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Reformed Doctrine: Explaining The Gospel and All Its Implications

Robbie Schmidtberger

Trinity Christian School

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Fall
08 Introduction:

Terms: General and Special Revelation

Where shall we start? Some theologians start with

Scripture, others with God. Both waysor methods, have their benefits and

both are good. We start with Scripture, as it tells us about God. I want to

focus on this now. How do we know about God?

• Creation tells us about God (Romans 1, Psalm 19). This is called

general revelation. We know that there is a creator by looking around

at the world. Our own hearts moan for something greater, fulfillment

perhaps. But these two things are inadequate to know this God fully.
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• Scripture tells us about God. It reveals who He is. He is a triune

divine. There are three people, God the Father, the Son and the Holy

Spirit. It tells that we are sick, something terrible gone amuck within

ourselves. And informs us that Christ had a mission.

• We can know God most clearly in the Person of Jesus Christ, so much

of our study will be spent on who He is and what He has done.

1. Making Sense of This All: Why To Study Theology

Key Terms: Orthodoxy, theology, unorthodoxy, heterodoxy

Louis Berkhof, The Manual of Christian Doctrine, pg. 23-36

What do you think of when you hear the word doctrine? How about

Calvinism? Or to put it another way – How important are your beliefs?

Should debates over the question, “how was I saved” really happen?

Everything we do is theological. If you do not realize this, you are not

reflective upon your views of God, human nature, the world, etc. Theology

and doctrine are absolutely crucial. We must delve deep into our theology to

see what we believe. And we must conform to Scripture.

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Why are you in this classroom? What do you hope to learn, achieve,

become by Christmas of this year? Much of the things you learn in this box

you call a classroom, many people think is worthless. Trash they call it, or

rubbish depending which country they call home. So the question, Why

Study Theology?Is a very important one.

First, what is theology? A derivitive of two words, theos and

logos. God-talk if you would. What you will be learning this semester is first

and foremost about God. For the purposes of definition we will simply say it

is “the study of God’s word.”

Now that we are agreed on what theology is, or at least I hope

we are. Why is this of any relevance to you? One reason we already

mentioned in passing, knowing God. If you would recall, earlier I

mentioned that people think theology is rubbish. Reality has it that theology

transforms your heart. By December you will either love God more, or be

more indifferent to him that this moment. To know God seizes you by the

collar and demands your answer for our rebellion.

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Another reason is to know ourselves. We, often, go our own way.

Actually we always do. The Scriptures call us sheep, another analogy is that

we are horses with blinders on. We do not know what is going on around us.

We are spiritually blind, dead in our sins, corpses. The Scriptures properly

orient who we are in the sight of God. And that is all that matters.

I mentioned the transformative power of theology. Once you

encounter God’s words you are made into the image of Christ, or hardened

into the epitome of our rebellion against the true King.

The reason why theological discussions often erupt into divisions and

debates is because theological jargon, terminology, acts as signposts. If

you know the meanings of the words theologians (those who study theology

as a living) then you know what they say. This jargon helps you guard

against heresy, against unorthodoxy… beliefs that are outside the realm of

Christianity.

In saying all these things, it is my goal that you would be

transformed by the end of the semester. Transformed meaning that you

turned away from your sins and fell more in love with Christ. That is my

prayer for myself. And as you will see, and learn, it is not an easy task, for

while the power of sin is dead, the presence has not left us.
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Also theology must be accurate, it must be sound. We will look

at the truth, Scripture. It also must be theo-centric (centered on God),

because everything orbits around him, and is about him. Thus making us,

drawing us closer to him, in order to worship him. It is my hope that as a

close you will come closer together in Christ.

2. How to Study Theology: The Role of Scripture

Key Terms: Authoritative, Inspiration, God's Word,

Hermeneutics

Barometer: Do the students know how to study the Word?

Handouts: New Attitude 2008 on Hermeneutics

Louis Berkhof, Manual of Christian Doctrine, pg. 37-49

Introduction: Movie clip from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Dead

Man's Chest

How do you read the Bible? I want to discuss how we are going to be

studying theology. I want this to be extremely beneficial for you in your

walk with God and reading of Scripture, for if you do not know how to

apply Scripture, you do not truly understand the Scriptures. First

what is the Bible? How do people see the Bible? What do they think it is?
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• It is just a book of moral stories (a guy commenting on a thread)

• It is man-made and people have just been adding on to the story

for hundreds of years. (same thread, different guy)

• To me the bible is a compilation of books by different authors that

range from 5 to 80 depending on what particular sect of Christianity

or Judaism you belong to. Its a story that has some truths and

some myths. Its helpful in the sense that it teaches us about what

the people believed in the past (on a different thread)

• I think its an interesting collection of what are probably completely

allegorical tales. (same thread, different person)

• The Bible is the account of God's action in the world and his

purpose with all creation (the international bible society)

These are just a sampling of people’s thoughts on the Bible on these two

threads I visited. As you can see there is a lot of confusion surrounding the

nature of scripture. Instead of conjecturing what we think God’s word is, let

it speak for itself. So we are going to have it speak for itself. Please look up

the following Scripture references:

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• Ex. 17:14, God says to Moses, “Write this down.” (the same with

Ex. 34: 27, Num. 33:2, Is. 8:1, Jer. 25: 13, 30:2, Ezekiel 24:1)

• Hebrews 2:2, “Since the message proved to be reliable”

What do all these things mean? How does this apply to your life?

First It is clear that God is speaking to men, and telling them to write

down His Wordsin order that others may read it and be passed down

through generations as a memorial. Theologians explain this process as

inspiration. (Berkhof handles this well). Inspiration is the supernatural,

providential influence on the human authors, which caused them to

write what God wished to be written for the communication of

revealed truth to humanity.1

When we read the Bible we are reading His word. Secondly, Hebrews

tells us that it is reliable.

