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Duties of Pastors

First Helvetic Confession (1536)
Article 20 - Duties of Ministers

The supreme task of this function is to preach repentance and the remission of sins through Christ: to pray unceasingly for the people, to watch tirelessly with holy studies and the Word of God, and with the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, and with all-powerful art to persecute and weaken Satan with internal hatred, to protect the healthy citizens of Christ. Also to admonish, rebuke, rebuke, and rebuke the wicked, and those who stray further from the church, that is, by the agreement and pious consent of the covenantal church of Christ, either to expel and expose them from the whole, or to make amends in some other convenient way for the time being5, until they come to their senses and are saved. For he has returned to the church as a sick citizen of Christ, if, with converted minds and studies (wherein all this discipline is concerned), he confesses his error, and requires sound discipline on the other side, and exhilarate all the pious with a new zeal for piety.

Jeremiah 11; Ezekiel 34; Luke 24; Acts 6; Ephesians 6; 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Thessalonians 3; 1 Timothy 4; 2 Timothy 4

Tozer on the Dark Night of the Soul
To do His supreme work of grace within you, He will take away from
your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be… . Slowly you will discover God’s love in your suffering. Your heart will begin to approve the whole thing. You will learn from yourself what all the schools in the world could not teach you—the healing action of faith without supporting pleasure. You will feel and understand the ministry of the night; its power to purify, to detach, to humble, to destroy the fear of death, and what is more important to you at the moment, the fear of life. And you will learn that sometimes pain can do what even joy cannot, such as exposing the vanity of earth’s trifles and filling your heart with longing for the peace of heaven.

AW Tozer, Renewed Day By Day (1980) p 21

In fact, instead of going away, the pressure to “professionalize” the pastorate has morphed and strengthened. Among younger pastors, the talk is less about therapeutic and managerial professionalization, and more about communication or contextualization. The language of “professionalization” is seldom used in these regards, but there is a quiet pressure
felt by many pastors: Be as good as the professional media folks, especially the cool anti-heroes and the most subtle comedians. This is not the overstated professionalism of the three-piece suit and the power offices of the upper floors, but the understated professionalism of torn blue jeans and the savvy inner ring. This professionalism is not learned in pursuing an MBA, but by being in the know about the ever-changing entertainment and media world. This is the professionalization of ambience, and tone, and idiom, and timing, and banter. It is more intuitive and less taught. More style and less technique. More feel and less force.

Piper, Still Not Professionals p. 1-2

Perfectly Imperfect, Wholly Unwhole

“As the divorced mother says: “I used to think my job was to stay whole, to keep it all humming along like the vaudeville act with the spinning plates, every plate just about to fall and break, but still miraculously whirling. But I was wrong, my job was to let the plates crash and shatter. My job was to fall apart spectacularly, and then to make a new self out of fragments.” 

The Not Wives

Is this what people mean when they say "Its ok not to be ok”?

The language of idolatry has much in common with that of addiction, and the slavery in which addition holds its victims. …A concomitant of this addiction is the desperation that comes when the fix is denied. It is a totalitarian attitude that, in a manner typical of addictive behavior, treats satisfaction of the addiction as paradise and denial of that satisfaction as hell. This, Keller conjectures, may be why so many people react to changes in US political fortunes in extreme ways: ‘They have put the kind of hope in their political leaders and policies that once was reserved for God and the work of the gospel. When their political leaders are out of power, they experience a death.’ This loading of electoral fortunes with ultimate significance is what it means to bring religion into politics, and secular people can be guilty of it just as much as Christians.
The problem, however, is far from merely political. Any idol engenders this sort of dogmatic totalitarianism because it becomes, within creation, the ultimate measure of what is good, drawing a line down the middle of the created order and classifying some of its objects, impulses, and values as unmitigatedly good and others as unrelentingly evil. This is the lot of those who ‘have supposed that the Final Good and Evil are to be found in this life’ and so ‘with wondrous vanity… have wished to be happy here and now, and to achieve blessedness by their own efforts.’
The only way to escape this totalitarianism is to have an object of worship that is outside the created order. Any idol on the creature side of the creator- creature distinction will lead to a situation in which something or things in the world are pursued in an unqualified and undiscerning way, and other things (whatever gets in the way of or stands opposed to the chosen idol) will be denounced or loathed in a similarly dogmatic way”
Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory p. 311-312

