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1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 15: Of Repentance Unto Life and Salvation - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 17,255 views | 8,593 words | 0:44:49 hours | 05 March 2015 18:55

...word" data-scayt-lang="en_US" data-scayt-word="2Tim"2 Tim. 2:25; c.f. Acts 20:21). This happens at conversion when God transfers us from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Christ. He grants us faith and repentance and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The Reformed understanding of the Ordo Salutis (Order of Salvation) is:

Election (Chapter 3)
Effectual Calling (chapter 10)
Regeneration (chapter 11)
Conversion (chapter 14 Of Saving Faith and chapter 15, the current one on repentance)
Justification (chapter 11)
Adoption (chapter 12)
Sanctification (chapter 13)
Perseverance (chapter 14)
Glorification

See this helpful picture by Tim Challies.

It is important to note that here we are speaking of the logical order of salvation and not how we experience salvation. In chapter 11, I argued for “Regeneration Precedes Faith”. From our experience, the new birth and faith in the Lord Jesus happened at the same time. So, when we speak of the Ordo Salutis, we do not mean the order in time, but logically. This has to do more with causation and which one is dependent on the other. Repentance is in stage four. Repentance and faith together constitute conversion and they describe what conversion consists in. There would not be a conversion if there was no regeneration. There would be no regeneration if there was no effectual calling. There would be no effectual calling if there was no sovereign election in eternity past. One is dependent upon the other and springs forth from the other.

§2 God has mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto salvation

Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not, 1 and the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them, with the prevalency of temptation, fall into great sins and provocations; 2 God hath, in the covenant of grace, mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto salvation. 3
1. Ps. 130:3; 143:2; Prov. 20:9; Eccl. 7:20
2. 2 Sam. 11:1-27; Luke 22:54-62
3. Jer. 32:40; Luke 22:31-32; 1 John 1:9

There is none that doth good and sinneth not; everyone sins (Ps. 130:3). This is the sad reality of fallen man and even of redeemed man. Even Christians, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them...fall into great sins (David’s adultery in 2 Sam. 11). Those who underestimate the power of sin will certainly fall into it. Sin is powerful and deceiving and it calls us back to itself because it wants us to be its slaves again. But this is the good news when we fall into sin: God hath, in the covenant of grace, mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto salvation (Jer. 32:40; 1 John 1:8-9). We are not saved again, but we are renewed and are back in a harmonious relationship with God. The promise of 1 John 1:9 is very dear to me: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” What a gracious and an amazing God we serve. He saved us from all kinds of corruptions and sins, forgiving it completely and keeps to forgive and renew us!

Paragraph 1 dealt with unbelievers turning to Christ, now paragraph 2 deals with Christians turning back to Christ after sin and restoring their relationship to their merciful Savior.

Forgiveness

Christians can testify that they sin daily and seek God’s forgiveness for...

Welcome To The Staunch Calvinist

Simon Wartanian | 15,473 views | 547 words | 0:02:57 hours | 08 March 2014 16:57

Calvinism Absolute Sovereignty Of God Reformed Theology Reformed Baptist 1689 Baptist Confession Calvinist Baptist

Welcome to The Staunch Calvinist. This is a place where Calvinistic Theology will be displayed. A place where the Doctrines of Grace will be explained and defended. This is a place where the Sovereignty of God is cherished and promoted. We hope you will be ministered to through the material on the website. Our goal is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and honor Him. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:14

The following document may help you to understand the Biblical case for ‘Calvinism’: God’s Absolute Sovereignty – A case for Calvinism.

I have two sections dedicated to the Doctrines of Grace: defining the Doctrines of Grace & defending the Doctrines of Grace, which are taken from the document above. In the general section, you will find some book reviews and the resources from which I mainly drew the content of the “God’s Absolute Sovereignty” document.