1
James Bibza, Grove City College, lecture on the inspiration of Scripture.
Spring 2005
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• 2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is God-breathed (the unity of

Scripture, one must ask what is the extent of Scripture. This was a

question that put the early church in an uproar. On one hand we

depend on the Canon they produced… we do not study the

Apocrypha.)

• 2 Peter 3:16 – Peter affirms Paul’s writings as Scripture (one of the

inner three)

• John 14-16

• The Authority of Scripture

• What was Jesus’ view of the OT? (If Jesus was the King of kings

then one must ask, ‘what was his view of the OT?’ His Lordship has

direct implications on our lives.

○ Luke 24:27 (The Emmaus Road, “all the writings [the OT]

talked about Jesus)

○ Summarized the OT as the psalms, law and prophets

○ Matthew 5:17, 18 – came to fulfill Scripture

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○ John 5:38ff – debating with the Pharisees (who come for

information not transformation) and Jesus rebukes them.

(The significance is that the Pharisees studied the bible and

memorized it. Like saying to Michael Jordan “you do not

know Basketball. Because they did not recognize that

Scripture is about Jesus.)

• The NT use of the OT – How did the apostles understand the OT?

As they were the disciples of Jesus (the very men he taught)

○ Over 3000 quotes and allusions to the OT

○ 2 Peter 1:21-22 – No prophecy produced by the will of men

(speaking of the OT prophets, thus they are God’s words)

○ Hebrews 1:1,2 – God spoke to our fathers by prophets

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How does one read Scripture? First one must understand it as God’s

word. It is reliable and given by Him. From there we must ask, “What does

this passage mean for my life?” This can be a dangerous practice, as it

makes you look for the moral teaching of the text. But that is not the

primary purpose of Scripture. The Bible is all about Jesus (Luke 24:27).

When we read Scripture we must also ask the question, not to ourselves but

praying to God, asking him to show us Jesus. That God would reveal himself

in the particular passage you are reading. We do this because Scripture, as

God’s word, is authoritative. As 1 Peter 1:25 says, “The word of the Lord

endures forever.” Matthew 5:18 says, “That not even an iota, a jot or a

tiddle, shall fall until all is accomplished.” So we must continue to study the

whole counsel of God. This demands that our minds conform to Scripture, to

God’s words, instead of our own rebellious devices. (Romans 12:1-2)

3. A Theological Atlas: The Nature of Scripture

Key Terms: Inerrant, Infallible, Perspicuity

Mark Dever on Studying Scripture @ New Attitude

Louis Berkhof, Manual of Christian Doctrine, pg. 37-49

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(Continuing the thoughts from yesterday.) God’s word is authoritative,

it is without error and it is trust worthy. Inerrant means “without error.”

And Infallible means trust worthy.

• Proverbs 30:5,6

• Psalm 119 – a meditation on God’s word

• Jeremiah – refining fire

• John 17:17 – Your word is true

• James 1:22

• Luke 16 – everything we need to know about God is in Scripture

• Acts 17:11 – the supreme court of authority (Sola Scriptura vs.

solo Scriptura- where you only study the Bible)

• Romans 10:17 – builds your faith

• Romans 16:26 – for everyone (Peter says it is like milk for a

baby)

• Matthew 4 and Luke 4

• 1 Thessalonians 2:13

• Not a chronological book but divided up into genre

• The eyewitness nature of Scripture (not legend or myth)

• Colossians 4:17

• 1 Thess. 2:13
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4. The Gospel: The Beauty of Reformed Doctrine

Key Terms: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement,

Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints / Eternal Security

Handouts: Tim Keller, “The difference between Religion and the

Gospel” downloaded onto mac

• Calvinism (Synod of Dordtech)

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○ The very act of setting out Calvinistic soteriology [the doctrine

of Salvation] in the form of five distinct points tends to

obscure the the organic character of Calvinistic thought on

this subject. For the five points, though separately stated,

are really inseparable. They hang together; you cannot reject

one without rejecting them all, at least in the sense in which

the Synod meant them. For to Calvinism there is really only

one point to be make in the first of soteriology: the point

that God saves sinners. God- the Triune Jehovah, Father,

Son, and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign

wisdom, power, and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen

people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will

by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and

Son by renewing. Saves- does everything, first to last, that

is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory:

plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and

keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies. Sinners- men as God

finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a

finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God saves

sinners- and the force of this confession may not be

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weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or

by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and

man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-

pedalling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the

praise of his salvation with his Savior. This is the one point of

Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to

establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely,

that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, byt

that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present,

and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen.2

• TULIP (Reformation Soteriology)

○ Total Depravity

 Sin as a Chasm and a Wall total separation between us

and God

○ Unconditional Election

 Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah)

○ Limited Atonement

 Who shall be saved?

○ Irresistible Grace

2
JI Packer and Mark Dever, “Saved by His Precious Blood: An Introduction to
John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ,” in In My Place
Condemned He Stood: Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement, (Crossway,
2008), 117-118.
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 An encounter with God’s grace leaves you hardened or

desiring to dwell with Him

○ Perseverance of the Saints

 Eternal Security

 Does not mean perfectionism

 Romans 8

• The Solae (Reformation principles)

○ Sola Fide – Faith alone

○ Sola Gratia - Grace Alone

○ Sola Scriptura – Scripture alone

○ Sola Christus – Christ alone

○ Sola Deo Gloria – To the Glory of God alone

Excurses: Covenant Theology

The Tale of Two Testaments: Covenant Theology

Key Terms: Dispensationalism, Signs and Seals

• What ties all the Bible together?

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○ The message of redemption. The OT is how God chose a

people, who were sinners and constantly ran away from him,

and how he kept them as his. (Hosea)

○ Everything points to ultimate redemption (Jesus Christ)

 John 5:46 – If you believed Moses, you would believe

me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his

writings, how will you believe my words

 Luke 24:27 – and beginning with Moses and all the

prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures

the things concerning himself

 Scripture cannot be broken

• What is a covenant?

○ A relationship between God and man that is special as it has

redemption as the focus.