The whole New Testament, which was written from the viewpoint of the “church under the cross,” speaks the same language. Believers, not many of whom are wise, powerful, or of noble birth (1 Cor. 1:26), should not expect anything on earth other than suffering and oppression (Rom. 8:36; Phil. 1:29). They are sojourners and foreigners (Heb. 11:13); their citizenship is in the heavens (Phil. 3:20); they do not look at the things that can be seen (2 Cor. 4:18), but mind the things that are above (Col. 3:2). Here they have no lasting city but are looking for the city that is to come (Heb. 13:14). They are saved in hope (Rom. 8:24) and know that if they suffer with Christ they will also be glorified with him (Rom. 6:8; 8:17; Col. 3:4). Therefore, along with the entire groaning creation, they wait with eager longing for the future of Christ and for the revelation of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19, 21; 1 Cor. 15:48ff.), a glory with which the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17). Nowhere in the New Testament is there a ray of hope that the church of Christ will again come to power and dominion on earth. The most it may look for is that, under kings and all who are in high positions, it may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity (Rom. 13:1; 1 Tim. 2:2). Therefore, the New Testament does not first of all recommend the virtues that enable believers to conquer the world but, while it bids them avoid all false asceticism (Rom. 14:14; 1 Tim. 4:4-5; Titus 1:15), lists as fruits of the Spirit the virtues of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:32; 1 Thess. 5:14ff.; 1 Pet. 3:8ff.; 2 Pet. 1:5-7; 1 John 2:15; etc.).

From Bavinck’s Dogmatics, Vol IV, p. 674

Albert Camus is unfortunately all too relevant for today:

“The years we have just gone through have killed something in us. And that something is simply the old confidence man had in himself, which led him to believe that he could always elicit human reactions from another man if he spoke to him in the language of a common humanity. We have seen men lie, degrade, kill, deport, torture - and each time it was not possible to persuade them not to do these things because they were sure of themselves and because one cannot appeal to an abstraction, i.e. the representative of an ideology. Mankind’s dialogue has just come to an end. And naturally a man with whom one cannot reason is a man to be feared” (“Neither Victim Nor Executioner”).

Thanks to my first philosophy prof Andy G for this!

Thucydides On Modern Politics

So revolutions broke out in city after city, and in places where the revolutions occurred late the knowledge of what had happened previously in other places caused still new extravagances of
revolutionary zeal, expressed by an elaboration in the methods of seizing power and by unheard-of atrocities in revenge.

To fit in with the change of events, words, too, had to change their usual meanings.

What used to be described as a thoughtless act of aggression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member; to think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one’s unmanly character; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action.

Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of a real man, and to plot against an enemy behind his back was perfectly legitimate self-defence. Anyone who held violent opinions could always be trusted, and anyone who objected to them became a suspect. To plot successfully was a sign of intelligence, but it was still cleverer to see that a plot was hatching. If one attempted to provide against having to do either, one was disrupting the unity of the party and acting out of fear of the opposition. In short, it was equally praiseworthy to get one’s blow in first against someone who was going to do wrong, and to denounce someone who had no intention of doing any wrong at all.

Family relations were a weaker tie than party membership, since party members were more ready to go to any extreme for any reason whatever. These parties were not formed to enjoy the benefits of the established laws, but to acquire power by overthrowing the existing regime; and the members of these parties felt confidence in each other not because of any fellowship in a religious communion, but because they were partners in crime. If an opponent made a reasonable speech, the party in power, so far from giving it a generous reception, took every precaution to see that it had no practical effect.

Revenge was more important than self-preservation. And if pacts of mutual security were made, they were entered into by the two parties only in order to meet some temporary difficulty, and remained in force only so long as there was no other weapon available. When the chance came, the one who first seized it boldly, catching his enemy off his guard, enjoyed a revenge that was all the sweeter from having been taken, not openly, but because of a breach of faith. It was safer that way, it was considered, and at the same time a victory won by treachery gave one a title for superior intelligence. And indeed most people are more ready to call villainy cleverness than simplemindedness honesty. They are proud of the first quality and ashamed of the second.

Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils. To this must be added the violent fanaticism which came into play once the struggle had broken out. Leaders of parties in the cities had programmes which appeared admirable – on one side political equality for the masses, on the other the safe and sound government of the aristocracy – but in professing to serve the public interest they were seeking to win the prizes for themselves. In their struggles for ascendancy nothing was barred; terrible indeed were the actions to which they committed themselves, and in taking revenge they went farther still.

