Quote of the Day

Gradually, the struggle between the party called Puritan and the repressive Court party became more intense and more bitter during the whole period of the reigns of James I and Charles I. A new element of conflict was introduced in the fact that the despotic Court party naturally abandoned the Calvinism of the founders of the Church, and adopted that Arminianism which has always prevailed among the parasites of arbitrary power and the votaries of a churchly and sacramental religion.

A. A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith, 17

Ruling Elders and their Influence

I am preparing my syllabus and notes for an Adult Sunday School class I will be teaching next year at Communion Presbyterian. I will be teaching through the Confession, with the goal of better familiarizing the congregation with the great doctrines taught therein. One source I am using is A. A. Hodge's The Confession of Faith (Banner of Truth, 1964). In the preface, Hodge retells what was his inspiration for writing his commentary on the Confession:

During the sessions of the General Assembly of 1868 in Albany, the author was honoured with an invitation from the Rev. G. C. Heckman, D.D., pastor of the State Street Church in that city, to visit a large and intelligent class held every Sunday afternoon in the body of the church, and instructed in the Confession of Faith by the admirable elder and fellow-labourer in the gospel, E. P. Durant, Esq. In both design and success this exercise appeared worthy of universal emulation...At that time the design of this "Commentary" on the Confession of Faith was conceived.

(The Confession of Faith, xv).

Edward P. Durant was a Ruling Elder (thanks to R. Andrew Meyers for helping me with that!). His class is what gave A. A. Hodge the idea of writing his great commentary on the Confession. Ruling Elders can have a great influence on their local congregations, but also on the whole church for generations to come! That is a very humbling idea for me to keep in mind as I prepare my notes for next year's Sunday School class on the Confession of Faith!

Ref21 on Church Plant(er)s

Stephen Nichols has posted a short article about church plants and the pastors who labor therein over at Reformation21. It is worth reading. I couldn't help but think of all the work my own pastor does at our church plant as I read it. It reminded me to pray for our church planters! Hope on over and have a read: Church Planting, Double Honor (and then some).

Robert Godfrey on Church Growth

While doing some research today, I stumbled upon a talk Dr. Robert Godfrey gave back in 2004 on the Church Growth Movement. It is excellent. Since it was given back in 2004, I realize I'm way behind the times, but if I hadn't heard it, there's a possibility you haven't heard in either. Give it a listen, you'll be glad you did.

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/orlando_2004_national_conference/a-tame-lion/?format=audio

Compare and Contrast

Martin Luther:

“The pope employs most wicked tricks…. Next to Satan there is no greater rascal than the pope. He has plotted evil things against me, but he’ll be the last….He is a Florentine bastard.”

Table Talk, between January 8 and March 23, 1532.

“My epitaph shall remain true: ‘While alive I was your plague, when dead I’ll be your death, O pope.’”

Table Talk, February 1557.

“[Luther] raised himself up and after making the sign of the cross with his hand, he said to us who were standing around him, ‘The Lord fill you with his benediction and with hatred of the pope!’”

Table Talk, February, 1537.

John Calvin:

"We here are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist...personally I declare that I owe the Pope no other obedience than that to Antichrist."

"The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers," Vol. 2, pg. 121.

“The hireling dogs of the Pope cease not to bark, in order to prevent the pure Gospel of Christ from being heard: so great is the licentiousness that is here and there breaking forth, and the ungodliness that is spreading abroad, that religion is become a mere mockery.”

To Thomas Cranmer, April 1552.

Michael Horton:

"Biblical theology--that is, the work of tracing major scriptural themes from promise to fulfillment--is essential for the life and health of the Church. Long before his election as pope, Benedict XVI brought his wide-ranging gifts to bear in this field in a Christ-centered exposition. Even when one disagrees with some of his conclusions, Benedict's insights, as well as his engagement with critical scholarship, offer a wealth of reflection. In this remarkable book, Scott Hahn has drawn out the central themes of Benedict's teaching in a highly readable summary that includes not only the pope's published works but also his less-accessible homilies and addresses. This is an eminently useful guide for introducing the thought of an important theologian of our time."

Michael S. Horton, J. G. Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California endorsing the book Covenant and Communion: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI by Scott Hahn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"I will praise the name of God with a song,
And will magnify Him with thanksgiving."

Psalm 69:30

Quote of the Day

When we turn to the relationship between apologetics and evangelism (or "witnessing," as Kuyper termed it), we must again disagree with those who suppose that the unbeliever can intelligibly study and interpret experience while at the same time denying the truth of the Christian worldview. Francis Schaeffer does this by isolating apologetics from evangelism, making apologetics a preliminary or preparatory vestibule for faith—what he calls "pre-evangelism." Schaeffer does not contend that the non-Christian's worldview is philosophically unintelligible, but simply that it is incomplete. It is all right as far as it goes (it has "half the orange"), but it leaves out the supernatural (the "other half of the orange"). In light of this dichotomy between an area of natural understanding (which does not need Christian presuppositions) and an area of supernatural understanding (which calls for the Christian worldview), we can understand how apologetics becomes a first step, with evangelism following as a second. Schaeffer says: "The truth that we let in first is not a dogmatic statement of the truth of Scripture but the truth of the external world and the truth of what man himself is. This is what shows him his need. The Scriptures then show him the nature of his lostness and the answer to it. This, I am convinced, is the true order for our apologetics in the second half of the twentieth century."

This understanding of our procedure assumes that the unbeliever's philosophy can readily interpret both the external world and himself in an intelligible fashion on the basis of its autonomous presuppositions and rejection of biblical authority—understanding them well enough to see his spiritual "need." After this preparatory work of reason has been done, the evangelist can appeal to the unbeliever to repudiate his autonomy and accept the dogmatic truth of the Scriptures, which "answers" his spiritual need. Thus, Schaeffer's outlook suggests that apologetics and evangelism operate intellectually with different standards, goals, and methods—a twofold approach that is true to the traditional Thomistic method.

Greg Bahnsen in Van Til's Apologetic, 52-53.