• The Covenants

○ Adamic (Gen. 1-2)

 Gen. 3:15 is the footnote of the OT. Everything in the

OT is built and supports this truth.

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○ Noahic (Gen. 6-8)

○ Abrahamic (Gen. 12, 15)

 Promise of a chosen people and a chosen land

○ Mosaic (Ex. 20)

 A Partial fulfillment of Abraham’s promise (it was much

larger than Abraham thought)

 Civil

 Fulfilled in Christ (John 8:1-11)

 Christ says that men are no longer the judge, the

civil law emphasized the chosen people of Israel

as God’s people here on earth. In the new

covenant grace is shown to gentile and to Jew.

The theocratic government of Israel is no longer

in effect, and there are no prophets today

proclaiming the Lord’s judgment to this world.

 Ceremonial

 Dietary laws, etc.

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 Fulfilled in Christ (Acts 10:1-48)

 The Gentiles/ Greeks are now accepted into the

kingdom of God.

 Moral

 Still in effect. Seemingly Christ expanded its

parameters, and went more deeply with the

Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-7)

○ Davidic (2 Sam. 7)

○ Fulfillment in Christ

 Matthew 5:17-20

• Hebrews – How did the OT people look ahead to Christ?

○ Hebrews 11:13 – these all died in faith (faith is being sure of

what we hope for and certain of what we do not see)…

• The New Covenant

○ Signs and seals (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper)

○ The church is the New Israel

• What is the use, and role, of the 10 commandments and the OT?
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 They teach us God’s nature

 With Christ we see that God is unchanging

(sermon on the mount)

 “I am a jealous God”

 The Scriptures teach us about Christ and faith

 The Sabbath points to an eternal Sabbath

 The 10 commandments specifically teach us that God

values every human life, people’s sexuality and their

orientation, your heart (coveting), truth and a hatred of

all these correlations.

 And we learn about how he wants to be worshipped

Theology Proper: The Doctrine of God

5. Realizing What We Already Knew: The Existence of God

Key Terms: Sensus Divinitas, theology proper

• Why is there something and not nothing? (the teleological

argument)
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○ Theism or evolution as a belief system

• Echoes of something greater than ourselves

○ Human Rights (longing for justice)

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 Where do human rights come from? Harvard law

professor Alan Dershowitz lays out the possibilities.

Some say human rights come form God. If we were all

created in God’s image, then every human being would

be sacred and inviolable. Dershowitz rejects this as an

answer, since so many millions of people are agnostic.

Others say human rights come from nature, or what

has been called “natural law.” They argue that nature

and human nature, if it is examined, will reveal that

some kinds of behavior are “fitting” with the way things

are, and are right. However, Dershowitz points out that

nature thrives on violence and predation, on the

survival of the fittest. There is no way to derive the

concept of the dignity of every individual from the way

things really work in nature. Another theory says that

human rights are created by us, the people who right

the laws … However, what if a majority decides it is not

in their interest to grant human right? If rights are

nothing but a majority creation then there is nothing to

appeal to when they are legislated out of existence.3

3
Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, (Dutton,
2008), pg. 150-151
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 Compassion necessitates that we dethrone ourselves,

that we serve others and not ourselves (which Christ

models Mark 10:45)

○ Longing for spirituality (different religions)

 St. Augustine in his Confessions reasoned that these

unfulfillable desires are clues to the reality of God. How

so? Indeed (as it was just objected) just because we

feel the desire for a steak dinner does not mean we will

get it. However, while hunger does not prove that the

particular meal desired will be procured, does not the

appetite for food in us mean that food exists? Is it not

true that innate desires correspond to real objects that

can satisfy them, such as sexual desire (corresponding

to sex), physical appetite (corresponding to food),

tiredness (corresponding to sleep), and relational

desires (corresponding to friendship)?4

○ Relationships and community (reflecting the Trinity)

 we fear loneliness5

4
Keller, pg. 134-135
5
NT Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense, (HarperCollins,
2007), pg. 31
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 It seems that we humans were designed to find our

purpose and meaning not simply in ourselves and our

own lives, but in one another and in the shared

meanings and purposes of a family, a street, a

workplace, a community, a town, a nation.6

○ Art and Beauty (reflecting the creator creating)

• Arguments for God

○ Cosmological

○ Ontological

 If I can think of a higher being, he must exist.

○ Moral (a herd instinct)

6
Wright, pg. 31
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 These, then, are the two points I wanted to make.

First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this

curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way,

and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do

not in fact behave in that way. They know the law of

nature; they break it. These two facts are the

foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the

universe we live in.7

 Also related to the “echo” of human rights

 It is after you have realized that there is a real Moral

Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have

broken that law and put yourself wrong with that

power- it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that

8
Christianity begins to talk.

6. A Biblical Enigma: The Trinity

Key Terms: the Trinity; God, the Father; God, the Son; God, the Holy Spirit.

• the unity of the godhead

7
CS Lewis, Mere Christianity, (Harper Collins, 2001), pg. 8
8
Lewis, pg. 31
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○ Genesis 1:26 - God speaks of himself in the plural (elohim is

the plural form of el)

○ Deut. 6:4 – Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is One

○ John 10:30 – I and the Father are one

○ 1 John 5:7

○ Matthew 28:19

○ Matthew 3:16,17

○ 2 Cor. 13:14

• The divinity of Jesus

○ Psalm 110:1 (Christ interprets this for the Pharisees

○ John 1:14 – in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was

God, and the Word was with God

○ The message of John is that Jesus came from the Father.

