Reformation Day

In honor of Reformation Day and the 498th anniversary of Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, I would like to share my favorite quotes from Martin Luther, a few posts I have written concerning some of his theological statements, and a few of his works.

These are my two favorite quotes from Luther, and I think the reasons will be obvious:

"A Christian man is a most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to every one." ~ Concerning Christian Liberty

"Good God, what a lot of trouble there is in marriage! Adam has made a mess of our nature. Think of all the squabbles Adman and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years. Eve would say, 'You ate the apple,' and Adam would retort, 'You gave it to me.'" ~ Quoted in Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Here are a few posts I wrote on some of Luther's theology:

• A Life of Repentance
• Sin Boldly
• Sign Posts vs. The Road

For a biography of Martin Luther, the premier is Here I Stand, by Roland Bainton. My favorite works by Luther are his commentary on Galatians, The Freedom of a Christian, and The Bondage of the Will.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Reformation Day

In honor of Reformation Day, I would like to share my favorite quotes from Martin Luther, a few posts I have written concerning some of his theological statements, and a few of his works.

These are my two favorite quotes from Luther, and I think the reasons will be obvious:

"A Christian man is a most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to every one." ~ Concerning Christian Liberty

"Good God, what a lot of trouble there is in marriage! Adam has made a mess of our nature. Think of all the squabbles Adman and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years. Eve would say, 'You ate the apple,' and Adam would retort, 'You gave it to me.'" ~ Quoted in Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Here are a few posts I wrote on some of Luther's theology:

• A Life of Repentance
• Sin Boldly
• Sign Posts vs. The Road

For a biography of Martin Luther, the premier is Here I Stand, by Roland Bainton. My favorite works by Luther are his commentary on Galatians, The Freedom of a Christian, and The Bondage of the Will.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Reformation Day

In honor of Reformation Day, I would like to share my favorite quotes from Martin Luther, a few posts I have written concerning some of his theological statements, and a few of his works.

These are my two favorite quotes from Luther, and I think the reasons will be obvious:

"A Christian man is a most free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian man is a most dutiful servant of all, subject to every one." ~ Concerning Christian Liberty

"Good God, what a lot of trouble there is in marriage! Adam has made a mess of our nature. Think of all the squabbles Adman and Eve must have had in the course of their nine hundred years. Eve would say, 'You ate the apple,' and Adam would retort, 'You gave it to me.'" ~ Quoted in Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther

Here are a few posts I wrote on some of Luther's theology:

• A Life of Repentance
• Sin Boldly
• Sign Posts vs. The Road

For a biography of Martin Luther, the premier is Here I Stand, by Roland Bainton. My favorite works by Luther are his commentary on Galatians, The Freedom of a Christian, and The Bondage of the Will.

By His Grace,
Taylor

John Calvin's 504th Birthday

Note: First, to my regular readers, let me apologize for not writing much lately. I know I have only written once in the past couple of months, and that is because I have been very busy with several big changes for my family. I have been called to an associate pastor position at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg, VA, which is a huge blessing and answer to prayer. That, however, has meant I have been very busy. The biggest factor has been studying for my licensure and ordination exams for the PCA. To make a long story short, I have been studying a lot since May, and I took the first round of exams a few weeks ago. To give you an idea of how demanding they were, it took me about fifty hours to do four exams (so about a week because of breaks, interruptions, etc.). Anyway, I just want you all to know I am not ignoring you and have not decided to stop writing. I have just been very busy. Unfortunately, I will continue to be busy until the end of this month when I take the second round of exams. I will write when I can, though.

Now, to the point of this post--Calvin's birthday. The actual birthday was three days ago--July 10--but I had forgotten about it until I read a great Joe Carter blog post: 9 Things You Should Know about John Calvin. I do not think Calvin would mind, though. In fact, he would probably be just fine with me forgetting about him. He would much rather us praise God than write things that praise him. That being said, I cannot let the day go by without sharing some of my favorite quotes from Calvin. Just know that in these quotes we should not praise the genius of the man but the Maker that endowed him with that genius, i.e. not praise the gift to the Church (Calvin) but the Giver of the gift (God).

"However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts." ~ Commentary on Ephesians 3

"For prayer was not ordained that we should be haughtily puffed up before God, or greatly esteem anything of ours, but that, having confessed our guilt, we should deplore our distresses before Him, as children unburden their troubles on their parents." The Institutes of Christian Religion

"We ought to bear in mind, that our happiness consists in this, that his hand is stretched forth to govern us, that we live under his shadow, and that his providence keeps watch and ward over our welfare. Although, therefore, we have abundance of all temporal good things, yet let us be assured that we cannot be truly happy unless God vouchsafe to reckon us among the number of his flock. Besides, we then only attribute to God the office of a Shepherd with due and rightful honor, when we are persuaded that his providence alone is sufficient to supply all our necessities. As those who enjoy the greatest abundance of outward good things are empty and famished if God is not their shepherd; so it is beyond all doubt that those whom he has taken under his charge shall not want a full abundance of all good things." Commentary on Psalm 23

"Man’s mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain." The Institutes of Christian Religion

"In one word, those who are bound by the yoke of the law are like servants who have certain tasks daily assigned them by their masters. Such servants think that nought has been done; and they dare not come into the presence of their masters until the exact amount of labour has been performed. But sons who are treated in a more candid and liberal manner by their parents, hesitate not to offer them works that are only begun or half finished, or even with something faulty in them, trusting that their obedience and readiness of mind will be accepted, although the performance be less exact than was wished." Of Christian Liberty

"Joy and thanksgiving expressed in prayer and praise according to the Word of God are the heart of the Church’s worship." Worship

"For God’s will is so much the highest rule of righteousness that whatever He wills, by the very fact that He wills it, must be considered righteous. When, therefore, one asks why God has so willed one is seeking something greater and higher than God’s will, which cannot be found." Institutes of Christian Religion

By the way, if you want a good biography of Calvin, I would suggest either this one by Piper or this one by McGrath. Also, you can read his Institutes and all his commentaries online for free thanks to CCEL.