As a Reformed Baptist, I started the 1689 Confession section wherein I seek to explain the chapters and make a biblical case for what is said on a particular subject. As of 18/09/2016, the commentary is complete:

Of the Holy Scriptures
Of God and the Holy Trinity (the attributes of God and a case for the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity)
Of God’s Decree (I make a case for predestination, election, reprobation and absolute sovereignty even over evil and sin)
Of Creation
Of Divine Providence
Of the Fall of Man, Of Sin, And of the Punishment Thereof (Total Depravity)
Of God’s Covenant (1689 Federalism)
Of Christ the Mediator (including a case for the Substitutionary Atonement, Active and Passive Obedience of Christ, Definite Atonement and answers to passages used against the doctrine)
Of Free Will (with the help of Jonathan Edwards, the consistency of moral agency being found in carrying one’s desires, the inconsistencies of libertarian free will, explanation of necessity and inability)
Of Effectual Calling (with a case for infant salvation)
Of Justification (faith is a gift and regeneration precedes faith)
Of Adoption
Of Sanctification
Of Saving Faith
Of Repentance Unto Life and Salvation
Of Good Works
Of The Perseverance Of The Saints (A positive case for the Reformed doctrine and responses to passages such as Hebrews 6 and the like)
Of The Assurance Of Grace And Salvation
Of The Law Of God (Threefold Division of the Law, the Decalogue before Moses, a brief exposition of the Decalogue, ceremonial and civil laws, the abiding moral law under the New Covenant in the OT prophecy and the NT, Threefold Uses of the Law, The Law and the Gospel)
Of The Gospel, And Of The Extent Of The Grace Thereof
Of Christian Liberty And Liberty of Conscience
Of Religious Worship And the Sabbath Day (A case for the Regulative Principle of Worship and the Christian Sabbath)
Of Lawful Oaths And Vows
Of The Civil Magistrate
Of Marriage
Of The Church
Of the Communion of Saints
Of Baptism And The Lord’s Supper
Of Baptism
Of The Lord’s Supper
Of The State Of Man After Death And Of The Resurrection Of The Dead (Intermediate State Hades, Sheol, Heaven; A Case for Amillennial Eschatology; critique of Premillennialism)
Of The Last Judgment (Endless punishment in Hell contra Annihilationism)

...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 6: Of the Fall of Man, Of Sin, And of the Punishment Thereof - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 19,570 views | 7,955 words | 0:42:14 hours | 04 March 2015 21:18

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 6 Fall Of Man Sin Condemnation Total Depravity Total Inability Original Sin Federal Headship

...ever “unfair” (Deut. 32:4; Gen. 18:25; Job 34:10). None of us would have done otherwise if we were in their shoes, being tempted by the deceiver. Because of Adam and Eve’s transgression of God’s Law, the guilt of sin is imputed (attributed) to all their posterity and also the punishment, hence even children die (that’s the punishment of disobedience). This is not to imply that all children go to Hell anymore than to say that the reason that Christians die is that God is punishing them (see Chapter 31 for more on this subject and chapter 10 on infant salvation). The corrupted nature was carried over, transmitted, transported and imparted to all his descendants coming by “ordinary generation” (excluding the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was the seed of the woman, not man and conceived by the Holy Spirit).

This doctrine of Original Sin or the Federal Headship of Adam is best seen in Romans 5:12-21. Let’s take a look at Romans 5:12:

Rom. 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Here we see the entrance of sin into the world through Adam and by the breaking of God’s law, came the punishment upon sin–death (Gen. 2:16-17). Because of that disobedience and having Adam as the representative, all sinned. This is not referring to people actually committing sin, but this refers to all who were in Adam or had Adam as their covenant head. In the mind of God, when he sinned, they sinned. This is confirmed by the fact that people die not (necessarily, or always) because of their personal sin, but because of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:15). Death was the penalty for Adam’s transgression and thus it is imputed and transferred to all his descendants. This is seen in the tragic death of many infants who have not yet sinned themselves, but are born sinful in Adam and receive his punishment–death. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23), why would “sinless” babies die? Some may want to say that death is just natural in the world, no, it’s not. From a secular point of view, it obviously is, but not from a biblical view. Death came through man. It was not there when God created a “very good” creation (Rom. 5:12, 15, 17; Gen. 1:31). The verse is best understood to refer to the fact that when Adam sinned, we sinned in him. Wayne Grudem notes the following:

The aorist indicative verb hēmarton in the historical narrative indicates a completed past action. Here Paul is saying that something happened and was completed in the past, namely, that “all men sinned.” But it was not true that all men had actually committed sinful actions at the time that Paul was writing, because some had not even been born yet, and many others had died in infancy before committing any conscious acts of sin. So Paul must be meaning that when Adam sinned, God considered it true that all men sinned in Adam.^[2]

John MacArthur says the following on Romans 5:12 –

5:12 just as sin came. Not a particular sin, but the inherent propensity to sin entered the human realm; men became sinners by nature. Adam passed to all his descendants the inherent sinful nature he possessed because of his first disobedience. That nature is present from the moment of conception (Ps. 51:5), making it impossible for man to live in a way that pleases God. Satan, the father of sin (1 John 3:8), first brought temptation to Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1-7). through one man. When Adam sinned, all mankind sinned in his loins (Rom....