Who is the Father? The Pharisees, who I label as the epitome

of religious people, understood that Jesus claimed to be

divine. This is why they sought to kill Jesus. (John 5:18)

○ John 8:58 – Before Abraham was “I AM”

 Exodus 3:14 (one of the names of God)

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○ Colossians 2:9 – The fullness of divinity is in the person of

Christ Jesus

• The divinity of the Holy Spirit

○ John 14:6 – A helper to come when Jesus leaves

○ John 15:26 – When the helper comes (proceeds from the

Father)

○ Galatians 4:6

○ Isaiah 61:1

○ 1 Cor. 2:10 and 12:11 (The Holy Spirit is not an attribute but

a person)

○ Acts 5:3-4 – When you lie to the Holy Spirit, you lie to God

(unity)

○ Psalm 139:7 – divine attributes applied to the Spirit

• Westminster Confession
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○ In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one

substance, power and eternity: God the Father, God, the Son,

and God, the Holy Ghost/Spirit: The Father is of none,

neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally

begotten of the father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding

from the Father and the Son.

• Discussion

○ What does it mean to believe in three persons? Not three

gods, essences, or beings?

○ The three persons must be distinguished, but never separated

○ What does it mean to be begotten? (John 3:16)

10. King of kings: The Person of Jesus Christ (Christology)

Key Terms: Incarnation (immanence), exaltation, hypostatic union,

Roles (prophet, priest, king)

• Hypostatic Union: Fully God and Fully Man

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• Incarnation: the event where God the Son became Man. Thus

giving Jesus the name God-Man by Anselm.

○ Matthew 1; Luke 1:26-38; 2

○ Isaiah 7

○ Luke 2:40-52

○ Mark 6:1-6

○ John 4:6 – He was tired

○ Matthew 21:18 – he was hungry

○ Matthew 11:19 – he was thirsty

○ Mark 14:33-36, Luke 22:63 – He was in great pain

○ Luke 10:21 – joy

○ Matthew 26:37 – sorrow

○ John 11:5 – love

○ Compassion – Matthew 9:36

○ Surprise – Luke 7:9

○ Anger – Mark 3:4

○ Matthew 4:1-11; 27:42; Mark 1:24; 8:33; Luke 11:15-20 –

Jesus was tempted

○ Galatians 4:4
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○ Hebrews 5:8

○ Acts 2:22; 13:38; 17:31

○ Romans 8:3

○ Philippians 2:8

○ Colossians 1:22

○ 1 Timothy 2:5

○ Hebrews 2:14

○ 1 Peter 4:1

• Prophet: A man representing God to the people. Nowadays a

preacher proclaiming God’s words in a convicting manner. (Look at

verses “Repent and believe”

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○ Mark Driscoll writes, “ The prototypical and greatest prophet

was Moses. Moses promised that one day a greater prophet

than he was coming as the fulfillment of prophetic ministry.

The prophecy of Moses was fulfilled when Jesus the prophet

arrived as promised… The prophet is inextricably connected to

the word of God because the prophet’s ministry was to

proclaim God’s word. According to the OT Scholar Gerhard

von Rad, the phrase “the word of Yahweh” appears 241 times

in the OT. Of these occurrences, 221 were on the lips of

prophets as their declaration that they were speaking

revelation by no less than God’s authority… Jesus the prophet

is superior even to the great prophets of the OT. Unlike the

prophets who spoke by God’s authority, because Jesus was

God, he spoke by his own authority as the source, center and

sum of truth. Consequently, rather than appealing to God’s

authority, Jesus simply said, “I say to you…”9

○ John 5:36-47

○ Matthew 5:22

○ Acts 3:22

9
Mark Driscoll and Geary Breshears, Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to
Timely Questions, (Crossway, 2007), pg. 74.
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• Priest: A man representing man before God. Look at Hebrews, “we

have a great high priest.”

○ “In the OT, the priest would humbly stand between God and

people as a mediator of sorts. He would bring the hopes,

dreams, fears and sins of the people before God as their

advocate and intercessor. He would hear their confession of

sin and pray for them. Furthermore, central to his role was

the offering of sacrifices to show that sin was very real and

deserved death, while asking God for gracious forgiveness.

Then he would speak God’s blessing on them. All the

functions of a priest are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.”10

○ Hebrews 3:1, 4:14

○ 1 Timothy 2:5

○ Hebrews 9:26

○ Hebrews 7:25

○ Mark 10:45, Luke 19:10

○ Matthew 9:9-13

○ WCF 8.2

• King: the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Exaltation)

10
Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears, Vintage Jesus, (Crossway, 2007), pg. 76.
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○ John 18:36-37

○ Luke 11:19-21

○ No such thing as a personal life

○ “When the Bible speaks of Jesus as ‘lord,’ it is saying in

shorthand that Jesus is the King of all kings who rules over all

creation… Jesus taught that his kingdom includes ruling over

both the material and immaterial worlds, that which is visible

and physical and that which is invisible and spiritual… Jesus

rules over very single aspect of our lives individually.”11

○ Revelation 19:11-16

• Exaltation

○ Resurrection

○ Ascension

○ Sitting at the Right hand of God

○ Second Coming (warrior and judge)

11. The Uncontainable Fire: The person of the Holy Spirit

Mark Driscoll and Gerry Bershears, Vintage Jesus, (Crossway, 2007), pg.
11

78-79.
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12. What do BB Warfield and Charles Darwin have in common?

Creation Views

Key Terms: Theistic Evolution, creationist, literary framework, day age

Answers in Genesis Videos #2: The Six Days of Creation; Six Days and

the Eisegesis Problem

Class Project: Handout and identify the central issues in the creation

debate

• Westminster Confession 4.1

• WCF 4.2

Anthropology: The Doctrine of Man

13. What is man that you are mindful of him? The study of

Anthropology

Terms: imageo dei (the image of God)

Why were we created?

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• CS Lewis wrote, “The Scotch catechism says that man's chief end is

"to glorify God and enjoy Him forever". But we shall know that

these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In

commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him. (p.

97)

• And I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise

not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its

appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers

keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is

incomplete till it is expressed. (p. 95)

• If it were possible for a created soul fully (I mean, up to the full

measure conceivable in a finite being) to "appreciate," that is to

love and delight in, the worthiest object of all, and simultaneously

at every moment to give this delight perfect expression, then that

soul would be in supreme beatitude. (p. 96)

How do we know God?

• How do we know things? It is obvious from these three things that we

need help in order to know God. He must come down to us.

