Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
Ballymena
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 25 November, 2007
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the
whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect toward him” (II Chron. 16:9)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM Prof. Hanko
I Peter 3:20-21
I. Typified in the Flood
II. Signified in Baptism
III. Of Encouragement to Us
Psalms: 115:1-9; 106:36-42; 40:1-5; 42:1-5
Evening Service – 6:00 PM Prof. Hanko
Submission to Father’s Chastisement
Hebrews 12:5-6
I. Submission to What
II. Submission How
III. Submission Why
Psalms: 23:1-6; 106:43-48; 102:8-13; 141:1-5
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: https://cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quotes to Consider:
John Calvin: “All whom the Lord has chosen and honoured with admission into the society of his saints, ought to prepare themselves for a life, hard, laborious, unquiet and replete with numerous and various calamities. It is the will of their heavenly Father to exercise them in this manner, that he may have a certain proof of those that belong to him … All the chastisements which God by his own hand inflicts on us, have this as the object—to heal us of our vices.”
John Owen on Hebrews 12:5: “In their trials, and to prevent their fainting, the apostle sends these Hebrews unto the Scriptures: which, as it proves that they ought to be conversant in them, demonstrates the springs of all spiritual strength, direction, and consolation, to be contained in them. And if this be the mind of Christ, then he that would deprive the people of the constant, daily use of the Scriptures, is Antichrist.”
C. H. Spurgeon: “This is one of the sure marks of the children of God—they kiss the rod. And the more the Lord chastens them, the more they cling to him.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will):
Prof. Hanko will be preaching for us today and next Lord’s Day. Plan to stay for tea after the evening service next week.
Catechism classes: Monday, 5:30 PM at the Murrays Monday, 7:00 PM with the Campbells at the manse Thursday, 7:00 PM at the Hamills
Women’s Bible Study meets this Tuesday, 27 Nov., 10:30 AM at the Murrays.
Membership Class: Tuesday, 8:30 PM, at the Hallidays.
Midweek Bible Study on Wednesday at 7:45 PM at the manse. Prof. Hanko will lead a study on the special offices in the church.
The Hankos and Stewarts travel to S. Wales this Friday. Prof. Hanko will give a lecture in Porthcawl on “The Reformation’s Emphasis on Piety.”
Offerings: General Fund – £475.05. Donations: £12.50 (C. R. News).
The Reformed Witness Hour next Lord’s Day (8:30-9:00 AM, on Gospel 846MW), is entitled “God Has Spoken to Us by His Son” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
The next lecture in Limerick is planned for Thursday, 17 January. Rev. Daniel Kleyn will speak on “The Antithesis: Living Antithetically In A Technological Age.”
Leighinmohr Hotel in Ballymena has been booked for the congregational dinner on Friday, 18 January. Plan to arrive at 7 PM, with dinner being served at 7:30.
PRC News: Rev. R. Kleyn (Trinity, MI) declined the call to Calvary PRC.
This is the 17th e-mail from Prof. Engelsma’s forum on justification.
Dear Forum,
Before I proceed in my explanation of justification and my defence of justification especially against the current heresy of justification by works in the theology of the Federal Vision, I respond to an objection against what I have been teaching.
Almost from the beginning of this discussion of justification, a member of the forum has been objecting, increasingly strenuously, against my explanation of Scripture’s teaching of justification by faith. His objection is not only against my explanation of the doctrine, but also against the explanation given by the Reformed confessions, indeed, against the explanation given by the Reformation.
The objector denies that justification by faith in Scripture means that our faith is the instrument, or means, by which God justifies us and by which we receive from God the gift of justification. According to him, such a doctrine (which is, of course, the doctrine I am teaching and defending on this forum) is nothing but Arminianism. It is a form of the false doctrine of salvation by works. What this doctrine amounts to, according to the objector, is the teaching that the sinner pays God for righteousness by his faith. I quote the objector from one of his numerous letters: “In this installment you come clean and reveal error in this false notion, that because you exercise this God-given tool called faith God ‘pays’ you ‘the debt He owes’ you. I must speak clearly: this is still Arminianism.”