Here they were deterred neither by the claims of justice nor by the interests of the state; their one standard was the pleasure of their own party at that particular moment, and so, either by means of condemning their enemies on an illegal vote or by violently usurping power over them, they were always ready to satisfy the hatreds of the hour.

Thus neither side had any use for conscientious motives; more interest was shown in those who could produce attractive arguments to justify some disgraceful action. As for the citizens who held moderate views, they were destroyed by both the extreme parties, either for not taking part in the struggle or in envy at the possibility that they might survive.

History of the Peloponnesian War, Bk 3, par. 82

Athanasius on Joy In Adversity

Let us be courageous and rejoice always… . Let us consider and lay to heart that while the Lord is with us, our foes can do us no hurt… . But if they see us rejoicing in the Lord, contemplating the bliss of the future, mindful of the Lord, deeming all things in His hand … — they are discomfited and turned backwards. (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4, 207)

Like his Savior, who “for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising its shame” (Heb 12:2), Athanasius learned from Jesus about the importance of joy in adversity.

When “contending for the faith once for all delivered” (Jude 3), it is easy to become cantankerous, or use brute force. Standing contra mundum, it would have been easy for Athanasius to use the arm of the flesh to try to win for the cause of orthodoxy. Instead, the fruit of the Spirit - joy - characterized the work of this Church Father.

Owen on Confirmation

Some suppose that by this imposition of hands that rite in the church which was afterward called “confirmation,” is intended. For whereas there were two sorts of persons that were baptized, namely, those that were adult at their first hearing of the gospel, and the infant children of believers, who were admitted to be members of the church; the first sort were instructed in the principles mentioned before they were admitted unto baptism, by the profession whereof they laid the foundation of their own personal right thereunto; but the other, being received as a part and branches of a family whereupon the blessing of Abraham was come, and to whom the promise of the covenant was extended, being thereon baptized in their infancy, were to be instructed in them as they grew up unto years of understanding. Afterwards, when they were established in the knowledge of these necessary truths, and had resolved on personal obedience unto the gospel, they were offered unto the fellowship of the faithful. And hereon, giving the same account of their faith and repentance which others had done before they were baptized, they were admitted into the communion of the church, the elders thereof laying their hands on them in token of their acceptation, and praying for their confirmation in the faith. Hence the same doctrines became previously necessary unto both these rites; before baptism to them that were adult; and towards them who were baptized in infancy, before the imposition of hands. And I do acknowledge that this was the state of things in the apostolical churches, and that it ought to be so in all others. Persons baptized in their infancy ought to be instructed in the fundamental principles of religion, and make profession of their own faith and repentance, before they are admitted into the society of the church. But that in those first days of the first churches, persons were ordinarily after baptism admitted into their societies by imposition of hands, is nowhere intimated in the Scripture. And the whole business of confirmation is of a much later date, so that it cannot be here intended. For it must have respect unto, and express somewhat that was then in common use.

“The more I love humanity in general the less I love man in particular. In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually face crucifixion if it were suddenly necessary. Yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together. I know from experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs me and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he’s too long over his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I hate men individually the more I love humanity.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky The Brothers Karamazov

The theologia crucis is a theology of revelation, which stands in sharp contrast to speculation. Those who speculate on the created order (ea quae facta sunt) have, in effect, forfeited their right to be called ‘theologians’. God has revealed himself, and it is the task of the theologian to concern himself with God as he has chosen to reveal himself, instead of constructing preconceived notions of God which ultimately must be destroyed.

Alistair McGrath, Luther’s Theology Of The Cross (Oxford/New York: Basil Blackwell, 1985), 149

John Owen on Conscience in the Congregation

“Let the Church be protected in the exercise of its spiritual power by spiritual means only – as preaching of the Word, administration of the sacraments, and the like. Whatever is further pretended as necessary unto any of the ends of true religion or its preservation in the nation, is but a cover for the negligence, idleness, and insufficiency of some of the clergy, who would have an outward appearance of effecting that by external force which themselves, by diligent prayer, sedulous preaching of the Word, and an exemplary conversation, ought to labour for in the hearts of men…. Whilst the same doctrine of truth is preached in all places, the same sacraments administered – wherein every Protestant subject of the nation will be at liberty to join in Protestant Christian worship, and to partake of all Church ordinances in the outward way, and according unto the outward rites, of his own choosing, without the authoritative examination or prohibition of any pretended Church power but what, in his own judgment, he doth embrace – no inconvenience will follow hereon, unless it be judged such, that the Protestant religion, the liberty of the subjects, and the due freedom of the consciences of men sober and peaceable, will be all preserved.”