○ Reason

○ Sense perception
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○ Experiences

• Revelation

○ General and Special

○ The Divine Word (the logos is Jesus Christ)

• Imageo Dei (image of God)

○ Gen. 1:27

○ Eccl. 7:29 – made upright

○ Ephesians 4:24 - upright = righteous

○ Gen. 2:17 – if you disobey me you will surely die

○ Colossians 3:10 – renewal only in Christ

• Gen. 1-2; Rev. 20, 21 – the only chapters where we see a world

without sin. Study them carefully.

• The Fall

○ Genesis 3

• Redemption

○ The presence of sin and the power of sin

• Complementarian vs. Equalitarian

 37

Excurses: Hamartology

14. Why is sin my defining trademark? The study of Hamartology

Key Terms: Sin, Total Depravity/radical depravity

Ideas: The mind as an idol factory (Calvin), every man has a God or

an idol (Luther)

Two aspects of sin: Omission and Commission

• Perspectives

○ Man is Good (we all want to believe this)

○ Man is evil (Eastern religions teach this, as the goal of life is

union with the ultimate… ideas like release and ascension are

central)

○ Man is fallen (unique to Christianity)

• The need for our salvation

○ Our State in Sin

 The loss of God’s image (or desecration of it)

 Knowledge of nakedness

 Horror of conscience (shame and guilt)

 Expulsion from the garden

 38

 Death (Romans 3:23)

• Original Sin

○ Romans 5:12 – Adam’s sin is imputed onto us as he was the

head of the covenant

○ Psalm 51:5 – in sin I was conceived (we are sinful before we

are born)

○ Romans 5:18, 9

○ Job 14:4

○ All men except Christ are born with sin. (James 3:2)

• Omission and Comission

○ Omission – sinning indirectly or not meaning to

○ Commission – deliberate acts of sin

• Total Inability / Total Depravity

○ Romans 8:7

Soteriology: The Doctrine of Salvation

 39

15. The Mission of Christ: Accomplishing our Election and

Predestination

Key Terms: Soteriology, Faith, Predestination, Election

• Did Jesus really have to die?

○ Without the shedding of blood there is actually no remission

or salvation (salvation had to be blood bought)

 Hebrews 2:10,17

 John 3:14-16

 Hebrews 9:23 (also 14, 22, 26)

 We had to be made holy in order to enjoy fellowship

with a holy God (only accomplished through the blood

of Christ). Sin must be met with divine judgment.

 Deut 27:26, Nahum 1:2, Hab. 1:13, Romans

1:17; 3:21-26, Gal. 3:10,13

 Galatians 3:21 – What Paul is insisting upon is that if

justification could have been secured by any other

method than that of faith in Christ, by that method it

would have been.12

John Muray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, (Eerdmans, 1955), pg.

12

17.
 40

 Romans 5:8

 1 John 4:10 (propitiation)

 Romans 8:32

 Look at the OT, why did lambs have to be sacrificed?

Why were their sacrifices at all? They were shadows of

something greater to come (as Hebrews tells us they

pointed to Christ).13

• The origin of our salvation (The Free Offer of the Gospel)

○ John 3:16 – no treatment of the atonement can be properly

oriented that does not trace its source to the free and

sovereign love of God.14

○ Romans 5:8 – While we were yet sinners Jesus died for us

○ Romans 8:29

○ Ephesians 1:4,5

13
Ibid., pg. 15
14
ibid., pg. 9
 41

○ It was of the free and sovereign good pleasure of his will, a

good pleasure that emanated from the depths of his own

goodness that he chose a people to be heirs of God and joint-

heirs with Christ.15 How else do you explain that God should

take His own Son and slay Him for us? Why the blood of the

King of kings? Why the incarnation? Why was the atonement

a necessity?

• Active and Passive Righteousness

○ Passive – by his obedience he took care of the guilt of sin and

perfectly fulfilled the demands of righteousness

○ Active – by his obedience he met both the penal and the

perceptive requirements of the law

○ The only way for Christ to save us is by his perfect

obedience16

• The Doctrine of Election

○ From the Greek Word, eklektos, “he chose”

○ John Calvin admits that the source of our salvation is from

God’s free goodness

15
ibid., pg. 10.
16
Ibid., pg. 22
 42

○ In eternity God dealt with sinners

 Hebrews 13:20

 John 17:4

 1 Peter 1:19-20

 Revelation 13:18

• The Doctrine of Predestination

○ Definition – God determines what is going to happen, based

on his divine love (not his foreknowledge)

 Not determinism or fatalism (how so?)

 The Bible emphasizes human responsibility

(repent and believe statements) right along side

with emphasizing full divine sovereignty.

 The question must be, “Does the Bible teach this?

Or is it man made?”
 43

○ “It is here that the phrase “in love” becomes important to our

point. Romans 8:29 says that God predestined us having

foreknown us; [Eph. 1:5] says that God predestined us “in

love.” These two are synonymous, for God foreknew us in the

biblical sense- he loved us. We might read our passage,

“having fore-loved us, he predestined us.” This is what Moses

explained regarding the election of Israel. [Deut. 7:7-8]”17

○ “Because heaven is God’s home, he too has the right to

discriminately chose choose who he allows in, and he has the

exclusive right to declare how they are to behave once

accepted. Rather than being unhappy with an exclusive and

discriminating God, we should be thankful that God allows

any of us into his home.”18

• Westminster Confession

Richard D. Phillips, What are Election and Predestination: Basics of the

17

Reformed Series, (Presbyterian and Reformed, 2006), pg. 22

18
Driscoll and Breshears, pg. 155
 44

○ 3.1 God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy

counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain

whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God

the author of sin (James 1:13, 17 and 1 John 1:5), nor is

violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty

of contingency of second causes taken away, but rather

established

 What does liberty of contingency mean?

