Luther’s Reformation: A Reformation of Doctrine

“Life is as evil among us as among the papists, thus we do not argue about life but about doctrine. Whereas Wyclif and Hus attacked the immoral lifestyle of the papacy, I challenge primarily its doctrine.”…The heart of the Reformation is the recovery of sound doctrine–only true faith will lead to renewal of life. Here Luther reveals his own vision of “reformation”–as unusual in his own day as it is troublesome for modern times.

Luther can be seen as a follower of Bernard of Clairvaux–but then a radical follower, because the situation since the days of St. Bernard had so deteriorated that the crusade now to be launched is no longer aimed at the liberation of the Holy Land but of the Holy People, the Church itself. Because of the advanced time of world history, these crusades can no longer be waged by armies. Only one weapon is left: the preaching of a powerless Christ, and Him crucified.
- Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, 55,7; 80.

Filed under: Christian Biography, Reformed Theology , Church History, Martin Luther, Preaching, Reformation

Luther: Man Between God and the Devil

Just reading the prologue is getting me pretty excited for this biography on Luther. Here’s an excerpt:

He never set himself up as healer of the Church and never regarded the renewal of the Church as his task. Effective resistance to the Reformation would neither have surprised nor dissuaded him. But disappointed he would have been had he suspected that the final return of God, Christ’s Second Coming, would be so long in arriving that his own five-hundredth birthday would have to be celebrated on earth.
Luther’s measure of time was calibrated with yardsticks other than those of modernity and enlightenment, progress and tolerance. Knowing that the renewal of the Church could be expected to come only from God and only at the end of time, he would have had no trouble enduring curbs on the Evangelical movement. According to Luther’s prediction, the Devil would not “tolerate” the rediscovery of the Gospel; he would rebel with all his might, and muster all his forces against it. God’s Reformation would be preceded by a counterreformation, and the Devil’s progress would mark the Last Days. For where God is at work–in man and in human history–the Devil, the spirit of negation, is never far away.
- Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil, 12.

Filed under: Christian Biography , Martin Luther, Reformation

Apostolic Preaching: Struggle, Suffering and Toil

To be entrusted with the treasure of God’s gospel is not a responsibility that can be switched “off” and “on” at will. In a profound way, this calling consumes those who receive it, and its faithful fulfillment demands not only readiness to suffer but also a humble dependence on God’s sovereign Spirit to convey his life-giving good news through our weak words.
The price we are called to pay can be summed up in the words struggle, suffering, and toil.
- Dennis E. Johnson, Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ From All the Scriptures, 86-7.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Dennis E. Johnson, Local Church, Ministry, Preaching

Shall We Be Always Giving Sins and Taking Righteousness?

Objection. But it may be said, “Surely this course of procedure can never be acceptable to Jesus Christ. What! shall we daily come to him with our filth, our guilt our sins? May he not, will he not, bid us keep them to ourselves? they are our own. Shall we be always giving sins, and taking righteousness!”
Answer. There is not any thing that Jesus Christ is more delighted with, than that his saints should always hold communion with him as to this business of giving and receiving. For,–
This exceeding honours him, and gives him the glory that is his due. Many, indeed, cry, “Lord, Lord,” and make mention of him, but honour him not at all. How so? They take his work out of his hands, and ascribe it unto other things; their repentance, their duties, shall bear their iniquities. They do not say so; but they do so… Herein, then, I say, is Christ honoured indeed, when we go to him with our sins by faith, and say unto him, “Lord, this is thy work; this is that for which thou camest into the world; this is that thou hast undertaken to do. Thou callest for my burden, which is too heavy for me to bear; take it, blessed Redeemer Thou tenderest thy righteousness; that is my portion.” Then is Christ honoured, then is the glory of mediation ascribed to him, when we walk with him in this communion.
- John Owen, Works, Vol. 2: Communion With God, 195.

Filed under: Reformed Theology , Assurance, Atonement, Calvinism, Christianity, Imputation, John Owen, Justification, Puritans

Get to Know Martin Luther

So for the upcoming months I decided I would spent a little more time with one particular theologian. There are so many men worth getting acquainted with: the reformers, the puritans, the Princetonians, the Scottish divines, all those great Dutch theologians, the early church Fathers, etc. it’s an impossible task to know them all without compromising some depth with any particular one. John Piper recommends choosing one dead theologian and spending your life getting to him and his theology. While I’m far from making any life commitments I thought it might be worth my time to try to read up on at least the basic works of some theologian, a major biography or two, and more contemporary things pertaining to the man. And as you may have guessed by the title of this post, I decided on Martin Luther.

This decision was made for several reasons: (1) because I read Bainton’s biography on Luther and still feel like the Luther is a complete stranger. (2) Luther’s Bondage of the Will about a year ago was an invigorating read, his style of writing is so straightforward and bold that it would get any Christian’s blood rushing. It’s not hard to see why Luther was regarded as a “bull in a china shop.” He was unbounded in his zeal for the true gospel, particularly the doctrine of justification by faith alone. (3) Carl Trueman’s recommendation of The Genius of Luther’s Theology as well as his mention of the impact Luther’s theology has had on him moved me towards this direction. (4) Carl Trueman’s lectures on Martin Luther a couple months ago also did much to generate interest. (5) John Piper’s biographical sketch on Martin Luther (with an emphasis on Martin Luther’s time spent in the study). (6) Lastly, God used this man to develop the theology of the reformation! This is enough in itself to get anyone to invest some time in getting to know him.

