...oter) does not mean savior from the wrath of God in this context, but as in savior of daily life. Savior as providing our daily needs for the elect and non-elect alike. Just like the Lord Jesus taught in Matthew 5:45. But to those who believe He's the Savior who delivers us from the wrath to come and brings us together to the One we've ran from.

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... says, “They did not of themselves, or according to their own will, foolishly deliver their own inventions.”^[18] Rather, they prophesied and spoke the words of God when “they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” We should not be bothered or brought down just because we do not exactly know how this process of inspiration took place. It is supernatural and it is special, no doubt, but we should nonetheless believe the testimony of God about His Word. There are many mysteries to our faith as the Trinity, the true and full humanity and divinity of our Lord, absolute Sovereignty and responsibility, and so on, which we do not fully comprehend. Likewise, the Bible is a divine and human product.  

Therefore, in these two passages, 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21, we see clearly the divine authorship of the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament, and by necessary and plain implication, the New Testament.

The Words Of The Bible Are God’s

Not only do the words of 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21 testify to the fact that all the Bible is the Word of God, but Scripture elsewhere identifies words as words of God, which are not directly spoken by God. Therefore, not only words which are explicitly attributed to God are identified as the Word of God, but words also which are not spoken by God are attributed to God.

A search on the phrase “Thus says the Lord” delivers 415 results in the Old Testament. “Declares the Lord” delivers 344 results in the Old Testament. The formula “the word of the LORD came” is used 109 times in the Old Testament. Expressions similar to “the mouth of the LORD has spoken” occur 5 times. The Old Testament is filled with assertions about the divine origin of its content. We read a lot in the prophets that their prophecies are from the true God, rather than their own inventions. For the following section, I am heavily relying on Grudem’s chapter on the Authority of the Bible.

The Prophets Speak the Word of God

Balaam says in Numbers 22:38 that “The word that God puts in my mouth, that must I speak.” The prophet ought to function as the mouthpiece of God to the people. He is to speak the very words of God. Whatever they say on divine authority, are, in fact, God’s words. God is said to put words in the mouth of Jeremiah (Jer. 1:9). In contrast, the false prophets do not have the words of God and they have gone to the people without God sending them (Jer. 14:14; 23:16–22; 29:31–32). Ezekiel likewise receives a similar commission as Isaiah, and indeed to all the prophets (Deut. 18:18-20): “And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house” (Ezek. 2:7). The prophet is to speak the words of God to the people. That is his function and that is his sworn obligation, to communicate to the people the unadulterated Word of God. If the Lord speaks, the prophet is to speak, otherwise, he is to remain silent concerning a divine word. Amos 3:8 rhetorically asks, “The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?”

God Speaks by the Prophets

The “word of the LORD” is said to have been spoken “by his servant the prophet Ahijah” (1 Kgs. 14:18). The LORD likewise “spoke against Baasha by the prophet Jehu” (1 Kgs. 16:12); as He did speak “by Joshua son of Nun” (1 Kgs. 16:34); “his servant Elijah the Tishbite” (2 Kgs. 9:36); “his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet” (2 Kgs. 14:25); “he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (2 Chron. 10:15).

The “wo...

...by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

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—

The Holy God cannot stand in the presence of sinners, they will be consumed if He did. Yet for the glory of His grace, He had, in Christ, foreordained the salvation of a particular people. He had even in some way foreordained the Fall (see chapter 3 on God’s Sovereignty over evil). The means of restoring that relationship was for the Son of God to come down and bear the curse of the law on behalf of sinners.

Gal. 3:10-14 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Paul teaches us in this passage that the way we came free from the curse of the law is because the Lord Christ Himself became a curse for us. God cursed Him as if he was Someone who did not “abide by all things written in the Book of the Law” while we know that the contrary is the case! But for our sake, He became a curse (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21).