Owen “Union among Protestants,” The Reformation of the Church: A Collection of Reformed and Puritan Documents on Church Issues, ed. Iain H. Murray (Banner of Truth, 1997, reprint), 353.

This Covenant is dispensed in an external and visible administration by the Word and sacraments. The preaching of the Gospel is the solemn promulgation of this Covenant and invitation to enter therein. The sacraments are seals to ratify and confirm this holy and sacred agreement. Now because all know not the work of grace to whom this Covenant is externally administered, hence arises that necessary distinction of an external Covenant and an internal. The external Covenant is that whereby, in an outward visible manner, God does own a people and they externally profess their owning of Him, but yet in their hearts and souls they do not steadfastly cleave unto God and faithfully keep this Covenant in the conditions thereof. The internal, or inward Covenant, is that whereby God does in a spiritual, powerful manner take a people to Him, working in their hearts all those gifts and graces promised in the Covenant, as regeneration, remission of sin, adoption, and the like. And in this sense only the truly godly are in the Covenant and they are only God’s people, and He their God.

Anthony Burgess “Spiritual Refining” p. 394 - 6.

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One of the very greatest evils of present-day religious life, it seems to me, is the reception into the Church of persons who merely repeat a form of words such as “I accept Christ as my personal Saviour,” without giving the slightest evidence to show that they know what such words mean. As a consequence of this practice, hosts of persons are being received into the Church on the basis, as has been well said, of nothing more than a vague admiration for the moral character of Jesus, or else on the basis of a vague purpose of engaging in humanitarian work. One such person within the Church does more harm to the cause of Christ, I for my part believe, than ten such persons outside; and the whole practice ought to be radically changed. The truth is that the ecclesiastical currency in our day has been sadly debased; Church membership, as well as Church office, no longer means what it ought to mean. In view of such a situation, we ought, I think, to have reality at least; instead of comforting ourselves with columns of church statistics, we ought to face the facts; we ought to recall this paper currency and get back to a standard of gold.
To that end, it should, I think, be made much harder than it now is to enter the Church: the confession of faith that is required should be a credible confession; and if it becomes evident upon examination that a candidate has no notion of what he is doing, he should be advised to enter upon a course of instruction before he becomes a member of the Church. Such a course of instruction, moreover, should be conducted not by comparatively untrained laymen, but ordinarily by the ministers; the excellent institution of the catechetical class should be generally revived. Those churches, like the Lutheran bodies in America, which have maintained that institution, have profited enormously by its employment; and their example deserves to be generally followed.

J. Gresham Machen What Is Faith? p. 156-57

Matthew, who quotes this passage [Is 9:2 ‘people living in darkness have seen a great light’], appears to torture it to a different meaning; for he says that this prediction was fulfilled when Christ preached along the sea-coast. (Matthew 4:16.) But if we take a just view of the comparison, it will be found that Matthew has applied this passage to Christ correctly, and in its true meaning.

Yet it does not appear that the view generally given by our commentators is a successful elucidation of the passage; for they merely assert that it belongs to the kingdom of Christ, but do not assign a reason, or show how it accords with this passage. If, therefore, we wish to ascertain the true meaning of this passage, we must bring to our recollection what has been already stated, that the Prophet, when he speaks of bringing back the people from Babylon, does not look to a single age, but includes all the rest, till Christ came and brought the most complete deliverance to his people. The deliverance from Babylon was but a prelude to the restoration of the Church, and was intended to last, not for a few years only, but till Christ should come and bring true salvation, not only to their bodies, but likewise to their souls. When we shall have made a little progress in reading Isaiah, we shall find that this was his ordinary custom.

Calvin’s hermeneutics for the apostolic use of the Old Testament. Matthew did NOT get the “right doctrine from the wrong text.”

