Psalm 45 Publications

It might come as a surprise to some that Calvin was not always in agreement with some of the positions that would later be subscribed to by the Westminster Confession of Faith. A notable example of this, which I recently came across, is his view on the Sabbath. Following are a few excerpts from his Institutes, as well as a few theses on the same topic that I had composed before, which I think are in essential agreement with Calvin. Continue Reading

It has been the custom of some to frame the opinion that the Old Testament law can have no prescriptive significance for the New Testament believer, on the basis of such passages as Galatians 3:23-25, which states, “… before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” On the other hand, many Christians, recognizing that some Old Testament prescriptions must have continuing force, and acknowledging as well that certain prescriptions, particularly as they relate to the worship cult, retain no overt prescriptive force for the Christian, have posited a threefold division in the Mosaic law, treating all commands under the headings of Civil, Ceremonial, and Moral; of which the latter alone remains prescriptive. Continue Reading

The sphere of discussion surrounding the questions of the existence and function of law and gospel in the Mosaic administration has long been a hotbed of theological debate. And among hotbeds of theological debate, this one is rendered more interesting by virtue of its being a very salient point of distinction between Lutheran and Reformed/Calvinistic theologies. On the one hand, we have Lutheran theologians positing a diametrically opposed relationship between (1) the law, which served as the non-negotiable condition for remaining in the old covenant, and which was utterly abolished at the coming of (2) the gospel, which replaced law as the unmeritorious mode of entrance into the new covenant, in continuity with the Abrahamic promise. Law and gospel, therefore, are essentially unlike methods of entering into a covenantal relationship with God, the one being a method of entrance by works into a covenant which is entirely conditional; and the other being a method of entrance by faith into an unconditional covenant. Continue Reading