As I'm working through Romans 8 right now, it is a good time to (indeed, Romans forces us to) consider the relationship between law and gospel, or law and grace. Some truths from Romans that need to be kept together:
1. The law--God's law--is good (7:12). It is Spiritual (with a capital S, i.e. it is of the Spirit of God, 7:14).
2. By works of the law no one will be justified (declared righteous) in God's sight (3:20).
3. Justification is a gift of God's grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (3:24); and it is based on the righteousness of Christ received by faith (3:22), not on the law.
4. God's purpose is for the requirement of the law to be fulfilled in us, his people (8:4).
5. The law is weakened by the flesh (i.e. our sinful disposition, 8:3), so that we cannot by nature keep it (see 2.).
6. But when we are made alive by the Spirit, we can submit to God's law (implication of 8:7) and thereby please God (implication of 8:8), both of which are very good things.
Here is a quote from John Murray: "We must guard grace from the adulteration of legalism and we must guard law from the depredations of antinomianism." (Principles of Conduct, p. 182; "antinomianism" is the belief that the law is no longer to guide Christians).
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Blog Worth Following
Recently I got onto Tim Challies' blog. After a few weeks, I will recommend it to you (the few of you who read this, but then, perhaps you have people you can pass it on to :)). You can find it at challies.com. Challies is the guy who wrote the book The Next Story, about technology; I posted about that book in May of last year.
The last few days Challies has had an interview with R.C. Sproul. Nothing earth-shattering there, but some good thoughts by a thoughtful man. Well worth a read.
The last few days Challies has had an interview with R.C. Sproul. Nothing earth-shattering there, but some good thoughts by a thoughtful man. Well worth a read.
Friday, July 13, 2012
We're Back!
Well, we're back from the "large country in east Asia." There are many things to say about that; if you are in Reading, we are going to do at least two presentations at Covenant Church during the month of August.
In the meantime, I want to encourage you to read a book that came out not long ago: Escape from Camp 14. It is the account of a young man who was born (!) in a North Korean prison camp; and as far as anyone knows, he is the only one born in a prison camp ever to escape. It is at times a brutal read. But especially, if you ever feel like you are not getting a fair shake out of life, read this book.
While in said "large country in East Asia" I encountered one man who said he was from N. Korea. He was asking for food and money (we gave him food and about $1.60).
We were about 100 miles as the crow flies, give or take, from North Korea's "Camp 22," a prison camp the size of Los Angeles. N. Korea is very committed to its prison camps. If you don't know much about it, Escape from Camp 14 is a good, very readable, and not too long place to start. By the way, my copy is from the library; it is available in the Berks County Library system.
In the meantime, I want to encourage you to read a book that came out not long ago: Escape from Camp 14. It is the account of a young man who was born (!) in a North Korean prison camp; and as far as anyone knows, he is the only one born in a prison camp ever to escape. It is at times a brutal read. But especially, if you ever feel like you are not getting a fair shake out of life, read this book.
While in said "large country in East Asia" I encountered one man who said he was from N. Korea. He was asking for food and money (we gave him food and about $1.60).
We were about 100 miles as the crow flies, give or take, from North Korea's "Camp 22," a prison camp the size of Los Angeles. N. Korea is very committed to its prison camps. If you don't know much about it, Escape from Camp 14 is a good, very readable, and not too long place to start. By the way, my copy is from the library; it is available in the Berks County Library system.
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