○ 3.2 God did not decree what was to happen just because he

foresaw it. It was decreed because he willed it. (Romans

9:11,13, 16,18)

○ Done for the glory of God (Romans 9:22-23)

16. What did I do to deserve this? Expiation and Propitiation

Key Terms: Expiation, Propitiation, God’s wrath

 45

• Expiation (sacrifice): is an action that has sin as its object; it

denotes the covering, the putting away, or rubbing out of sin so

that it no longer constitutes a barrier to friendly fellowship between

man and God.19

○ The OT sacrifices were basically expiatory, as they focused on

sin and guilt20

 Leviticus (what would happen in a biblical sacrifice?)

○ Imputation: God putting my sins on Christ

 Seen in the OT, symbolically, by touching the goat, ram,

etc, before the sacrifice

○ Priestly role

• Propitiation (tp pacify): denotes all that expiation means, and the

pacifying wrath of God thereby.21

○ The idea of averting God’s anger by an offering

○ The OT Trespass Offering (Leviticus 4:1-6:7; 16:1-34)

○ Romans 3:21-26

○ Hebrews 2:17

○ 1 John 2:1-2

○ 1 John 4:8-10 – fore love is a focus

19
JI Packer and Mark Dever, In My Place Condemned He Stood: Celebrating
the Glory of the Atonement, (Crossway, 2008), pg 32.
20
Murray, pg. 25
21
Packer and Dever, pg. 32.
 46

○ “The doctrine of propitiation is precisely this: That God loved

the objects of His wrath so much that He gave His own son to

the end that He by His blood should make provision for the

removal of His wrath. It was Christ’s so to deal with the

wrath that the loved would no longer be objects of wrath, and

the love would achieve its aim of making the children of wrath

the children of God’s good pleasure.”22

○ Here we see the cost of God’s mercy

• When we think of Christ’s dying on the cross we are shown the

length to which God’s love goes in order to win us back to Himself.

We would almost think that God loved us more than He loves His

son. We cannot measure His love by any other standard. He is

saying, “I love you this much.” That Cross is the heart of the

gospel; it makes the gospel good news. Christ died for us; He has

stood in our place before God’s judgment seat; He has borne our

sins. God has done something on the cross which we could never

do for ourselves. But God does something to us as well as for us

through the cross. He persuades us that he loves us.23

Key Terms: Forensic, Justification, Sola fide

22
Ibid. Pg. 36

CJ Mahaney, Living the Cross Centered Life: Making the Gospel the Main
23

Thing, (Multnomah, 2006), pg. 56-57

 47

• The necessity for justice before God

○ We have sinned in the sight of God, He is holy and we

deserve death and His wrath.

• We have seen that Jesus was the sacrifice on our behalf, that he

stood in the door and absorbed the wrath for us. God, also put our

sins on Christ that we may be clean. Where does that leave us?

We are justified in the sight of God, but what does that mean?

○ Romans 4:25 – Raised for our justification

○ Romans 5:16, 18 – the free gift following many trespasses

brought justification… Justification and life for all men

○ It has to do with our standing before God

○ It is a forensic term

 Legal analogy

 You are innocent of all wrong doing

○ Relation to forgiveness (John 8 – go and sin no more)

○ Declared holy (Romans 6 – dead to sin)

• Relevance to the Christian life

 48

○ (go and sin no more… and we are dead to sin)

○ Justification is being declared Righteous24

○ Justification is our position before God, a position that

becomes permanently ours at the time of our conversion

○ Justification is immediate and complete upon conversion.

You’ll never be more justified than you are the first moment

you trust in the Person and finished work of Christ

○ Justification is objective – Christ’s work for us

○ A Man is either wholly justified or wholly condemned in the

sight of God

22. Where does Human Responsibility fit into this? The

Balance of Law and Gospel

Terms: Repentance, the role of Christ as a Prophet, union with Christ

(Beeke’s book), Antinomianism, legalism (religious people)

Handouts: Tim Keller “All of Life is Repentance” (downloaded onto

mac)

• Recall justification and the call to holiness

24
CJ Mahaney, pg. 118-119
 49

○ The demand of purity is a must

 James 1:27 (note it is also combined with godly works

and deeds)

• What is the role of the law for the Christian?

○ Scripture cannot be broken (unity of Scripture)

○ 2 Tim. 3:16

○ Gal. 2:21 – the law does not save you (so what merit does it

have?)

 See also Gal. 3:21

○ Gal. 3:2 – you receive the Spirit through faith, not the law

 Abraham – exposed in Hebrews 11

 You are not even perfected by the law (Gal. 3:3)

○ Gal. 3:10-11 – counted righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, the

law on the other hand actually curses you

 50

 The law is useless in salvation; indeed no one can live

up to the parameters set forth in Exodus 20. With

Christ’s exposition we see the depth of the matter as

our actions are only the fruit of the heart. (Tripp’s War

of Words)

○ Gal. 3:19 – God gave the law because of our sin, until the

offspring should come to whom the promise had been made

○ Gal. 3:24 – the Law was our guardian… in order that we

might be justified by faith

 Analogy of a child (Gal. 4:2) growing up – his fathers

authority diminishes with age, but his influence only

increases

○ Gal. 5:7 – For in Christ Jesus ‘nothing counts for anything,’

but only faith working through love.

 Repeated in Gal. 6:15 – ‘nothing counts for anything,’

only a new creation

• Antinomianism (Licentiousness: do whatever you want because

Christ will forgive you?)

○ NO
 51

 Gal. 5:13 – use your freedom not to sin, but to love one

another (The whole law is summarized in one word,

“love your neighbor as yourself”)

 Gal. 5:21-22 (the fruit of the Spirit)

 If you could do whatever you wanted, why then

are certain behaviors leading to hell?

 Gal 6:1,2 – loving one another fulfills the law of Christ

○ Romans 6:1,2 - Paul’s own words rebut this view

 We died to sin

• What then does it mean to be alive in Christ?

