Redemption

Having been tenant long to a rich Lord,
       Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
       And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancel th' old.
In heaven at his manor I him sought:
       They told me there, that he was lately gone
       About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.
I straight returned, and knowing his great birth,
       Sought him accordingly in great resorts;
       In cities, theaters, gardens, parks, and courts:
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
       Of thieves and murderers: there I him espied,
       Who straight, Your suit is granted, said, and died.

—George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (New York: Penguin, 1991), 35–36.

Calvin's Faith Facing Death

From Calvin's will, made on his deathbead:

I give thanks to God who had mercy on me. . . . He delivered me out of the deep darkness of idolatry in which I was plunged, that he might bring me into the light of the gospel. . . . I have no other defense or refuge for salvation than his free adoption, on which alone my salvation depends. With all my soul I embrace the mercy that he has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins with the merits of his death and passion, that in this way he might satisfy for all my offences and faults and blot them out form his remembrance. I testify also and declare that I earnestly beg him to be pleased so to wash and purify me in the blood that my Sovereign Redeemer has shed for the sins of mankind, that under his shadow I may be able to stand at the judgment-seat. . . . 

I also testify and declare that in all the battles and disputations in which I have been engaged with the enemies of the gospel, I have used no falsehood, no wicked and sophistical devices, but have acted straightforwardly and sincerely in defending the truth.  

Yet, alas, my ardour and zeal (if indeed worthy of the name) have been so slack and languid that I confess I have failed countless times to execute my office properly, and had not he, of his boundless goodness, assisted me . . . those mental powers that the Lord gave me would at his judgment-seat prove me more and more guilty of sin and sloth. 

For these reasons I testify and declare that I trust to no other security for my salvation than this alone, that as God is the Father of mercy, so he will show himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 16.

The Great Wisdom and Glorious Work of God

A while back I made a beginning at poking away at John Owen's Pneumatologia. On account of pressing responsibilities and unforeseen circumstances, I was sidetracked a while. But I've gotten back into Owen's unsurpassed work on the Spirit. And I'm enjoying it thoroughly. Here's a taste:

When God designed the great and glorious work of recovering fallen man and the saving of sinners, to the praise of the glory of his grace, he appointed, in his infinite wisdom, two great means thereof. The one was the giving of his Son for them, and the other was the giving of his Spirit unto them. 

And hereby was way made for the manifestation of the glory of the whole blessed Trinity; which is the utmost end of all the works of God. Hereby were the love, grace, and wisdom of the Father, in the design and projection of the whole; the love, grace, and condescension of the Son, in the execution, purchase, and procurement of grace and salvation for sinners; with the love, grace, and power of the Holy Spirit, in the effectual application of all unto the souls of men—made gloriously conspicuous.

 —John Owen, Works, vol. 3, p. 23. 

The Covenant of Redemption

Many theologians have spoken of a covenant of redemption.  I have often wondered, while very sympathetic to the doctrine, if there is much exegetical basis for it, not just conceptual.  While meditating recently on Tit. 1:2, I was struck by how clearly the doctrine is articulated, if not the term itself. 

Continuing the salutation, Tit. 1:2 says this: "in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began (pro chronon aionion)."  A literalistic, wooden, and nonidiomatic rendering could be something like "before times eternal" or "before times of ages").  Now if this promise was made before the ages (i.e., before creation and time as we know it), to whom was the promise made?  Presumably it was not made to creation, for it did not yet exist.  So then to whom was it made?  Well, to the Son, of course. 

God promised the Son concerning eternal life.  He made a covenant with the Son to redeem fallen humanity, dead in sin, to restore them, and to bestow on them eternal life in the Son.  This is the covenant of redemption, planned and promised in eternity, sealed in the eternal fellowship of the Trinity, sealed by the blood of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.  God decreed these things "before the ages for our glory" (1 Cor. 2:7).  And it is indeed marvelous in our eyes!

Why God Became Man

St. Anselm (1033-1109), bishop of Canterbury, is perhaps most famous and known for his setting forth of the ontological argument for God's existence in The Proslogion.  It is simply this: That God is that than which nothing greater or better can be conceived.

He wrote during his mature years what has come to be a very influential work: Why God Became Man.  In the preface to this work, he tells the reader how he's arranged the work into two books and what each book is about.  Book 1 provides the objections of unbelievers who repudiate the faith because they suppose that it militates against reason and the answers of the faithful to such objections.  Anselm asserts that "it proves, by unavoidable logical steps," that without Christ it is impossible that anyone could be saved.  Book 2 proposes that even if nothing were known of Christ it can be demonstrated "with no less clear logic and truth" that the aim for which God made humanity--that "the whole human being should enjoy blessed immortality"--makes it inevitable that the outcome for which man was originally created should become a reality.  And this outcome, moreover, could only come to pass through the agency of a God-man.  And so, he says, "it is from necessity that all the things which we believe about Christ have come to pass."