Commentary on Isaiah 9

For, in the same fire, gold gleams and straw smokes; under the same flail the stalk is crushed and the grain threshed; the lees are not mistaken for oil because they have issued from the same press. So, too, the tide of trouble will test, purify, and improve the good, but beat, crush, and wash away the wicked. So it is that, under the weight of the same affliction, the wicked deny and blaspheme God, and the good pray to Him and praise Him. The difference is not in what people suffer but in the way they suffer. The same shaking that makes fetid water stink makes perfume issue a more pleasant odor.

Augustine, Civitate Dei, Book I, Chapter 8, ¶ 3

In a few other passages the resurrection of Christ is ascribed to the Spirit indirectly, being represented as an act of the δύναμις, the δόξα of God, both of which conceptions are regularly associated with the Spirit, cf. Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 6:14; 2 Cor. 13:4. In none of these, however, is any reference made to the permanent presence of the Spirit in Christ’s life. But apart from the resurrection the δόξα is to Paul the specific form in which he conceives of the exalted state of Jesus, and this δόξα is so closely allied to the Spirit in Christ also, as to become almost a synonym for it. Thus, as God the Father is said to have raised Christ διὰ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, believers are said to be transformed ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν i.e. from the glory they behold in (or reflect from) Christ unto the glory they receive in themselves, 2 Cor. 3:18.

We have found that the Spirit is both the instrumental cause of the resurrection-act and the permanent substratum of the resurrection-life.

Vos, “The Eschatological Aspect of the Pauline Conception of the Spirit”

But no one in this earthly prison of the body has sufficient strength to press on with due eagerness, and weakness so weighs down the greater number that, with wavering and limping and even creeping along the ground, they move at a feeble rate. Let each one of us, then, proceed according to the measure of his puny capacity and set out upon the journey we have begun. No one shall set out so inauspiciously as not daily to make some headway, though it be slight. Therefore, let us not cease so to act that we may make some unceasing progress in the way of the Lord. And let us not despair at the slightness of our success; for even though attainment may not correspond to desire, when today outstrips yesterday the effort is not lost. Only let us look toward our mark with sincere simplicity and aspire to our goal; not fondly flattering ourselves, nor excusing our own evil deeds, but with continuous effort striving toward this end: that we may surpass ourselves in goodness until we attain to goodness itself. It is this, indeed, which through the whole course of life we seek and follow. But we shall attain it only when we have cast off the weakness of the body, and are received into full fellowship with him.”

Calvin Institutes III.vi.5

The Pastor according to God’s heart, has received a regular call to the ministry. It is a general proposition of divine inspiration, that no
ecclesiastical office is to be undertaken without a call from God. The head of the church was himself subjected to this law. And as there was no exception admitted in his favor, it is vain to expect it in favor of any other. And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron—So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an High
Priest ; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son—called of God an High Priest (Heb. 5:4–5, 10). By a divine call to any work or office is meant, not merely that it comes to pass in
the providence of God that a person is engaged in such work or office, but that he is employed by divine authority therein.
The call of God to ecclesiastical office, is inward, when there is a divine influence experienced upon the mind, inclining and commanding the person to devote himself to the service of the Church. It is outward, when accompanied with external evidence for the satisfaction of the church. It is extraordinary, when a person is employed immediately by the Divine Being, without the intervention of such human agencies as are regulated by stated laws. It is ordinary, when authority is conferred agreeably to such external order as God hath appointed to be
observed as the standing ordinance of his empire. The inward call may satisfy a man’s own mind; but others must, in order to receive him, have some external evidence. If this were not
the case, there would be no end of imposture. No man is to be recognized as an ambassador of Christ without an outward call. The extraordinary call, is always accompanied with infallible evidence. The seal of miracles gives evidence of the authenticity of the commission, and is sufficient to remove all suspicion of fraud. To this evidence the Redeemer hath taught
us by his own example to appeal. The works that I do—they bear witness of me (John 10:25). But miracles are ceased. It is only therefore for the ordinary outward call we are to look in examining the pretensions of ecclesiastical officers—and this consists in ordination by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery.

Alexander M'Leod The Constitution, Character, and Duties of the
Gospel Ministry: a sermon, preached at the ordination of the Rev. Gilbert McMaster, in the First Presbyterian Church, Duanesburgh
(New-York: Printed by J. Seymour, 1808) 22–23.

