousness before God’, according to the Heidelberg Catechism:

Because the righteousness which can stand before the tribunal of God must be absolutely perfect and wholly conformable to the divine law, while even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin (Q. & A. 62; cf. Rom. 3:9, 20; 10:5; 7:23; Ga. 3:10; 5:3; Deut. 27:6, Lev. 18:5).

Second, the good works of believers are themselves the fruits of God’s sanctifying grace at work in the hearts and lives of his people.  They are those good works that God prepared beforehand for believers (Eph. 2:10).

And third, the works of believers are only ‘good’ in so far as they proceed from faith, the same faith that finds no other basis for acceptance with God than that provided by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  Good works are the inescapable fruits of a true and living faith; though faith alone – ‘before we do good works’ – is the exclusive instrument whereby believers receive the free gift of justification (Matt. 7:18; John 15:5; James 2:18, 22).

The Gospel of Free Acceptance in Christ, pgs. 262-63. (Bold emphasis mine.)

This is very much in the spirit of Belgic Confession, Article 37 which states that the final judgment “is very pleasant and a great comfort to the righteous and elect, since their total redemption will then be accomplished.”

_________________
Andrew