July 20, 2010

Justification & Your Response to the Law

As a Christian, what is your response to the demands of the law? Darryl Hart posted an edifying excerpt from Petrus Dathenus’ The Pearl of Christian Comfort on the grounds of the Christians’ assurance.

For even though the law requires perfect righteousness from believers, they refer the demanding law to Christ, in whom they have become the righteousness of God; that is, a righteousness that is acceptable to God (Col. 1:14). If the law demands that believers shall pay for their sins, they refer the law again to Christ who has completely fulfilled all the demands of the law that He also blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, nailing it to His cross (Col. 2:14). That is, He canceled them so that the law can no longer condemn us, no more than it can condemn Christ unto whom we are united, seeing that Christ has delivered us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). Paul is therefore correct when he says, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15: 55-57). This proves that in Christ we are not only set free from the strength of the law and of sin, but also from the power and dominion of death and hell.

From this proceeds the spiritual glorying and confidence of Paul, when he exclaims, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?” (Rom. 8:33-34).

HT: Heidelblog

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June 1, 2010

Are We Called To “Live The Gospel”?

Michael Horton says no as this confuses Law and Gospel:

…we often hear calls to “live the Gospel,” and yet, nowhere in Scripture are we called to “live the Gospel.” Instead, we are told to believe the Gospel and obey the Law, receiving God’s favor from the one and God’s guidance from the other. The Gospel–or Good News–is not that God will help us achieve his favor with his help, but that someone else lived the Law in our place and fulfilled all righteousness.

Read the entirety of Horton’s article The Law & The Gospel to see other ways we often confuse these categories and the importance of getting the Law / Gospel distinctions right.

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January 17, 2010

Why are the Ten Commandments Still for New Covenant Believers?

Why do Reformed Christians (and the Reformed confessions) state that the moral law (the Ten Commandments) remains binding on all men of all ages? Dr. R. Scott Clark answers that question in his latest edition of the Heidelcast.

Clark makes reference to a series by the faculty of Westminster Seminary California entitled, The Law of God and the Christian. You can purchase and download the series via this link.

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November 19, 2009

Christ at the Center – Horton Interviewed by Christianity Today

Below is an excerpt from Michael Horton’s latest interview:

But aren’t many churches doing good preaching about how to improve your marriage, transform your life, and serve the poor?

The question is whether this is the Good News. There is nothing wrong with law, but law isn’t gospel. The gospel isn’t “Follow Jesus’ example” or “Transform your life” or “How to raise good children.” The gospel is: Jesus Christ came to save sinners—even bad parents, even lousy followers of Jesus, which we all are on our best days. All of the emphasis falls on “What would Jesus do?” rather than “What has Jesus done?”

via christianitytoday.com

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