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 9: Of Free Will - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 19,958 views | 16,462 words | 1:25:57 hours | 04 March 2015 21:41

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 9 Chapter Nine Free Will Libertarian Free Will Determinism Fatalism Compatibilism Incompatibilism Moral Agency Jonathan Edwards The Freedom Of The Will

... we are endued with. The second thing that the Confession mentions in connection to this natural liberty is that the will is not determined by nature. By nature, the Confession is referring to the natural world or what we call the laws of nature. There are no physical or natural laws forcing man to do good or evil. But as we will soon discover, another kind of nature is important for the will, that is, the nature of man.

God Ordains Human Actions

It is clear from Chapter 3 that God is sovereign and ordains even human actions. Therefore, the freedom spoken of here is not autonomous freedom. Chapter 3:1 says:

God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree. (See commentary)

His sovereignty, orchestration and ordaining extends to all things whatsoever comes to pass, the good and the bad. Chapter 5 which speaks of God’s providence is even clearer on this:

The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his providence, that his determinate counsel extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions both of angels and men; and that not by a bare permission, which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth and governeth, in a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts proceedeth only from the creatures, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.

If even the evil actions of men are under His control, how much more the good actions? For the case that God ordains and is sovereign even over the evil actions of men and yet holds them accountable, see Chapter 3 section 1 where I try to argue just that from the biblical texts. Consistent with what the Confession said in chapters 3 and 5, the freedom spoken by the 1689 is not a freedom of will from God’s sovereignty, but freedom of will within God’s sovereign decree.

Edwards on the Will

R.C. Sproul, in Willing to Believe, presents Augustine as having taught the following four conditions of the will:

Posse non peccare is the possibility not to sin. This is what Adam and Eve had when they were originally created by God.
Posse peccare is the possibility to sin. This Adam and Eve also had prior to the Fall.
Non posse non peccare is the impossibility not to sin. These all the descendants of Adam until freed by Christ have.
Non posse peccare is the impossibility to sin. This is what those in Christ will have in the eternal state.

Points 1 and 2 concern the State of Innocence (paragraph 2). Point 3 is for those under the State of Sin (paragraph 3). Point 4 is for the State of Glory (paragraph 5). Those who are redeemed in Christ are yet not fixed in any one point, but find themselves in points 1-3.

The Nature and Determination of the Will (Part I, section I-II)

But what is freedom in the Calvinistic sense, then? What do we mean when we speak of freedom of choice? Many agree that none better than Edwards has defended the Freedom...

Extensive review of Jonathan Menn's Biblical Eschatology

Simon Wartanian | 5,119 views | 12,397 words | 1:05:40 hours | 09 February 2022 21:11

Book Reivew Jonathan Menn Eschatology Amillennialism Dispensationalism Millennium

...ly to the form of the promise.” (p. 13).

At this point, we have articulated the principle that the best interpreter of the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Whatever the New Testament says is the fulfillment of a text in the Old Testament, that is the best interpretation of a text in the Old Testament. Sometimes, it may seem weird for us how the authors of the New Testament interpret a particular passage, but since the Holy Spirit was present with the prophets as well as the apostles, we know that the apostolic interpretation is correct.

