Worldview of the Western World II

1. Worldview of the Western World II

2. THE WESTMINSTERCONFESSI0N OF FAITH • In the opinion of B.B. Warfield, The Westminster Confession and The Shorter Catechism are not only the most thoroughly thought-out statement ever penned of the elements of evangelical religion' but also one which breathes the finest fragrance of spiritual religion.' The Westminster Confession is unrivalled as a faithful and concise expression of God's revelation in Scripture. • Quine’s introduction is found at the following web site: • http://www.pcanet.org/general/cof_origin.htm

3. THE WESTMINSTERCONFESSI0N OF FAITH • Excerpts • The Bible passages listed below are footnotes to The Westminster Confession. Read the passages thoughtfully and look for similar ideas. Combine the thoughts from each footnote into one complete idea. If after reading each section of The WestminsterConfession, you find any portion that does not reflect your understanding of the Scripture, then state your belief and give Bible referencesin support of your belief. • Three examples are given to help you get Started. • The footnotes are grouped together accordingto the thought composing the confession.

4. THE WESTMINSTERCONFESSI0N OF FAITH PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURAL FOOTNOTES TOCHAPTER I: OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE • I. [1]Romans 2:14-15; 1:19-20; Psalms 19:1-3; Romans 1:32; 2:1 • Because man's conscience [Romans 2:14, 15], the creation [Romans 1:19, 20], and nature [Psalms 19:1-3] all point to a knowledge of God, man is without excuse [Romans 1:32; 2:1]. [2]I Corinthians 1:21; 2:13 - 14 • Man, reasoning from himself, is unable to come to a true knowledge of God, but God was well pleased to explain what was necessary to be saved. [3]Hebrews 1:1, 2 • God has gone to great effort to explain Himself throughout all history - first through the prophets and finally through His Son.

5. THE WESTMINSTERCONFESSI0N OF FAITH Romans 2:11-15 (NASB95)11 For there is no partiality with God.12 For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law;13 for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves,15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, • What follows are thoughts on the Westminster Confession. • 1.     Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; (Rom. 2:14–15, Rom. 1:19–20, Ps. 19:1–3, Rom. 1:32, Rom. 2:1) yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation. (1 Cor. 1:21, 1 Cor. 2:13–14)

6. THE WESTMINSTERCONFESSI0N OF FAITH • Holy Scripture to be most necessary; (2 Tim. 3:15, 2 Pet. 1:19) those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased. (Heb. 1:1–2) • What happened after the crucifixion? When was Pentecost, and when were the gifts of the Spirit given?

7. World History (291-94) • See notes under the section of the Reformation DVD and PDF files

8. Revolutions WV (226-35) • Calvin was a 2nd generation reformer • Had an all pervasive worldview • Applied Sola Scriptura more consistently • Was a humanist scholar, his 1st work on Seneca • One of the greatest expositors and commentators on the Bible • The Epistemology of Calvin was based on God’s self revelation in Scripture. • Man has a sensus divinitatis “awareness of God” • And a semen religionis “seed of religion” • The Bible serves as reading glasses to bring to our minds what we could not understand • Our response to the knowledge of God is worship and piety • The Sovereignty of God was central to Calvin’s theology. • Most consistent Biblical worldview in the reformed tradition • God is Lord of all: temporal and spiritual • Redemption is entirely of God’s sovereign electing grace • Saving faith is a gift of God • The Church and Society • Invisible church of true believers, the visible was a mix of wheat and tares • True church celebrates the Lord’s Supper, baptism, and preaching the Word • Presbyterian government which influenced later democracies • Covenant between rulers and their subjects, and rulers and God