○ We cannot sin

 Holiness is not something we might become; instead it

has something to do because what we are.25

○ The demands to be pure

Ecclesiology: The Doctrine of the Church

23. Church: The Community of Believers

Key Terms: Ekklesia, elders, deacons, presbyters, bishops (various

views of church government)

Martin Lloyd Jones, Quoted by William Matthess, Grove City College Bible
25

Study on March 28, 2007

 52

• What is the church?

○ Ekklesia – the called out ones

• Why do we need the church? Or, why join a church?

○ Hebrews 3:13-14

○ Hebrews 10:25

• Church Gov’t: The confusion

○ Catholic and Episcopal

 Pope (or archbishop of Canturbury)

 Cannot have a vicar of Christ

 Cardinals or Primates

 Bishops

 Priests

 The ex cathedra chair (misinterpretation of the

statement, “Upon this rock I will built my church.”

Christ did not say to Peter, “you are my successor” but

was saying that the church will be built upon the

confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.”)

○ Independent and Congregational

 53

 Baptist

 Every member has an equal vote

 The Pastors way or the highway

○ Presbyterian

 Presbyter, bishop, overseer are all synonymous (the role

of the elder)

 Provides accountability and support

○ What were the OT leaders

 Priest (Aaron is the role model… Melchizedek as well)

 Deut. 17:8-13 – a mediating role between people

 Representing the people before God

• In sacrifices – Ex. 29:42-46

• In their rebellion – Exodus 33:12-23

 Prophet (Moses is the role model)

 Ex. 34:29-35
 54

 King (David is the role model… a man after the Lord’s

own heart… all the Israelite kings are compared with

David – 1,2 Kings)

 1 Samuel 8:10-18 (The negative aspect of a

human king)

 Deut. 17:14-20

○ What is the purpose of leaders?

 Exodus 18:1-23 (vs. 13-23)

 Numbers 11:15-28

 Deut. 1:9-18

 Titus 1:5 – Titus was left to train leaders

 Eph. 20:17-38

 A glimpse of Paul speaking t the very men he

trained for the office

○ What are the biblical qualifications for an overseer, bishop, or

an elder?

 1 Timothy 3:1-7

 Titus 1:6-9
 55

○ What is a deacon?

 Acts 6

 But all Christians are called to serve one another

○ What are the qualifications for a deacon?

 1 Timothy 3:8-13

 Can ladies be deacons?

• The validity of the pope and apostles

○ Catholic teaching

24. Operation Redemption: The Church's Calling

Key Terms: Missionary Calling

Ideas: Outward, not inward facing

• How does the church grow?

• Acts: A biblical book of the missionary calling

○ Missions and evangelism is a key focus of Acts

○ It is circumstantial proof of the good news of Jesus Christ

 56

• OT teaching

○ Deut. 4:41-43 and Numbers 35:9-43 (Cities of Refuge)

○ Deut. 10:18, 19

○ Deut. 16:18-20

○ David is chastised for not having justice in the land (Ammon

rapes Tamar, leaves Absalom as well)

○ Isaiah 1:16-17

○ Micah 6:8

• NT teaching

○ Luke 6:35-36

○ Luke 10:25-37 – The Parable of the Good Samaritan

○ Mark 10:19-22

○ James 1:27 – religion that is pure and undefiled before God,

the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their

affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

○ James 2:13-17

○ Matthew 25:32-36

○ Acts 6:1-7 – caring for widows

○ John 19:26
 57

• Conclusion: the Church is the instrument in the redeemers hands.

○ The redemption that Christ bought with His blood, the

redemption the Holy Spirit works in hearts, and the

redemption that the Lord brings about through the preaching

of the word.

○ Only comes about with Christ as Savior and Lord

25. Can a Monster Truck rally, with a devotional, be worship?

Key Terms: Regulative Principle, Normative Principle

Three reformation options

• RPW – only what God says must be used in worship

○ Emphasis is on Scripture

○ Calvin

• Normative – Nothing that God says that cannot be used in worship

○ Emphasis on wisdom and discernment

○ Luther
 58

• Anything goes – who cares if God forbade it

○ Emphasis is on the Subjective elements

○ The majority of contemporary Christians

• Biblical data for the RPW

○ The Sacrifice of Cain and Abel

 Hebrews and the heart element

○ The Exodus

 Miriam’s Song

○ The 2nd commandment

 Idolatry with the golden calf (the image was of the God

who brought you out of the Land of Egypt)

 The role of images

○ Construction of the tabernacle

 Skilled workman their work to Moses for approval

○ Aaron’s sons and the false sacrifices

○ Leviticus: the case for a pleasing aroma before the Lord

○ Deborah’s Song (Judges 5,6)

○ Saul and Samuel

 59

 Obedience is better than sacrifce

 NT parallel – Matthew 12:7

○ The Construction of the Temple

○ Jeroboam and the golden calves

○ Prophets (Emphasis on the heart)

○ Jesus with the Woman at the Well

 Worship in Spirit and in Truth

• Argument from the Limits of Church-Power (Bannerman

makes this argument well)26

○ Brief description of the argument. The Church is an

institution; instituted by the positive command of the risen

Christ, and authorized by Him to require obedience to His

commands and participation in His ordinances. The Church is

given no authority to require obedience to its own commands,

and is given no authority to require participation in ordinances

of its own making. The Regulative Principle of Church-

Government lies behind the Regulative Principle of Worship.

26
Argument summaries from T. David Gordon, Professor of Religion at Grove
City College, accessed from
http://www.reformedprescambridge.com/articles/Regulative_Principle.html on
July 3, 2008
 60

○ Sample of relevant texts--Mat. 28:18-20; 2 Cor. 1:24; Rom.

14:7-9

• Argument from Liberty of Conscience (Ed Clowney makes

this case well)

○ Brief description of the argument. To induce people to act

contrary to what they believe is right is sinful. Further, God

requires us to worship Him only as He has revealed.

Therefore, to require a person, in corporate worship, to do

something that God has not required, forces the person to sin

against his/her conscience, by making them do what they do

not believe God has called them to do.