So here are the books I’m planning on reading:

1. Biography: Luther: Man Between God and the Devil – Heiko A. Oberman
2. Works: Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings (1st edition) – Timothy F. Lull
3. Contemporary: The Genius of Luther’s Theology: A Wittenberg Way of Thinking for the Contemporary Church – Robert Kolb, Charles P. Arand

Filed under: Christian Biography, Reformed Theology , Carl Trueman, Church History, Evangelicalism, John Piper, Martin Luther, Reading, Reformation

The Sinfulness of Sin

Never was sin seen to be more abominably sinful and full of provocation, than when the burden of it was upon the shoulders of the Son of God. God having made his Son, the Son of his love, his only begotten, full of grace and truth, sin for us, to manifest his indignation against it, and how utterly impossible it is that he should let the least sin go unpunished, he lays hand on him, and spares him not… is it not most clear from hence, even from the blood of the cross of Christ, that such is the demerit of sin, that it is altogether impossible that God should pass by any, the least unpunished? If he would have done it for any, he would have done it in reference to his only son; but he spared him not.
- John Owen, Works, Vol. 2: Communion With God, 96.

Filed under: Reformed Theology , Atonement, Imputation, John Owen, Justification, Puritans

Does God Love His People In Their Sinning?

The love of God in itself is the eternal purpose and act of his will. This is no more changeable than God himself: if it were, no flesh could be saved; but it changeth not, and we are not consumed. What then? loves he his people in their sinning? Yes; his people,–not their sinning. Alters he not his love towards them? Not the purpose of his will, but the dispensations of his grace. He rebukes them, he chastens them, he hides his face from them, he smites them, he fills them with a sense of [his] indignation; but woe, woe would it be to us, should he change in his love, or take away his kindness from us!
…But now our love to God is ebbing and flowing, waning and increasing. We lose our first love, and we grow again in love;–scarce a day at a stand. What poor creatures are we! How unlike the Lord and his love! “Unstable as water, we cannot excel.” Now it is, “Though all men forsake thee, I will not;” anon, “I know not the man.” One day, “I shall never be moved, my hill is so strong;” the next, “All men are liars, I shall perish.” When ever was the time, where ever was the place, that our love was one day equal towards God?
- John Owen, Works, Vol. 2: Communion With God, 31.

Filed under: Reformed Theology , John Owen, Love, Puritans

Sound Doctrine, Church Discipline and Missions

The Church may not rest satisfied with teaching the first principles of faith, but must press on to higher ground, in order that those who are babes in Christ may becomes full-grown men and women in Christ, Heb. 5:11-6:3. Only a Church that is really strong, that has a firm grasp of the truth, can in turn become a powerful missionary and make mighty conquests for the Lord.
There is a very evident tendency to stress the fact that the Church is a great missionary agency, and to forget that it is first of all the assembly of the saints, in which those who publicly live in sin cannot be tolerated. It is said that sinners must be gathered into the church, and not excluded from it. But it should be remembered that they must be gathered in as saints and have no legitimate place in the Church as long as they do not confess their sin and strive for holiness of life.
- Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 596, 601.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Local Church, Louis Berkhof, Ministry, Missions, Theology

Studying Theology and Maintaining Personal Spirituality

Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. “What!” is the appropriate response, “than ten hours over your books, on your knees?” Why should you turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must turn from your books in order to turn to God? If learning and devotion are as antagonistic as that, then the intellectual life is in itself accursed, and there can be no question of a religious life for a student, even of theology. The mere fact that he is a student inhibits religion for him… You are students of theology; and, just because you are students of theology, it is understood that you are religious men— especially religious men, to whom the cultivation of your religious life is a matter of the profoundest concern—of such concern that you will wish above all things to be warned of the dangers that may assail your religious life, and be pointed to the means by which you may strengthen and enlarge it. In your case there can be no “either—or”here—either a student or a man of God. You must be both.
- Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield, The Religious Life of Theological Students.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Benjamin B. Warfield, Ministry, Study, Theology

The Moving Cause of the Atonement

It is sometimes represented as if the moving cause of the atonement lay in the sympathetic love of Christ for sinners. He was so good and loving that the very idea that sinners would be hopelessly lost, was abhorrent to Him. Therefore He offered Himself as a victim in their stead, paid the penalty by laying down His life for transgressors, and thus pacified an angry God. In some cases this view prompts men to laud Christ for His supreme self-sacrifice, but at the same time, to blame God for demanding and accepting such a price. In others it simply causes men to overlook God, and to sing the praises of Christ in unqualified terms. Such a representation is certainly all wrong, and often gives the opponents of the penal substitutionary doctrine of the atonement occasion to say that this doctrine presupposes a schism in the trinitarian life of God. On this view Christ apparently receives His due, but God is robbed of His honour. According to Scripture the moving cause of the atonement is found in the good pleasure of God to save sinners by a substitutionary atonement. Christ Himself is the fruit of this good pleasure of God… It was the love of God that provided a way of escape for lost sinners, John 3:16. And it was the justice of God which required that this way should be of such a nature as to meet the demands of the law, in order that God “might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus,” Rom. 3:26.
- Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 367-8.

Filed under: Reformed Theology , Atonement, Calvinism, Louis Berkhof, Penal Substitution, Systematic Theology