Old Testament eschatology

The Latter Days

After discussing prophecy and apocalyptic, Chapter 3 moves to the “Old Testament Eschatological Expectations and the Significance of Christ’s First Coming.” The Old Testament contains many eschatological themes, but it is difficult to bring them into a coherent whole. One unifying aspect of the eschatological expectations is summed up under the “latter days” statements. For example (pp. 20-21):

“Shiloh” will come from Judah (Gen 49:1, 10).
A star and scepter shall come from Israel (Num 24:14, 17).
Israel will return to the Lord and listen to his voice (Deut 4:30).
Israel will act corruptly, provoke the Lord, and evil will befall it (Deut 31:29).
The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established and the nations will stream to it (Isa 2:2).
The anger of the Lord will not turn back (Jer 23:20).
The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has accomplished his intent (Jer 30:24).
God will restore the fortunes of Moab (Jer 48:47).
God will restore the fortunes of Elam (Jer 49:39).
Gog will come against Israel (Ezek 38:1–16).
Four kingdoms will arise and then God will set up his kingdom (Dan 2:28–45; 8:17–25).
Out of the Greek empire different kings will arise, fight, and control Israel (Dan 11:35–45).
Many will be purged and refined but the wicked will act wickedly (Dan 12:4–10).
Israel will return and seek the Lord (Hos 3:5).

The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established and the peoples will stream to it (Mic 4:1).

Some of the “latter day” statements do not appear to be about the end of the world, but unspecified time in the future of the author. Dr. Menn cites Geerhardus Vos who explains that acherith hayamin (“latter days” in Hebrew) is “elastic as to its extent, no less than movable as to its position. It covers . . . unfavorable and favorable happenings occurring in the farthest visible plane to which the prophetic vision extends, and there is not clear marking of the sequence of these in time. . . . Sometimes points are mentioned as falling within the ‘acherith,’ sometimes a condensation of events occupying apparently a certain stretch of time.” (p. 20)

Besides the “latter day” statements we have various eschatological themes like:

a new exodus (the remnant: Isa 43:1–7, 15–21; 48:20–21; 49:24–26; 51:9–11; 52:1–12; Jer 23:7–8; 30:4–11
...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 5: Of Divine Providence - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 15,108 views | 5,231 words | 0:28:11 hours | 04 March 2015 21:17

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 5 Sovereignty Providence Compatibilism Calvinism

...://heraldofgrace.org/the-london-baptist-confession-of-faith-exposition-of-chapter-5/">The London Baptist Confession of Faith | Exposition of Chapter 5. Herald of Grace. ...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 2: Of God and of the Holy Trinity - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 25,814 views | 28,880 words | 2:33:55 hours | 04 March 2015 20:55

The Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Chapter 2 God Trinity Attributes Of God Immutability Repentance Of God Love Of God Justice Of God Spirituality Of God Monotheism

...means; and in this case the means of averting the wrath of God was the urgent intercessions of Moses, who, as the ‘elect’-the leader chosen by Yahweh to accomplish in subserviency to His direction the great work of His people’s deliverance and legislation-`stood in the breach before Him, to turn back His wrath from destroying’ (Psa 106:23).^[20]

God ordains the ends as well as the means to the end (Chapter 3, paragraph 6). The ends were that Israel would be spared and the promises made to the Patriarchs fulfilled. The intercession of Moses, in light of the people’s conduct, was the necessary means thereto. Critics of Reformed Theology often ignore the means in relation to God’s sovereignty, which we, Reformed people, stress very much.

Most importantly, we should not miss the Christological significance of this text. This passage points ultimately to the intercession of Christ before the Father on behalf of the elect. Christ stands before the Father, holding back His judgment against His people, taking their punishment upon Himself as their Substitute. The Lord did bring judgment upon Israel; 3000 people were killed by the Levites at the command of the Lord (Ex. 32:28), but He did not bring a total judgment because of Moses’ intercession. The point of this narrative is to teach about intercessory prayer and not to teach us that God changes His mind when we come up with a brilliant idea as if God needs the councils of men. Shane Lems writes on the application of this passage, saying:

Application: God has stooped down to show us that prayer in accordance with his will is effective. Exodus 32:14 teaches us, through Moses’ intercession and mediation, that God shows mercy to sinners. “You in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness” (Neh. 9:19). In this anthropomorphic and accommodated way, God illustrates that he shows mercy to sinners. And this, in turn, points us to Jesus’ intercession and mediation, which appeases God’s just wrath for those who trust in him. God is not inviting us to peer into his secret counsel in Exodus 32:14, but he is pointing us to himself as revealed in his Son, whom Moses typified.^[21]

Of Christ, it is said that the Father always hears Him (John 11:42) and that by His intercession “he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him” (Heb. 7:25). His intercession is also connected to His atoning work on behalf of His people (Rom. 8:32). Those for whom He dies, He also intercedes to save. So, as God listened to Moses and relented of the disaster which He pronounced, so, all the more will the Lord listen to Christ’s intercession for His people.

