SALVATION
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12
The way of salvation is this, that man, through the word of God which is living and powerful, (Heb. 4:12.Jer. 23:29) is awakened out of his sinful sleep; (Ac.2:37,Is.55:10,11;Lk.16:29-31), recognizes his sins and his guilt and heartily repents (2 Co.7:10,Lk.18:13,Ps.51:6,Ac.17:30,Lk.7:37-48).
In the feeling of his danger he has recourse to Christ Jn.6:37,Mt.11:28 as his only Deliverer and Saviour Ac.4:12,Jn.14:6,Jn.3:36, and receives through faith in him the forgiveness of his sins Ro.3:24,25,28;Ac.26:17,18. and the witness in his heart that he is a child of God and heir of eternal life. (Rom. 8:16, 17; Gal. 4:6; 1 Jno. 5:10, 11; (Eph. 1:13, 14; 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:21, 22.)
This great change in the heart and in the knowledge of the sinner is exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:11, 1 Cor. 12:3; Jno. 6:45.), who according to the gracious will of God accompanies the word with his almighty, successful working (1 Thess. 1:5; 1 Cor. 2:4, 5; Jno. 6:63; Acts 10:44, 46.),
thereby effects the regeneration of the fleshly minded sinner (Jno. 1:13; 3:3, 5, 6, 7; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23; Gal. 6:15.), opens his heart (Acts 16:14), enlightens his soul (Eph. 5:8; 1 Cor. 2:14.), and begets living faith in Christ (Eph.2:8) German Baptists Confession
The Word of God is not a mere signum, a sign pointing the way to eternal life, but a gracious medium ordained to exert spiritual effects and efficacious to that end. The Gospel does not merely offer us righteousness and salvation, does not only invite us to accept Christ and enter his Kingdom, it actually confers such great blessings on us, quickens us and makes us partakers of Christ’s kingdom.
The Word has the power to convert and regenerate (Ps. 19:8–9; Jer. 23:29; 1 Tim. 2:25; 1 Pet. 1:23; Jas. 1:18; 1 Cor. 4:1; Gal. 4:19), to bestow faith (John 1:17; 17:20; Rom. 10:17; 1 Cor. 3:5; Col. 1:5–6; 2 Pet. 1:19), to purify (John. 15:3), to quicken (2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 2:5; Phil. 2:16; Acts 5:20), to justify (Rom. 3:27–28), to sanctify (1 Pet. 1:22), to renew (Eph.. 4:23), to preserve in grace and faith (1 Pet. 5:10), and to save (John 5:24,39; 6:68; 1 Cor. 1:21; Acts 11:14),
1 J. Ligon Duncan et al., Perspectives on Christian Worship: 5 Views, ed. J. Matthew Pinson (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2009).
“God is the principal efficient cause of saving faith. John 6:29; Phil. 1:29. Hence faith is called the gift of God, Eph. 2:8, and it is said to be of the operation of God, Col. 2:12.
This shows that faith proceeds from God, who regenerates, and is not the product of our own will; it is not meritorious. It has its origin in grace, not in nature; it is adventitious, not hereditary; supernatural, not natural.
That which, in respect to its commencement, its increase, and its completion, is from God, cannot depend upon our will and the powers of nature. But faith is of God in its commencement, Phil. 2:13; 1:6; in its increase, Mark 9:24; Luke 17:5; and in its completion, Phil. 1:6; 2 Thess. 1:11.”
Heinrich Schmid, The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Verified from the Original Sources, trans. Charles A. Hay and Henry E. Jacobs, Second English Edition, Revised according to the Sixth German Edition. (Philadelphia, PA: Lutheran Publication Society, 1889), 427.
The proclamation ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν-resurrection of the dead in Rom. 1:4 does not present the resurrection as an incidental or isolated event but as the beginning of the general resurrection. The Gospel does not merely bear witness to salvation history; it is itself salvation history. It breaks into the life of man, refashions it and creates communities.
It cannot be generally perceived (2 Cor. 4:3); in it there takes place a divine revelation. Through the Gospel God calls men to salvation. The preacher is the mouthpiece of God (2 Thess. 2:14). Since the Gospel is God’s address, εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (1 Thess. 2:2, 9), to men, it demands decision and imposes obedience (Rom. 10:16; 2 Cor. 9:13). The attitude to the Gospel will be the basis of decision at the last judgment (2 Thess. 1:8; cf. 1 Pt. 4:17). The Gospel is not an empty word; it is effective power which brings to pass what it says because God is its author (Rom. 1:1; 15:16; 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:2, 8, 9; cf. 1 Pt. 4:17; 1 Thess. 1:5. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 731,725.