9. Ephesians 2:8 • Eph 2:8th|/ ga.r ca,riti, evste sesw|sme,noi dia. pi,stewj\ kai. tou/to ouvk evx u`mw/n( qeou/ to. dw/ron for by grace you are saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of GodThis is the most debated text in terms of the antecedent of the demonstrative pronoun, tou/to. The standard interpretations include: (1) “grace” as anteced­ent, (2) “faith” as antecedent, (3) the concept of a grace-by-faith salvation as antecedent, and (4) kai. tou/to having an adverbial force with no antecedent (“and especially”). • The first and second options suffer from the fact that tou/to is neuter while ca,riti and pi,stewj are feminine. Some have argued that the gender shift causes no problem because (a) there are other examples in Greek literature in which a neuter demonstrative refers back to a noun of a different gender,51 and (b) the tou/to has been attracted to the gender of dw/ron, the predicate nomina­tive. These two arguments need to be examined together. • While it is true that on rare occasions there is a gender shift between antecedent and pronoun, the pronoun is almost always caught between two nouns of dif­ferent gender. One is the antecedent; the other is the predicate nom. In Acts 8:10, for example (ou-to,j evstin h` du,namij tou/ qeou/), the pronoun is masculine because its antecedent is masculine, even though the predicate nom. is femi­nine. In Matt 13:38 inverse attraction takes place (the pronominal subject is attracted to the gender of the predicate nom.): to. de. kalo.n spe,rma( ou-toi, eivsin oi` ui`oi. th/j basilei,aj (“the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom”).52 The construction in Eph 2:8, however, is not parallel because dw/ron is not the predicate nom. of tou/to, but of the implied “it” in the • page 335

10. Ephesians 2:8 • following clause. On a grammatical level, then, it is doubtful that either “faith” or “grace” is the ante­cedent of tou/to. • More plausible is the third view, viz., that tou/to refers to the concept of a grace-by-faith salvation. As we have seen, tou/to regularly takes a conceptual antecedent. Whether faith is seen as a gift here or anywhere else in the NT is not addressed by this.53 • A fourth view is that kai. tou/to is adverbial, though this view has surprisingly made little impact on the exegetical literature.54 If adverbial, kai. tou/to is intensive, meaning “and at that, and especially,” without having any anteced­ent. It focuses on the verb rather than on any noun. In 3 John 5 we see this usage: pisto.n poiei/j o] eva.n evrga,sh| eivj tou.j avdelfou.j kai. tou/to xe,nouj55(“you do a faithful [deed] whenever you render service for the brothers, and especially [when you do it] for strangers”). If this is the force in Eph 2:8, the text means “for by grace you are saved through faith, and [you are saved] especially not by your own doing; it is the gift of God.” • The issues here are complex and cannot be solved by grammar alone. Never­theless, syntactical considerations do tend toward one of the latter two views.56

11. MacArthur Eph 2:8 • Our response in salvation is faith, but even that is not of ourselves [but is] the gift of God. Faith is nothing that we do in our own power or by our own resources. In the first place we do not have adequate power or resources. More than that, God would not want us to rely on them even if we had them. Otherwise salvation would be in part by our own works, and we would have some ground to boast in ourselves. Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God’s giving it. • Some have objected to this interpretation, saying that faith (pistis) is feminine, while that (touto) is neuter. That poses no problem, however, as long as it is understood that that does not refer precisely to the noun faith but to the act of believing. Further, this interpretation makes the best sense of the text, since if that refers to by grace you have been saved through faith (that is, to the whole statement), the adding of and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God would be redundant, because grace is defined as an unearned act of God. If salvation is of grace, it has to be an undeserved gift of God. Faith is presented as a gift from God in 2 Peter 1:1, Philippians 1:29, and Acts 3:16. • John MacArthur, Ephesians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996, c1986). 60.

12. LACTANTIUS (c. 240-c. 320) • Christian apologist and historian; most frequently reported of the Latin Fathers of the Church • Very little is known about Lactantius’s life. Born probably in North Africa, and said to have been a pupil of Arnobius, he was in mid-life appointed by the emperor Diocletian as a teacher of rhetoric in Nicomedia, the imperial capital. After Diocletian began to persecute Christians, Lactantius returned to the West about 305. • His Divinae institutiones (seven volumes, c. 304-313), his principal work, is hailed as the first systematic Latin account of the Christian attitude toward life. It combats polytheism as the basis of all errors, identifies the demons as the source of error, and exposes the frailty of philosophy. The latter part of the work discusses fundamental ethical ideas, the proper way of worshiping God, and immortality. Although he was later called the "Christian Cicero" by Pico della Mirandola, Lactantius’s theology was considered somewhat superficial, perhaps because he became a Christian only in mature years. Other works of his that have survived include De Ira Dei, which upholds God’s punitive justice, and De Mortibus persecutorium, a product of his last years, which is a valuable historical source, though criticized for having dwelt overmuch on the terrible fates of persecuting emperors. About 317 Lactantius evidently came out of retirement to tutor Crispus, son of the emperor Constantine. • J. D. Douglas, Philip Wesley Comfort and Donald Mitchell, Who's Who in Christian History (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1997, c1992).