The Gospel As a Means to Increase True Piety (Bucer)

Many of us know the Apostle's words in Romans 5:6 & 8 (For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ...But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [NET]) Those words certainly are worth committing to memory. We …

The Whole Chain Holdeth (Sibbes)

The unbreakable, unchanging love of God for his children is one of the most comforting truths in Christianity.  God's love for us in Christ is a free love.  This means it is not dependent upon something in us or something we have done or left undone.  He knew we were ungodly sinners, yet he loved …

God’s Saving Love: Personal or Impersonal?

Greg Forster makes a great point about the Calvinist view of God's love in contrast to other views of God's love.  Either God's love is a personal, intimate love that embraces some sinners, as the Calvinist says, or it is an impersonal, abstract love that embraces none.  Here's how Forster says it: Every tradition besides …

The Prophets, Suffering, and Jesus (Vos)

 In an article on Jeremiah 31:3 (I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. NIV) Geerhardus Vos explained the context of Jeremiah's ministry as one of suffering and the burden of having a prophetic understanding of Israel's dismal future.  In that context, a reminder of God's love must have …

Instead of Complaining…

From a letter by John Newton on May 31, 1775:“My experience is made up of enigmas, but the sum and solution of all is, that I am a vile creature, but I have a good Lord.  He has chosen me; and I through his rich grace have chosen him.  I trust there is an engagement …