If Jesus had not come to save, all men would have perished. If He had not come, there would have been no one to pay our debts; no one to sanctify our polluted soul; no one to comfort us through all the dark hours of life, no one to say when the waves of death are rolling over our soul, “Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid”; no one to shield us against the judgment when standing before the tribunal of God. Sermons on the Heidelberg Catechism
That the law is an expression of God’s own character is one of the factors that make the substitutionary atonement possible. As the writer of the book of Hebrews explains, Jesus voluntarily chose to become “like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17).
Indeed, given man’s lost condition, not only can God provide substitutionary atonement, but this is the only way man can be saved (cf. Acts 4:12).
Just as sin is man substituting himself for God, so salvation is God substituting himself for man.
David W. Jones, An Introduction to Biblical Ethics, B&H Studies in Christian Ethics (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2013), 51.
Because we in Adam ascended to being like God, he has descended into our likeness, in order to bring us to the knowledge of ourselves … to make out of unhappy and proud gods, true human beings, namely, miserable mortals and sinners,” Luther WA 5, 128,39–129,1
James Hamilton, Denny Burk, and Brian J. Vickers, God’s Glory Revealed in Christ: Essays on Biblical Theology in Honor of Thomas R. Schreiner (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2019).
The master theme of the Christian gospel is salvation. Salvation is a picture-word of wide application that expresses the idea of rescue from jeopardy and misery into a state of safety. The gospel proclaims that the God who saved Israel from Egypt, Jonah from the fish's belly, the psalmist from death, and the soldiers from drowning (Exod. 15:2; Jon. 2:9; Ps. 116:6; Acts 27:31), saves all who trust Christ from sin and sin's consequences.
As these earthly deliverances were wholly God's work, and not instances of people saving themselves with God's help, so it is with salvation from sin and death. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it [either faith as such or salvation and faith together] is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Salvation comes from the LORD (Jon. 2:9).
What are believers saved from? From their former position under the wrath of God, the dominion of sin, and the power of death (Rom. 1:18; 3:9; 5:21); from their natural condition of being mastered by the world, the flesh, and the devil (John 8:23-24; Rom. 8:7-8; 1 John 5:19); from the fears that a sinful life engenders (Rom. 8:15; 2 Tim. 1:7; Heb. 2:14-15), and from the many vicious habits that were part of it (Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Thess. 4:3-8; Titus 2:11-3:6).
He hath delivered us from the power of darkness, He has rescued us from the state of heathenish darkness and wickedness. He hath saved us from the dominion of sin, which is darkness (1 Jn. 1:6), from the dominion of Satan, who is the prince of darkness (Eph. 6:12), and from the damnation of hell, which is utter darkness, Mt. 25:30. They are called out of darkness, 1 Pet. 2:9. He hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, brought us into the gospel-state, and made us members of the church of Christ, which is a state of light and purity.
You were once darkness, but now are you light in the Lord, Eph. 5:8. Who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, 1 Pet. 2:9. Those were made willing subjects of Christ who were the slaves of Satan. The conversion of a sinner is the translation of a soul into the kingdom of Christ out of the kingdom of the devil. The power of sin is shaken off, and the power of Christ submitted to.
How are believers saved from these things? Through Christ, and in Christ. The Father is as concerned to exalt the Son as he is to rescue the lost (John 5:19-23; Phil. 2:9-11; Col. 1:15-18; Heb. 1:4-14), and it is as true to say that the elect were appointed for Christ the beloved Son as it is to say that Christ was appointed for the beloved elect (Matt. 3:17; 17:5; Col. 1:13; 3:12; 1 Pet. 1:20; 1 John 4:9-10).
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes them free from the law of sin and death Rom.8:2; and it is the kingdom of his dear Son, or the Son of his peculiar love, his beloved Son (Mt. 3:17), and eminently the beloved, Eph. 1:3-6. He hath not only done this, but hath made us meet to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light, Col. 1:12.
Those who have the inheritance of sons have the education of sons and the disposition of sons: they have the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father. Rom. 8:15. And, because you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Gal. 4:6.
This meetness for heaven is the earnest of the Spirit in our heart, which is part of payment, and assures the full payment. Those who are sanctified shall be glorified (Rom. 8:30), and will be for ever indebted to the grace of God, which hath sanctified them.