The Condemning Adamic Covenant

The Adamic Covenant of Works has no more the capacity to offer eternal life to those who obey it since only its condemning power is exercised now. The covenant is broken and what it now administers is the curse of the covenant. Furthermore, the Covenant of Works has no option of reparations or atonement. The Bible credits the existence of death and sin back to the disobedience of Adam (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21). That was the punishment for disobedience of the Adamic Covenant (Gen. 2:17). Therefore, since only the condemning power of the covenant was in work and not the life-giving power, the Lord had to make another covenant if He wanted people to have fellowship with Him. Dr. Samuel Renihan explains:

Adam’s breach of the covenant activated its curses, expelled him from the temple of God’s presence, and condemned him to death. This means that the covenant remains in force today in that its curse continues to apply to all of Adam’s offspring. But, the covenant does not remain in force today in the sense of promising life to those who obey its commands. The Covenant of Works depends on positive laws. It is much more than the moral law. And with no more Eden and no more sacramental trees, there are no more positive commands to obey. Furthermore, the Covenant of Works was made with a federal head, Adam, not his descendants. Therefore, the promise of the Covenant of Works is permanently shut up and abrogated.^[24]

This is where we come to the discussion of the Covenant of Grace, which will be taken in paragraph 3. The Covenant of Redemption is that to which we now turn, which is the basis for the Covenant of Grace.

The Covenant of Redemption

The Covenant of Redemption is basically the agreement between the Persons of the Blessed Trinity concerning the salvation of the elect. It is defi...

...;antichrist, but I do not believe that it is accurate to describe the Papacy as that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition.

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Christ, The Only Head

The Lord Jesus, not the Pope, is the head and cornerstone of the church. Only the Lord Jesus is said to be the head of the church in Scripture; not Peter, nor any other person. This is clearly seen in the prooftexts for this paragraph (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23). In Colossians 1:18, we learn that Christ is the Head over the church, which means that He is the supreme authority over His body, the church. He alone exercises unrestrained Sovereignty and rule over His Kingdom. Matthew Poole, after noting, first of all, the description of Christ as Creator of the World in the previous verses, then observes:

the apostle doth here speak of him with a special reference to his church, or the new creation, whereof he shows here, (as elsewhere: See Poole on “Eph 1:22,23”, with Eph 4:15, and Eph 5:23), that he is the Head and Governor, his chosen and called being the proper subjects of his special kingdom, the choice body, unto which he doth more peculiarly relate, Col 1:24, for the guiding and governing of it, he being that to it which the head is to the natural body, and more especially in the two former respects:

1. Of their union to God, which was chiefly designed and expressed in those words, who is the beginning, i.e. the first foundation or principle of their union to God, whereupon the first corner-stone of the church’s happiness is laid, he being the beginning of the second creation, as of the first, Rev 3:14. And: 

2. Of their restoration from sin and death, being brought into that first-designed happiness, which is the great intention of that union, as appears from the following expression, the firstborn from the dead, in a special distinction from the dead, here too of the creature, Col 1:15.^[24]

Christ, the Son of God alone deserves and has ascribed to Him this position of headship over the church, not Peter, nor the Papacy, nor any other person. Therefore, all teaching which seeks to put someone aside Christ as the Head or anyone with him, is anti-Christ. In Ephesians 1:22-23, Christ is described as Head over all the world, not only over the church. But the interesting part is that Christ as Head and sovereign over all things is given to the church. This means that His Sovereignty and headship are for the good of His body, the church. His bride whom He loved to death, even death on a cross and redeemed her from sin. It is Christ Who builds His Body by supplying His body with all the graces that are necessary for her nourishment. As a shepherd feeds his sheep, so Christ likewise feeds His sheep (cf. Eph. 5:25-32).

The Pope Of Rome, Antichrist

I don’t agree that the Pope is the antichrist, but he and his office are certainly an antichrist with his church because they have so degenerated from the way of Christ in many ways. By denying the people the peace of the gospel which comes by grace through faith in Christ, and not also by performing good works, the church of Rome has constituted itself a synagogue of Satan. I don’t believe that the Papacy is the ultimate manifestation of the antichrist (the beast, the man of sin). It was usual for the Reformers to think of the Roman Papacy as the antichrist and who can question that seeing how Rome persecuted the Reformers and was gone astray from the true gospel of Christ? Furthermore, the actions of the Roman Church ...