It is the position of the objector that Christ justified His elect people by the cross. This is the only justification there is. Again, I quote him: “The sacrifice of Christ did take away the sins of His people, justify them apart from man’s works, including the exercise of faith.” Once again: “Justification is of God’s hand alone apart from faith.”
When the Bible teaches, as it certainly does, in Romans 3 and 4 and in the book of Galatians, that we are justified by faith, the meaning is merely that our faith “manifests” that we were justified at the cross.
Interestingly, I have also received letters from two other members of the forum, independently of each other and of the main objector (I doubt that the three even know each other; they certainly do not know what the others have written), that go in somewhat the same direction as the vehement objector.
One of these two raised a question about the phrase in Galatians 2:16, “justified … by the faith of Jesus Christ,” with specific reference to the words, “of Jesus Christ.” Without committing himself to the position he referred to, he said the following: “Some Reformed contend that we are justified by faith OF Jesus (as the Greek is genitive), and NOT by our faith IN Jesus, which means that it is by Christ’s faith or faithfulness that we are justified and NOT by our faith in any sense. So that when Scripture says that BY THIS FAITH we are justified, it means BY the faith OF Jesus, whose faith and obedience has made us just.”
The other asked similarly concerning the phrase, “faith of Jesus Christ,” in Galatians 2:16: “Isn’t it true … [that] not our faith is ground, as if our faith was perfect and fulfilling God’s demands, but Christ’s faith, His obedience, and righteousness are ground of our salvation?” He too suggests that “faith of Christ” in the text means the faith that Jesus Himself had.
I recognize in the questions or arguments of all three of the correspondents a strong determination to ascribe justification to God in Christ alone, and to avoid even a semblance of the error that ascribes justification to the work or worth of the sinner.
Nevertheless, the main objector is mistaken, as are the positions and interpretations of Galatians 2:16 that the other two correspondents ask about. And this mistake is as grievous as is the doctrine of justification by faith and works.
I respond, first (and he will say, “finally”), to the main objector, the man who has been opposing what I have been teaching almost from the beginning.
For one thing, he errs by opposing the Reformed confessions. He openly acknowledges this. He insists that the Belgic Confession is in error on justification, particularly, by teaching that faith is the instrument, or means, of justification. He charges that the creeds are man-made documents and therefore fallible. The fact is, however, that the objector is a member of a Reformed denomination that has the Belgic Confession as one of its creeds. No member of a Reformed denomination is at liberty to criticize a teaching of the confessions. To be a member of a Reformed church is to affirm agreement with the confessions and to promise not to agitate against them. In addition, it is foolish for a man who claims to be Reformed to condemn the Reformed confessions and thus the Reformation itself as in error on the fundamental doctrine of justification by faith alone. The objector ought to take heed to himself: Am I right in setting myself up against all the Reformed confessions, against the Reformation itself, and against a cloud of theologian-witnesses testifying that faith justifies instrumentally? But it is possible that the creeds are in error. They are not infallible. They are not inspired Scripture. If our objector judges the confessions in error on the matter of justification, he must prove this to his consistory, classis, and synod. While doing this, he must not contradict the confessions in his conversation. I warn him against this sin.
Then, I point him to the clear teaching of the Bible in the outstanding passages I have already quoted and explained. I quote and briefly explain only one, Romans 3:28: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” The Bible here teaches that one is justified by, that is, by means of, faith. It does not say that faith merely manifests that one was justified once upon a time in the past, when Christ died. But the text says that a man is justified, that is, is truly and actually justified by his faith. Verse 30 underscores this when it states that God justifies sinners by, or through, or by means of, their faith: “Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.” God performs a wonderful, gracious, saving act by means of the faith of elect, regenerated sinners: He justifies them through this faith. I note that there can be question that the faith spoken of is the active faith in the heart of the elect sinner who is justified, for verse 26 has said of God that He is the justifier of “him which believeth in Jesus.”
This is Scripture. It is not the Belgic Confession, or Martin Luther, or any human writing. God’s act of justification takes place by, that is, by means of, the faith of the one who believes in Jesus.
We must bow to this! Also the objector must bow to this! to be continued …