Our salvation involves, first, Christ dying for us and, second, Christ living in us (John 15:4; 17:26; Col. 1:27) and we living in Christ, united with him in his death and risen life (Rom. 6:3-10; Col. 2:12, 20; 3:1).
This vital union, which is sustained by the Spirit from the divine side and by faith from our side, and which is formed in and through our new birth, presupposes covenantal union in the sense of our eternal election in Christ (Eph. 1:4-6). Jesus was foreordained to be our representative head and substitutionary sin-bearer (1 Pet. 1:18-20; cf. Matt. 1:21), and we were chosen to be effectually called, conformed to his image, and glorified by the Spirit's power (Rom. 8:11, 29-30).
“In Christ, we see all that Adam was intended to be, but never was, all that we are not but which we will become through resurrection.”
In this sense our creation as imago Dei is more fully revealed by the person and work of the incarnate Son. This is why our salvation is partly described as being conformed to the image of God’s own dear Son (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:4; Eph. 4:21–24; Col. 3:10). Wells, Person of Christ-Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ, ed. John S. Feinberg, Foundations of Evangelical Theology Series (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), 131.
This expression [“in Christ” or en Christō], together with cognate expressions such as ‘in the Lord’ (en Kyriō) or ‘in him’ (en autō), occurs 164 times in Paul’s epistles.” Paul links his doctrine of being in Christ with Christ’s identity as the last Adam.
In 1 Corinthians 15:21f., he states that just as the death of all humanity has its cause in the person of Adam, so the resurrection from the dead has its cause in the person of Christ. Clearly implied here is that just as the death of all people was not first caused by their personal sins but already pronounced upon all humanity and passed on to all solely because of Adam’s disobedience,
so, the resurrection has not been won by the personal good works and faith and so on of the believers but exclusively by the obedience of Christ.
They die, not in and by themselves, but in Adam; and they rise again, not in and by themselves, but only in Christ. (Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 83.)
He says, “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:21–22). God’s Son is the Image of God, and by his Spirit we are transformed into the same image, for he is the last Adam.
Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology: Spirit and Salvation, vol. 3, Reformed Systematic Theology (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 230.
While Paul is not using the term “all” equivalently in 1 Cor. 15:21a and 15:21b, he is not thereby teaching universalism, the doctrine that all human beings are saved in Christ. The “all” in each half of verse 21 means “all who are in Adam” and “all who are in Christ,” on which see Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, rev. ed., NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014).
For Paul, “all who are in Adam” refers to every ordinary descendant of Adam; “all who are in Christ” refers to each and every person whom the Father has eternally and unchangeably elected in Christ to be saved (Eph. 1:4, 11)
This order was inaugurated in history by his resurrection from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit. When Christ was raised, he entered into confirmed eschatological life. This life he merited by his obedience, an obedience that led to his accursed death on the cross (Gal. 3:10–14; Phil. 2:8) and that eventuated in his resurrection from the dead (Rom. 4:25).
Christ freely and graciously shares this life with all those who are in him. When God graciously transfers a person from being in Adam to being in Christ, God brings that person from the realm of sin, curse, and death into the realm of righteousness, blessing, and life
Guy Prentiss Waters, “The Covenant of Works in the New Testament,” in Covenant Theology: Biblical, Theological, and Historical Perspectives, ed. Guy Prentiss Waters, J. Nicholas Reid, and John R. Muether (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), 85.
“Since only Christians are united with Christ, only Christians will be made alive through Christ.” Christ’s death and resurrection will finally drive sin and death from the field at the very end, but the effects of these salvific events benefit only those who believe in him and become in him a new humanity. Edwards (1885: 412) explains the difference in this way: humans “are in Adam by nature, in Christ by faith.”
David E. Garland, 1 Corinthians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 707.
Spiritual Blessings in Christ Ephesians 1:17
Paul prays, astoundingly, that the same Spirit of wisdom that anointed the royal Branch in Isa. 11:, now seen to be the Messiah, Jesus, be given (δώῃ) to the believers in Ephesus (Eph.1:17). In this way, they will begin to resemble their glorified Lord. In this way, they will be true sons and heirs (like the Davidic Branch) of the Father of glory.
Integral to this vision is the union of the church with her Lord, marked most obviously by Paul’s unremitting repetition of that positional and prepositional phrase “in him” (ἐν αὐτῷ) or some variation thereof. This explains how Paul can also refer to the sonship of believers who also have God as their father (Eph.1:2) and who have been predestined to the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ (Eph.1:5).