By His Grace,
Taylor

John Calvin and Missions

"If it is true that all branches of the Christian family might have done more for missions, it is also true that this branch [Calvinism] has been 'in harness' as long as any expression of Protestantism."

I just finished up a paper for a class on Calvin and missions, which I thought I would share since he and the Reformed tradition have often been accused of not being involved in missions and not caring about missions. Though my paper does not address the Reformed tradition as a whole, it does refute this charge with respect to John Calvin himself, who is generally at the center of this accusation. Below is the introduction to the paper:

John Calvin and his doctrine, the so-called Calvinism that has lived on until today, have continued to be highly controversial in the Church. They were in Calvin’s time and they still are today. One of the constant debates that goes on in the Church today is the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism (a debate that serves to divide Christians in a way that neither John Calvin nor Jacobus Arminius would approve). Within this debate one of the consistent charges leveled against Calvin (and Calvinism) is that he and his doctrine are completely counter-evangelism and counter-missions. The Roman Catholic historian, Joseph Schmidlin, held that all the Reformers, including Calvin, “were not conscious of the missionary idea and displayed no missionary activity.”  Others have echoed this charge. A. Mitchell Hunter, in his book on Calvin’s theology, claimed, “Certainly [Calvin] displayed no trace of missionary enthusiasm.”  Professor of missions William Hogg wrote that Calvinism “worked effectively to throttle missionary endeavor.”  Others have claimed that the Reformers “did not even talk about missions outreach.”  It is said of Calvin that his “horrible doctrine” of divine election makes the missionary activity “nonsense.”  This charge, however, is completely unfounded. 

Those who take a honest look at Calvin’s doctrine and history are forced to conclude that John Calvin was truly a director of missions during the Reformation and the Reformed tradition has produced some of the most active and passionate missionaries this world has seen since the apostolic period. N. Carr Sargant, a Methodist (Arminian) missionary to India, did take a good look at Calvin and wrote, “To praise Arminianism and to reproach Calvinism is the conventional judgment. In respect of missions, however, rigid Calvinism and the warm Arminianism of Wesley were in substance the same.”  He even went so far as to admit that while the Calvinists “had gone to the heathen,” his own tradition only sent preachers to places where Christians were abundant.  In this paper we will look at Calvin’s teaching as well as the Reformation period and show that, while some may have misused Calvin’s teachings as an excuse for evangelistic indifference, Calvin was a director of missions and a man committed to the spread of the gospel throughout the world.

If you would like to read the rest of the paper, you can access it here.

By His Grace,
Taylor

John Calvin 500 Today

Today is John Calvin's 500th birthday. I find while reading the blogs on John Calvin that we end up praising the man more than God who worked through the man, which would have displeased Calvin greatly. That being said, I cannot let the day go by without sharing some of my favorite quotes by Calvin. Just know that in these quotes we should not praise the genius of the man but the Maker that endowed him with that genius and uses it for His glory.

"However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts." ~ Commentary on Ephesians 3

"For prayer was not ordained that we should be haughtily puffed up before God, or greatly esteem anything of ours, but that, having confessed our guilt, we should deplore our distresses before Him, as children unburden their troubles on their parents." The Institutes of Christian Religion

"We ought to bear in mind, that our happiness consists in this, that his hand is stretched forth to govern us, that we live under his shadow, and that his providence keeps watch and ward over our welfare. Although, therefore, we have abundance of all temporal good things, yet let us be assured that we cannot be truly happy unless God vouchsafe to reckon us among the number of his flock. Besides, we then only attribute to God the office of a Shepherd with due and rightful honor, when we are persuaded that his providence alone is sufficient to supply all our necessities. As those who enjoy the greatest abundance of outward good things are empty and famished if God is not their shepherd; so it is beyond all doubt that those whom he has taken under his charge shall not want a full abundance of all good things." Commentary on Psalm 23

"Man’s mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain." The Institutes of Christian Religion

"In one word, those who are bound by the yoke of the law are like servants who have certain tasks daily assigned them by their masters. Such servants think that nought has been done; and they dare not come into the presence of their masters until the exact amount of labour has been performed. But sons who are treated in a more candid and liberal manner by their parents, hesitate not to offer them works that are only begun or half finished, or even with something faulty in them, trusting that their obedience and readiness of mind will be accepted, although the performance be less exact than was wished." Of Christian Liberty

"Joy and thanksgiving expressed in prayer and praise according to the Word of God are the heart of the Church’s worship." Worship

"For God’s will is so much the highest rule of righteousness that whatever He wills, by the very fact that He wills it, must be considered righteous. When, therefore, one asks why God has so willed one is seeking something greater and higher than God’s will, which cannot be found." Institutes of Christian Religion

By His Grace,
Taylor