To maintain that Scripture teaches that God changes in His nature, plans, purposes, or will, is to ignore the plain, straightforward, unqualified, and didactic teaching on the immutability of God in both testaments, both explicit and by implication. Passages which seem to teach a change of mind in God must be interpreted either as 1) conditional warnings, and not actual prophecies of judgment; 2) anthropopathisms, that is, attribution of human passions and emotions to God; or 3) accommodation, that is, God stoops low to speak to us in a way that we can understand.

The Spirituality of God

“God is spirit” means that He is immaterial, invisible and immortal. He is not limited by space. He is not a man who has body parts, but He chose to enter into His creation as a man (Phil. 2:5-11). When we are told that we are created i...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 14,534 views | 7,284 words | 0:38:12 hours | 05 March 2015 19:23

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Assurance Of Grace And Salvation Assurance Of Salvation Eternal Security Perseverance Of The Saints Assurance Of Heaven

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Chapter 18: Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvation

In many ways, this chapter depends on the previous chapter about the Perseverance of the Saints and we concluded in the previous chapter that the doctrine is indeed biblical. If eternal security is biblical for those who are regenerate and have true faith, may we conclude that God is willing that they have the assurance of salvation and have confidence that they will be with God forever? The answer of this chapter is “yes.” The majority of texts for the doctrine of perseverance, at the same time, are texts about the assurance that we are called to have in Scripture, therefore, I will reference the exegesis of the relevant texts in the previous chapter.

§1 Although temporary believers, and other unregenerate men, may vainly deceive themselves

Although temporary believers, and other unregenerate men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favour of God and state of salvation, which hope of theirs shall perish; 1 yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. 2
1. Job 8:13, 14; Jer. 17:9; Matt. 7:21-23; Luke 18:10-14; John 8:41; Eph. 5:6-7; Gal. 6:3, 7-9^[1]
2. Rom. 5:2, 5; 8:16; 1 John 2:3; 3:14, 18-19, 24; 5:13; 2 Peter 1:10

Chapter 14 on faith also talks about temporary believers (chapter 14:3), but this time the Confession speaks about them in connection with assurance. As their faith was false and carnal, so their assurance is likewise false. They vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions (John 8:41; Gal. 6:3, 7-9). This is the greatest self-deception and most terrifying thing, namely, to think that you are in right-standing with God, but in truth, you are not. This is a perishable hope.

But there is true hope and a true assurance. This is for them that truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity. They are described as those endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him (Rom. 7:24-25). They desire and try to walk uprightly before God. They are not they that deceive themselves with false hopes, but seek to obey and please God from the heart. These may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace (1 John 5:13). How beautiful is the phrase certainly assured! We may have certainty and assurance of our being in the state of grace and at peace with God. Those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity...may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:2). This is nothing like the false hopes which the unregenerate entertain, but it is a hope which shall never make them ashamed (Rom. 5:5).

Temporary Believers

The Confession starts first with a word of warning, namely, a warning about false believers. These false believers are said to be “temporary believers” and are “unregenerate men.” They do have assurance, but a vain and false assurance. The temporary believers are the seeds that fell on the rock in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:13). They fell away from their profession because they had no true faith in them which is by nature lasting (1 John 2:19). Their faith was merely feel-good and not borne out sincere love for God and hatred for sin (repentance). Nowhe...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 4: Of Creation - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 18,656 views | 6,589 words | 0:34:34 hours | 04 March 2015 21:12

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Chapter 4 Creation Young Earth Creationism Image Of God Imago Dei

... or not. He creates these things by His will so that they would bring glory and honor to Him. In Proverbs 16:4, we read, “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” Everything that God created, He created with its assigned purpose. It is He Who gives everything its purpose. It is not to be thought that the created things gave themselves a purpose. That is absurd. He has even created the wicked for a purpose, namely, a purpose of destruction and punishment (see more in Chapter 3 on Reprobation). All things exist and were created to display His glory in one way or another. The people of God are said to be that sons and daughters of God who were created for His glory, and they are called by His holy Name (Isa. 43:6-7). In Colossians 1:16, we read:

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

The Son of God was not only the Agent of Creation, but He was the goal of Creation. Not only were all things that were created, created by Him and through Him, but also for Him. Do not miss this bit. The reason that the Creation exists is for the Son—for His pleasure and for His glory. Everything is set up and is created for the praise of Jesus’ glory. Such is the Father’s good pleasure that the Son may be glorified in all things, just like the Father (John 5:22-23).