United with their Lord and “in him,” they come to share in his human inheritance. Indeed, sitting with him in the heavenly places (Eph.1:3, 2:6), they participate with him in this way in his glorified human rule.
In sum, Paul’s hope for those hearing his letter is that they may be given the same Spirit that anointed and empowered for battle their Lord Jesus, the Messianic Branch-cum-Divine Warrior of Isa. 11:, and Isa. 59:,
And a rod will emerge from the root of Jesse, and a flower will come up from the root. 2 And God’s spirit will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and intelligence, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and piety. Is 11:1–2 The Lexham English Septuagint
William N. Wilder, “The Use (or Abuse) of Power in High Places: Gifts Given and Received in Isaiah, Psalm 68, and Ephesians 4:8,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 20, no. 1–4 (2010): 190.191.
This then is the reason why Paul can confidently exhort the Colossians. Even though they still live in a world in which strength to have endurance and patience is needed from God Col.1:11,12, they can in fact set their minds on Christ’s saving rule because of the reality of the life-giving change that has most assuredly already taken place. Alan J. Thompson, Colossians and Philemon: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, vol. 12, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: IVP, 2022), 134–135
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col. 3:1-3
If [since] ye then be risen with Christ According to the Greek, there is no doubt about this. Christians are joined with Christ in his resurrection (see Rom. 6:2-4; Eph. 2:6). where Christ sitteth Christ is at God's right hand ( Eph. 1:20), representing those who belong to him. The Christian was formerly alive to the world and separated from God; he is now dead to the world and reconciled to God.
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses Col. 2:12-13;
Just as their hope is stored up in heaven Col.1:5, so too their relationship with God is hidden in the sense that it is secure and kept safe. Just as all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are bound up with Christ Col.2:3, so too is the believer’s new life Col.2:13.
Paul begins by referring to the Colossians as saints and faithful brethren in Christ. God had separated them from evil through the Lord Jesus Christ and had given them grace and peace. Paul had heard of their faith and love, and he mentions the hope awaiting them in heaven. Col. 1:9-13
Epaphras was their faithful minister and had taught them in the things of Christ. The prayer Paul prays for the Colossian church should still be the prayer for all Christians in all places. Paul’s leading concern in this prayer is for the knowledge of the will of God “that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”
We must know what God has willed for those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ. This is the knowledge and understanding that keeps us from the false teaching of enticing teachers, with a keynote of intellectualism, promising wisdom, knowledge and many other benefits.
The knowledge of the will of God is a growing knowledge and it must govern the daily walk of the believer. We know obedience to God as we have His wisdom and walk worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then as we walk in the midst of tribulation and suffering, we are supplied with strength, as it is the glory of Christ which strengthens the believer and gives power to endure every trial and hardship with joy.
Being filled with the knowledge of His will produces worship. Paul prays that Christians might give thanks to God in spiritual worship. Being filled with the knowledge of God, we know what God the Father has done for the sinner who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Beware of quenching that blessed hunger and thirst, by what the world calls religion; a religion of form, of outside show, which leaves the heart as earthly and sensual as ever.
John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition., vol. 5 (London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), 118–119,269.
The church must not conclude that godliness comes from their own inherent abilities since the gifts given to believers are rooted in the knowledge of Christ. Everything needed for eternal life is mediated through the knowledge of the Christ, who calls believers to himself.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 2 Pet. 1:3
The word for knowledge is again epignōsis (cf. 2 Pet.1:2), referring to the encounter with Jesus Christ that began in conversion and continues thereafter. The focus is on conversion since Peter referred to God’s calling (kalesantos). English readers are apt to understand calling in terms of an invitation that can be accepted or rejected.
Peter had something deeper in mind. God’s call is effective, awakening and creating faith. Paul referred to calling in this way regularly (e.g., Rom 4:17; 8:30; 9:12, 24–26; 1 Cor 1:9; 7:15; Gal 1:6, 15; 5:8, 13; 1 Thess 2:12; 4:7; 5:24; 2 Thess 2:14; 1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 1:9). More significantly, the word “called” also has this meaning in (1 Peter 1:15; 2:9, 21; 3:9; 5:10).
First Peter 2:9 indicates that conversion is in view, for God called believers out of darkness into his marvelous light. The terminology reminds us that God is the one who called light out of darkness (Gen 1:3). Some scholars maintain that the calling of the apostles is in view, but it is not likely that Peter restricted such to the apostles.
Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 292.
The intention and purpose of God receive primacy rather than the choice of human beings. This is confirmed elsewhere in Paul, for the election, predestination, and calling of believers is according to God’s “purpose” (πρόθεσις, prothesis; Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:11; 2 Tim. 1:9). Moreover, as most scholars affirm, “calling” (κλητός, klētos), must be understood as effectual.
It is not merely an invitation that human beings can reject, but it is a summons that overcomes human resistance and effectually persuades them to say yes to God. This definition of “calling” is evident from Rom. 8:30, for there Paul says that “those whom he called (ἐκάλεσεν, ekalesen) he also justified.” The text does not say that “some” of those called were justified.
This understanding is also vindicated by Rom.4:17, where God’s call effectually brings into existence things that did not exist (cf. also Rom. 9:24–26; 1 Cor. 1:9, 24, 26–28; Gal. 1:6, 15; 1 Thess. 2:12; 5:24; 2 Thess. 2:14; 2 Tim. 1:9).
The foundational reason why all things work for believers’ good begins to emerge: God’s unstoppable purpose in calling believers to salvation cannot be frustrated, and thus he employs all things to bring about the plan he had from the beginning in the lives of believers.
Thomas R. Schreiner, Romans, vol. 6, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 451.
The doctrine of God’s election does not eliminate human responsibility. The fact that no one can come to Jesus unless they are drawn by the Father (Jn 6:44) never stops Jesus from calling people to come to him (Jn 7:37). The seed is sown everywhere, even though it can only bear fruit when it falls on good soil (Mk 4:1–20).
Paul knows that “those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit” 1 Cor. 2:14, yet he makes an open statement of the truth, commending himself to everyone 2 Cor. 4:2. He has “become all things to all people, so that by all possible means [he] might save some” 1 Cor. 9:22.
Sigurd Grindheim, Introducing Biblical Theology (London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2013), 192.
For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. Rom. 8:6
One aspect of our turning back to God (Isa. 55:6–7) is acknowledging that his glorious being transcends our thinking: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa.55:8–9).
In the Enlightenment, the notion of externally received revelation as the final judge of truth was replaced by internal human reason. In other words, enlightened human beings would no longer be bound by the dictates of any external authority, be it the church or the Bible, that claimed to speak for God.
They would follow their own experience and reason wherever it would lead as the means of obtaining knowledge rather than blindly accept what they regarded to be the superstitions proclaimed and taught by traditional Christian faith. Instead of believing in order to understand, the Enlightenment maintained that humans should believe only that which they could understand.
Similarly, with respect to morality, it was believed that human reason was able to discover the natural moral law that was internal to all persons and to bring about conformity to this universal natural law for the good of all
John R. Franke, Barth for Armchair Theologians, Armchair Theologians Series (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006), 6.
The distinction between God’s decretive will and preceptive will guards two great doctrines: God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. We see both in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Peter preached in Jerusalem that Christ, “being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).
On the one hand, the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus was clearly against God’s preceptive will, for it was the murder of God’s righteous servant. On the other hand, the death of Christ fulfilled God’s decretive will, for all these things took place according to God’s plan.
This distinction also has enormous practical value for the Christian life. We must learn to distinguish between what God will do with our lives and what our duty is toward God. When we pray for God to teach us his will, we must seek to know our responsibility and be content to leave his plans for our future hidden in the secrecy of his wise decree.
God’s Word bridges the gap, for he adapts it to our capacities so that it nourishes us as rain and snow nourish the plants of the ground (Isa.55:10–11). The call to repentance is a call to faith in God’s Word: “Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live” (Isa.55:3).
Only when he hears God does the wicked man forsake both “his way” (self-determination) and “his thoughts” (rational autonomy), and “return unto the LORD” as the transcendent source of direction and wisdom (Isa.55:7).
The stress on faith lies not on the believing act, but on that which is believed. Thus Paul does not appeal to his audience ‘to have faith’, but rather he reminds the church at Corinth of the gospel, which he had preached and they had believed (1 Cor. 15:11).
Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflection on the Christian Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011), 606.
How precious it is to know God’s covenant, for all the forces of creation cannot move him from his determination to glorify his righteousness by keeping his word! Though we often do not understand God’s specific purposes in his works of providence, we may be assured that he is always working to fulfill his covenants in judgment and salvation, for he is righteous.
Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology: Revelation and God, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 269–270.767.817.
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