○ Sample of relevant texts--Romans 14; 1 Corinthians 8:4-13

• Argument from Faith (John Owen makes this argument

compellingly)
 61

○ Brief description of the argument. Where God has not

revealed himself, no faithful response is possible, by

definition. And, without faith it is impossible to please God.

Therefore, God cannot be pleased by worship which is

unfaithful, that is, worship which is not an obedient response

to his revelation.

○ Sample of relevant texts--Rom.14:23; Heb. 11:6, and entire

chapter.

• Argument from the distance between the Creator and the

creature (Calvin and Van Til drive in this direction in all of their

writings; and, interestingly, so does Barth)

○ Brief description of the argument. God's ways and thoughts

are above ours as the heavens are above the earth. What

makes us think we can possibly fathom what would please

God?

○ Sample of relevant texts--Isa. 40:12-14 Deut. 29:29; Isa.

55:9; Prov.25:2

• Argument from the character of God as jealous

 62

○ Brief description of the argument. God's character as a

jealous God is introduced into texts which prohibit certain

things (creating images) in the worship of God. Thus, the

prohibition of creating graven images or any other likeness of

anything in heaven or earth is grounded in God's character as

a jealous God, and thus is not grounded in some peculiarity of

the Sinai covenant.

○ Sample of relevant texts--Ex.20:4-5; 34:14

• Argument from those passages where piety is described as

doing exclusively what God wishes.

○ Brief description of the argument. In many passages, the

wicked are described not as doing what is contradictory to

God's will, but what is beside His will. Similarly, the pious are

described by their trembling in God's presence, by their doing

exclusively what God wishes.

○ Sample of relevant texts--Isa.66:1-4; Dt.12:29-32; Lev.

10:1-2; 1 Sam.13:8-15; 15:3-22

 63

• Argument from the severity of the temporal punishments

inflicted upon those who offer to God worship other than

what He has prescribed.

○ Brief description of the argument. There are places where

people offer worship to God, in an apparently good-faith

desire to please Him, yet they do so in some manner not

prescribed by God, and His punishment of them is severe.

○ Sample of relevant texts--Lev. 10:1-2; 1 Sam.13:8-15

• Argument from the sinful tendency towards idolatry (Rom.

1).

○ Paul's point in Romans 1:19ff is that the human race, in its

revolt against God, has "worshipped and served the creature

rather than the Creator." Further, this is not due to ignorance,

but to moral defilement: "Although they knew God, they did

not honor him as God or give him thanks?" cf. Thomas E.

Peck, Miscellanies, vol. I, pp. 96-97: "Man, then, is

incompetent to devise modes of worship, because he knows

not what modes are best adapted to express the truth or the

emotions which the truth is suited to produce."

 64

• Argument from Church History

○ Brief description of the argument. Church history amply

demonstrates that fallen creatures, left to their own devices,

inevitably produce worship which is impious. Especially the

Reformation, as an historical movement, bore testimony to

the corruption which creeps slowly into worship when worship

is not regulated by the revealed will of God.

Key Terms: the Sabbath

• Ex. 20:8-10 - The 4th commandment

• Gen. 2:2-3 - The 7th day

○ Hebrew word for ceasing and stopping (Shabbat)

• Deut. 5:12-15

• Ex. 31:12-17

• Numbers 21:1-10

• 1 Chron. 16:39-40

• Jesus and the Religious people (the Pharisees)

○ Mark 2:23-28
 65

○ Mark 3:1-6

○ Luke 13:10-7

○ Luke 14:1-6

○ John 5:1-9

○ John 9:-41

○ Matthew 5:17-20

○ Christ, no more abolishes the Sabbath than a man destroys a

house when he cleans off the moss or weeds from its roof.27

○ The tension between Christ and the tradition of the Pharisees

 Matthew 15

 Mark 7:8-9

 The conflict was not so much a personal matter

between Jesus and the Pharisees as it was a conflict

between the holy Sabbath of God and the painfully

distorted Pharisaic Sabbath. It was part of Jesus’

mission to liberate, heal, and redeem the Sabbath from

captivity.28

27
Bruce Ray, Celebrating the Sabbath: Finding Rest in a Restless World,
(Presbyterian and Reformed, 2000), pg. 73.
28
Ray, pg. 83
 66

• Transition from the 7th day to the Lord’s day (the day celebrating

Christ’s resurrection)

○ Heb. 4:9

○ Became the Lord’s Day in celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

It was on Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared

to many of his disciples.

○ 1 Cor. 16:1-4 – an offering taken up on the first day of the

week (Sounds like tithing)

○ Acts 20:6-11

○ Revelation 1:10
 67

○ It is a striking fact that the Jewish Sabbath almost disappears

from recorded Christian practice after Christ’s resurrection.

The very day before his resurrection occurs, we find his

disciples resting on the Jewish Sabbath (Luke 23:56; Mark

16:1; John 19:42), but after it has happened the observance

of the 7th day is never mentioned except as a tolerated option

for Jewish Christians (Romans 14:5), or an intolerable

imposition by Judaising heretics (Gal. 4:9-11; Col. 2:16), or

in passages where Paul reasons with the Jews in the

synagogue on the Sabbath (Acts 13:14,42, 44; 17:2; 18:4;

16:13), not apparently because the observance of the day is

a regular part of his own devotional practice but because it

provides an excellent opportunity for evangelism.29

• The Sabbath is God’s rest

○ Hebrews 3:11,18;4:1,3,5,11

○ Revelation 14:9-13

• WCF 21.8

29
Ray, pg. 47-48
 68

○ Works of necessity and mercy (What is necessary today?

What is merciful? This has never changed.)

Adiaphora: Unessentials

28. The Return of the King of kings: The End Times

Key Terms: Postmillenialism, Premillenialism, Amillenialism, Second

Coming of Christ, Eschatology

• Purgatory?

• The 2nd coming of Christ

• The Millenium

○ Premillenialism

 Historic

 Dispensational

 Rapture

○ Postmillenialism

○ Amillenialism
69