Even salvation has the glory of God as its end and goal. Three times in Ephesians 1 we are told that we have been predestined and saved “to the praise of his glorious grace” (Eph. 1:6) and “to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12, 14). See also Isaiah 43:7; 60:21; 61:3; Psalm 143:11; Ezekiel 36:21-22; 39:7; Ephesians 3:9-10.

In Romans 9:22-23, it is said:

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

God will display both the glory of His justice and wrath in bringing just punishment upon the reprobate, as He will glorify Himself in the riches of His glory for the elect. Proverbs 16:4 says, “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” Romans 9:17 says of Pharaoh, ‘For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”’

All things were created and exist to glorify God and God will glorify Himself in all things, no doubt!

See also John Piper, Why Did God Create the World?

The Days

This controversy concerning the days of Genesis started with Augustine, I believe. He believed that God basically made everything in a moment, as time means nothing to an Eternal God. But many have taken Augustine’s position and pointed to it to “excuse” or “support” their radical departure from a straightforward reading of Genesis. What can we learn from the Bible about the days of creation? I believe that a straightforward reading of the account will give us nothing apart from 6 days of God’s work in creating everything and the 7^th day for rest. But this has been challenged by the rise of secular theories of origin, and some Christians have been comfortable to come up with all sort of ways to make the Bible fit with “scienc...

1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 16: Of Good Works - Commentary

Simon Wartanian | 13,998 views | 8,785 words | 0:46:07 hours | 05 March 2015 18:58

The 1689 Second Baptist Confession Of Faith Confession Commentary Reformed Baptist Good Works Fruits Of Salvation

... obey God. Rather, all true believers will seek to obey God and walk in the same blameless way as the Lord Jesus did. We know that we fall, we repent and stand up again. But we do not walk our lives in disobedience, for if we continually do that, then it will be manifest that we know Him not. By obeying the Lord in deed and truth, we do not think of ourselves as self-righteous, because we know whatever good comes from our works is the result of God’s sovereign will which moves us to do those things (e.g. Phil. 2:12-13; Heb. 13:20-21; Eph. 2:10). But rather we acknowledge that God is at work in us to do His pleasure and give glory alone to the One to Whom glory belongs.

In Chapter 3 we read:

1 John 3:18-20 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

Again, the same idea is present as in the previous passage. We are called to love in deed and truth. We are to display love by speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15), but also in doing deeds of love. Through these deeds, the Lord by grace assures us that we belong to Him, as we are bearing fruits in keeping with repentance (Luke 3:9; Acts 26:20) and walking in His commandments. But even if we feel condemned, God is greater than our hearts and it is He Who truly and faithfully weighs our works (1 Sam. 2:3). See also 2 Peter 1:5-11 where Peter lays our fruits which confirm and make sure our calling and election (see more on this passage here). We don’t get called and elected because of them, but they testify to the fact that we have been elected and called.

They Edify Our Brethren

Good works edify our brothers and sisters in Christ. They help them in need and they move them to glorify our common Lord and Savior for the fruits He brings in our lives. We look back at Matthew 5:16 which we wrote about earlier. There, we read about people who will glorify our God because of our works. Certainly, some of those will be believers. But also in v. 15, when the Lord speaks about the lamp which signifies our good works, there at the end of the verse He says that the lamp “gives light to all in the house.” That means that more people are affected by our good works, than us alone. We affect also our environment. As Martin Luther somewhere has said, God does not need our good works, but our neighbors do.

In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul speaks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to each individual Christian and notes that the goal of all the gifts is to build and edify the body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:3, 5, 6, 12, 26). Therefore, everything that is done in the Church should be done with the goal to build and not tear down. I believe one important example of works helping and edifying the brethren is Philemon’s works described by Paul:

Phlm. 1:4-7 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

God is rightly to be thanked for every good thing He works in us, because “Every good gift and every ...