Reformed Blogging

I remembered back when I read the book by the late R.C. Sproul Sr. called "The Holiness of God". One of the chapters talked about God's justice. One line from the book says to be careful when you ask for justice - you might get it. How many times do I find myself really singing "Amazing Justice" instead of "Amazing Grace" never mind that I was forgiven of debt I couldn't pay? How many times have I really ignored the fact that I'm just a flawed human being in the need of God's grace to do right? Genesis 18:25 has Abraham talking about the Judge of the Earth doing right. Any truly saved person wouldn't want to punish the innocent along with the guilty. Such are poor standards today like in Communist countries or in Nazi Germany - the innocent suffered along with the wicked. Yet, one can also question God's justice such as the incident with the Tower of Siloam which caused 18 bystanders to die, or Pilate's massacre during the minis...

Mark 10:18 and Luke 18:19 have Jesus telling the rich young ruler, "Why do you call me? No one is good except God alone." I believe that the question was asked not because Jesus was not truly good but to show to the rich young ruler the need to be saved.  The doctrinal footnote says the following about God's goodness: Only God is completely good in His nature and actions. His goodness includes all the positive moral attributes, such as grace, patience, and kindness.  Illustration: When the rich young ruler called Jesus "Good Master", Jesus reminded him that only God could be properly referred to as "good". The good that exists in the world around us truly reflects or expresses the goodness of God (Gen. 1:10). There is no other source of true "good". When God revealed His name to Moses, He described Himself as being abundant in goodness (Ex. 34:6).  The encounter with the rich young ruler has us thinking of our tendency to believe we can earn ...

I was doing some verse of the day reading with the Tecarta Study Bible. One footnote that I feel I wanted to write about today is about the Immutability of God. How is God immutable? The first verse that may come into my head is Malach 3:6 that has God declared that He doesn't change. The footnote also says that God is perfect meaning He can't get better or worse. The immutability of God is that He can't change His holy, perfect nature. What must be known is that God's immutability doesn't mean that he is immobile. God also has the qualities of personality and can act, think, create, and make decisions. For instance, God can change His mind but it's based on His immutability . God once decided to punish Nineveh during Jonah's time but decided to spare them after the Ninevites' repentance. The KJV uses the term that the LORD God repents such as in Genesis 6:6-7. We also read that the LORD repented in Exodus 32:14 of His plan to punish the idolatrous peop...

Isaiah 52-53 talks about the suffering of Christ. Isaiah 52:13 has a doctrinal footnote from the King James Study Bible called "Servant Of The Lord". This is how it's being described: Isaiah prophetically uses the title "Servant" to designate Christ, especially concerning His suffering for sin. That suffering is indeed as both vicarious (53:4-9) and victorious (53:10-12). The title "Servant of the Lord" emphasizes Christ's faithful obedience to the Father during His earthly ministry (cf. John 5:19). The Servant passages in Isaiah were some of the key texts used in preaching the gospel in the early days of Christianity (cf. Acts 8:32-35).    Illustration: In the New Testament, Christians described themselves as servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. This title conveyed their willignness to depend upon and completely obey God (cf. James 1:1).    Application: Christians today should also follow the example of the suffering Servant of the LORD, ...

Reading through Isaiah 40 has a doctrinal footnote from the "King James Study Bible" called "Freedom of God". The doctrine is stated as follows: Freedom of God: God is the only Being in the universe that possesses independence from the Creation. The only limits to God's freedom are in His own nature and attributes. He is unlimited in His existence. Because His existence relates to His nature rather than His will, God will exist forever. He who exists by reason His nature than His volition must have existed-and must continue to exist-forever.  Illustration: When God revealed His name to Moses at the burning bush, He called Himself "I AM" (Ex. 3:13-15). This name emphasizes God's self-existence, the fact that He always existed and always will.  Application: Neither anyone nor any outside force will affect God's relationship to us. He will deal with us according to His nature because He is free from outside influence. (First Reference: Genesis 6:1...

Currently, I'm on Proverbs 9 which has an interesting doctrinal footnote called "The Wisdom of God" from "The King James Study Bible". How is the wisdom of God defined in the footnotes? It's defines as follows: The "wisdom of God" is used in three senses in the Scriptures. First, it refers to the higher perspective by which God understands things that man is incapable of understanding (1 Corinthians 1:25). Second, it can refer to the understanding which a Christian should have in life (4:7). Also, wisdom is seen as a type of Christ who is our wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30). Illustration: When David said Abner died as a fool (2 Samuel 3:33), he meant that Abner died because he followed his own intuition rather than the wisdom of God, which would have saved him. he was killed as he turned aside in the gate of Hebron. Had he entered the city of refuge, as God had instructed. Application: A wise Christian will obey the wisdom of God. (First reference: Gen...

The King James Version Study Bible's footnote on the "Comparative Attributes of God" (found in Psalm 139) states the following: The comparative attributes of God contrast human abilities with the divine nature. Everyone has some knowledge but only God has all knowledge (omniscience). Everyone has presence but only God has presence at all times everywhere (omnipresence). Every person has some degree of power but only God has unlimited power (omnipotence). Illustration: Psalm 139 lays a foundation for understanding the comparative attributes. The omniscience of God is seen in verses 1-6. The omniscience of God is seen in verses 7-11. The omnipotence of God is seen in verses 12-16. This Psalm of David in itself is a faint glimpse of the true power of God. Nobody can truly comprehend the power of God to the fullest. Moses asked to see God but was warned that no man can see God and live (Exodus 33:19-23). What can be seen is simple that the Psalm provides a view of God's t...

It would be a good time to discuss the eternal Sonship of Christ as Christmas draws near this first day of December. I'm amazed at how anti-Catholic Arian cults read from the Bible but they don't believe in the Sonship of Christ. Some claim that it was just "invented by the papacy". That would be the fallacy of guilt by association such as saying that it would be wrong for born-again Christians to do feeding programs because Roman Catholics also do it. Roman Catholics also believe in the truth that God exists as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The anti-Catholic Arian cults have a vicious attack on the Trinity and say that Jesus was "just a man". However, even the Bible versions that the non-Catholic Arian cults use still say that Jesus is God! The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith says this about the Trinity: 3. In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eter...

The central theme of Leviticus is the holiness of God . One of the late R.C. Sproul Sr.'s books called "The Holiness of God" plays in that theme. At first, Leviticus is very hard to study for the reason that we're no longer under the Mosaic law. Murder, thievery, adultery, homosexuality, and everything under the moral law is still condemned. However, the ceremonial law such as not eating fish without fins and scales as well as not eating pork isn't applicable today. There was a special purpose behind the kosher laws of what to eat and what not to wear. I was only looking at it at a scientific viewpoint such as that mixing wool and cotton makes inferior fabric that could make you feel hotter than usual or that many of the unclean animals are, in fact, scavengers. However, Peter eventually had the vision where God declared the unclean animals were now ready for consumption in Acts 11:8. I'd still go against wearing mixed fabric for the reason it's not a good...