In his description of Fuller’s reading habits and library, Morris acknowledged, “[Fuller] was very partial to Owen …. [who] displayed, as he thought, a depth of judgment, and a knowledge of human nature, scarcely to be found in any other author."5 Historian Michael A. G.
Haykin wrote that Owen, alongside John Bunyan and Jonathan Edwards, was "undoubtedly” one of “Fuller’s favorite authors."6 As such, it is unsurprising to discover that John Owen is an ever-present and trusted source referenced by Fuller repeatedly in The Gospel of Christ
Worthy of All Acceptation.7 Indeed, less than one year before it was published, Fuller had recorded in his diary: "Much pain at heart today,
while reading in Dr. Owen. Feel almost a sacred reverence for his character."8
As biographer Peter Morden has observed, this sacred reverence can be demonstrated in that "Owen’s works were quoted extensively and with approval by Fuller in the first edition of the Gospel Worthy."9 In the second section of the work, Fuller argued that faith is "the duty of all…
=========
5 Ibid.
6 Michael A. G. Haykin, ”‘A Great Thirst for Reading’: Andrew Fuller the
Theological Reader.“ Eusebeia 9 (2008): 16.
7 Carl R. Trueman, "John Owen and Andrew Fuller,” Eusebia 8 (2008): 54. Indeed,
Trueman writes, “by the year 1784, … it is clear that Fuller was already
acquainted with Owen’s polemical writings in the matters of Arminianism,
atonement, indwelling sin, and the character of God.” Ibid., 53.
8 Fuller, Memoir, in Fuller’s Works, 1:42.
9 Peter J. Morden, The Life and Thought of Andrew Fuller (1754-1815). Studies in
Evangelical History and Thought (Milton Keyes, UK: Paternoster, 2015), 53.

men … under the sound of the gospel.“10 In his advocacy that "every man is cordially to receive, and heartily to approve, whatever God reveals,” Fuller noted, “approbation of the gospel, or of God’s way of salvation is the distinguishing characteristic of true faith.” 11 Fuller then urged his reader to consider Owen’s writing on Justification, specifically his chapter on the nature of faith. 12

In fact, in his initial publication, Fuller had quoted Coles twice
saying “Christ did not die for all,” and “The first act of faith is not that
Christ died for all, or for you in particular: the one is not true; the othernot certain to you."41 He had quoted Witsius as saying, "All, and everyone in particular therefore, to whom the gospel is preached, are not commanded immediately to believe that Christ died for them; for that is a falsehood,"42

===============

40 Morden, Offering Christ to the World, 73.
41 Fuller, The Gospel of Christ, 135. Italics his.
42 Ibid., 137. Italics his.

Andrew Fuller’s Changing Impression of John Owen, plus an important Witsius quote

David G Norman Jr MBTJ

For God reconciles to himself those who are born only of the flesh, and who are destitute of all good; and since he finds nothing in them except a dreadful mass of evils, he counts them just, by imputation. But those to whom he has imparted the Spirit of holiness and righteousness, he embraces with his gifts. Nevertheless, in order that their good works may please God, it is necessary that these works themselves should be justified by gratuitous imputation; but some evil is always inherent in them. Meanwhile, however, this is a settled point, that men are justified before God by believing not by working; while they obtain grace by faith, because they are unable to deserve a reward by works.

Calvin, Commentary on Gen 15.6

“Hence it is evident that wicked doctrines cannot be driven away by any other method than by the gospel. In vain will the magistrate employ the sword, which undoubtedly he must employ, to restrain wicked teachers and false prophets; in vain, I say, will he attempt all these things, unless this sword of the word go before. (Deuteronomy 13:5.) This ought to be carefully observed in opposition to the Papists, who, when the word fails them, betake themselves to new weapons, by the aid of which they think that they will gain the victory. They are even so impudent as to boast that heretics cannot be refuted by the word, though both the Prophet and Paul lay down no other method.”

Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah 11:4

“He should not be considered present everywhere in this form. We must be careful not to strengthen so much the divinity of man to the point of completely nullifying the truth of his body. For it is not necessarily that what is in God must be everywhere as God. Scripture, which cannot lie, says even of us in him we live and move and are, even though we are not everywhere as he is. But he is man in God in another way, because he is also God in man, in his own and unique way. For one person is God and man; and both are one, Jesus Christ—he is everywhere as long as he is God, but is in heaven as man. ”
— Augustine, Epistle to Dardan LVII

Law/Gospel Is Not Just Lutheran

Nobody:
Samuel Rutherford: Christ has died and draws sinners to Himself
Absolutely Nobody:
Them: The law/gospel distinction is Lutheran…
Samuel Rutherford: The difference between the letter of the law, and the gospel, is not in the manner of working; for the letter of either law or gospel, is alike ineffectual and fruitless to draw any to Christ. Christ preached the gospel to hard-hearted Pharisees, it moved them not. Moses preached the law and the curses thereof to the stiff-necked Jews, and they were as little humbled. Sounds and syllables of ten hells, of twenty heavens and gospels, without the Spirit’s working, are alike fruitless. And we grant the law is a sleepy keeper of a captive sinner; he may either steal away from his keeper, or if he be awed with his keeper, he is not kept from any spiritual, internal breach of the law, nor moved thereby to sincere and spiritual walking, but the difference between law and gospel, is not in the internal manner of working, but in two other things,
1. In the matter contained in the law and gospel; because nature is refractory to violence, and the law can do nothing but curse sinners, therefore it can draw no man to Christ. The gospel, again, contains sweet and glorious promises of giving a new heart to the elect; of admitting to the Prince of Peace, laden and broken-hearted mourners in Zion; and in conferring on them a free imputed righteousness; and this is in itself a taking way; but without the gospel-spirit utterly ineffectual.
Them: But what about my internal heart disposition? Don’t I need a new spirit also?
Samuel Rutherford: Second To the gospel there is a spirit added, which worketh, as God doth, with an omnipotent pull: and this Spirit doth also use the law to prepare and humble; tho’ this be by an higher power than goeth along with the law, as the law.“

Finally, Descartes is probably the first philosopher to identify a theologico-political problem, even though there is among sixteenth and seventeenth-century political philosophers (Bodin, Hobbes, Spinoza) a widespread awareness of the fact that instead of being a factor of social cohesion (as it probably was in the Middle Ages) religion had become a politically disruptive force. As to moral philosophy the Letter to Voetius contains much of interest, not only because it contains extensive discussions of the passions, but also because, much more than the Passions de l’ âme, it establishes a link between virtue and knowledge, between morality and method: There is a moral dimension to the method of philosophy even in so far as it deals with questions that by themselves are morally indifferent. The philosopher (or the scientist) never simply acquires knowledge nor must his or her method be evaluated in terms of purely scientific results. The method of philosophy is morally relevant, not only insofar as it reflects an ultimately moral choice, in virtue of which the person who uses it can become a better human being (or can put his or her morality at risk), but also in so far as it defines the philosopher’s position in society.

Theo Verbeek “Descartes’s Letter to Voetius: The Method of Philosophy and Morality” Church History and Religious Culture (2020)

What is striking about our culture today is that its corruption is not simply at the edges. It is not simply found among the cultured elite … It is not simply found among postmodern academics … or among vicious street gangs, or among rappers who spew forth obscenities and violence, or among the venders of pornography, or in the bizarre and unashamed revelations of deeply private matters that are aired on television talk shows. What is striking is that this corruption is ubiquitous. It is not located in this or that pocket
of depravity, but is spread like a dense fog throughout our society. It is even spread by those who are safe, ordinary, dull, and dimwitted, not merely by the incendiary and bellicose, the subversive and anti-social.

David F. Wells, “Our Dying Culture” Here We Stand (1996) p. 25-26

The boy knows chocolate: he does not know the positive thing which excludes it. We are in the same position. We know the sexual life; we do not know, except in glimpses, the other thing which, in Heaven, will leave no room for it. Hence where fullness awaits us we anticipate fasting. In denying that sexual life, as we now understand it, makes any part of the final beatitude, it is not of course necessary to suppose that the distinction of sexes will disappear. What is no longer needed for biological purposes may be expected to survive for splendor. Sexuality is the instrument both of virginity and of conjugal virtue; neither men nor women will be asked to throw away the weapon they have used victoriously. It is the beaten and the fugitives who throw away their swords. The conquerors sheathe theirs and retain them. “Trans-sexual” would be a better word than “sexless” for the heavenly life.
I am well aware that this last paragraph may seem ot many readers unfortunate and to some comic. But that very comedy, as I must repeatedly insist, is the symptom of our estrangement, as spirits, from Nature and our estrangement, as animals, from Spirit.

C.S. Lewis on sexual pleasure pointing to greater glory in the Resurrection