J.C. Ryle on Success, Humility and Ministry

J.C. Ryle, meditating on Luke 10:17-24:

“We learn, from this passage, how ready Christians are to be puffed up with success. It is written, that the seventy returned from their first mission with joy, “saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through your name.” There was much false fire in that joy…”

– read the full quote, posted by Ligon Duncan, at Reformation21.

Related:

“Even though many of his books are still in print, Ryle seems no longer to be in fashion. This is a pity because his kind of teaching is the answer to the superficial atmosphere in which we live, and in which many who call themselves Evangelicals are hardly distinguishable from those who deny the foundation truths of the Gospel.”

– ‘Bishop Ryle and me’ – David Phipps in Cross†Way (PDF file).

Church, mission, evangelism and programs

“… what has become known as the Knox-Robinson doctrine of the church, or the Sydney doctrine of the church, was never just an idiosyncratic expression of Australian anti-authoritarianism. It arose out of the revival of evangelical biblical scholarship following World War II — Alan Stibbs produced some of his material for Tyndale House conferences in Cambridge and Donald Robinson wrote the article on church for the IVF’s landmark New Bible Dictionary.

Nor was it ever exclusively based on a limited word study of the Greek word for ‘church’ in the New Testament, ekklesia (a jibe still thrown about today)…

The current level of confusion, even among some who consider themselves sympathetic to the basic outlines of this exposition of the doctrine, suggests that there is a need for a fresh restatement of it.”

– ACL President Mark Thompson, at Theological Theology, sees many benefits from taking a closer look at the doctrine of the church.

Providence

“If we are uncomfortable with the idea of providence why is that? One reason is because we are influenced by a scientific worldview which can be presented as supporting a mechanistic understanding of the world…”

– David Phillips writes on the importance of a Christian understanding of Providence, in Cross†Way. (PDF file.)

G W Bromiley on The Resurrection

“Every churchman claims to believe in the resurrection of the dead. In all ages, however, this Christian truth has been both attacked and misunderstood. Probably misunderstanding is the greater danger. It usually has its origin in a deliberate attempt to re-state the Christian teaching in a form acceptable to non-Christian thought.

In the present age there is particular need that Christians should fully understand and fully proclaim the truth of resurrection. There are many reasons why this should be so…”

– Church Society has republished this booklet by Dr Geoffrey W Bromiley.
(Image: by Don Milici via Christianity Today.)

The Death of Death in the Death of Christ – Packer’s introduction

J I PackerDr Jim Packer’s introductory essay to The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen remains a classic essay on Christ’s atonement. Written in 1958, it is probably even more relevant now than it was then.

Among other things, Dr Packer gives a helpful introduction to Calvinism. The essay will repay careful reading.

There are several copies of the essay on the Internet – Monergism has one here.

Every good thing is to be found in Christ

“Every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone. For he was sold, to buy us back; captive, to deliver us; condemned, to absolve us. He was made a curse for our blessing, sin offering for our righteousness; marred that we may be made fair.

He died for our life; so that by him fury is made gentle, wrath appeased, darkness turned into light, fear reassured, despisal despised, debt cancelled, labour lightened, sadness made merry, misfortune made fortunate, difficulty easy, disorder ordered, division united, ignominy ennobled, rebellion subjected, intimidation intimidated, ambush uncovered, assaults assailed, force forced back, combat combated, war warred against, vengeance avenged, torment tormented, damnation damned, the abyss sunk into the abyss, hell transfixed, death dead, mortality made immortal.

In short, mercy has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all misfortune.”

—John Calvin, preface for Pierre Robert Olivétan’s 1534 French translation of the New Testament. (From Of First Importance.)

Are we still responsible for sins for which we may be genetically predisposed?

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds quotes these helpful words from Tom Schreiner at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky–

“Even if some sins could be traced to our genetics, it would not exempt us from responsibility for such sins. The Scriptures teach that all human beings are born into this world as sons and daughters of Adam, and hence they are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).   Read more

The Phantom Menace: Territorial Spirits and SLSW

Church Society has just republished a very helpful ten-year-old article by Melvin Tinker on popular notions of ‘spiritual warfare’.

“The aim of our spiritual warfare is not to disarm principalities and powers, which Christ has already done (Colossians 2:15). That is why he is seated above every rule and authority and why in principle Christians are seated with him in complete security (Eph 2:6). The objective of spiritual warfare is to ‘stand’.”

It’s available as a PDF file from their website.

On related topics, see also Peter Bolt’s Living with the Underworld (Get copies from Reformers, Moore Books) and Christ’s Victory over Evil (Moore Books, Reformers).

Barry Newman on Baptism Revisited — full series

Barry Newman has now completed his series of posts revisiting his earlier series on Biblical Baptism – and he’s made them available as a PDF file at his blog.

Sure to provoke discussion.

Smiting Morality with Gospel Joy

John Piper reads a powerful quote from CS Lewis.

Taking Sovereignty Seriously

Mark Thompson recommends John Woodhouse’s article in the issue of Southern Cross to be distributed in churches from this Sunday … He quotes John as writing —

“I am astonished at how glibly we sometimes speak of gospel work — as though leadership skills, ministry strategies or entrepreneurial flair is what is needed to make the gospel effective. Leadership is not what makes the blind see. Strategies do not make the deaf hear. Entrepreneurs do not make the dead walk!

It is God who calls out his elect, chosen by him before the foundation of the world. They could not have saved themselves and nor could we have saved them no matter how clever we are. And he hardens the heart of others in their chosen state of lostness.”

Find the article on pages 18 and 19 (‘Serving a Sovereign God’) of the February 2010 Southern Cross.

The Wonder of Words

“Put simply, then, the question of the importance of words to the Christian church is a question of theology, not methodology: to marginalise preaching in our church life and outreach is to marginalise words; and to marginalise words will inevitably involve marginalising the Word himself.”

– Thabiti Anyabwile quotes from Carl Trueman as he ponders the wonder of how God speaks to us.

Related: Propositional Revelation, the Only Revelation – by D.B. Knox.

Biblical Baptism revisited

Barry Newman picks up the theme of Baptism in the latest posts on his blog –

“Over September 1 to September 13 2009 I created a series of blogs on the subject entitled “Biblical Baptism”. The material has been discussed by various people in different venues and I have tried to listen carefully to the comments made. What follows is an attempt to further contribute to the debate…”

– Read Barry’s blog here.

The glory of the Cross

“There is no greater cleavage between faith and unbelief than in their respective attitudes to the cross.

Where faith sees glory, unbelief sees only disgrace. What was foolishness to Greeks, and continues to be to modern intellectuals who trust in their own wisdom, is nevertheless the wisdom of God.

And what remains a stumbling-block to those who trust in their own righteousness, like the Jews of the first century, proves to be the saving power of God (1 Cor. 1:18-25).”

– John Stott, The Cross of Christ. (With thanks to Of First Importance.)

Leon Morris on The Person of Christ

Church Society has republished Leon Morris’ 1960 Church Book Room Press booklet “The Person of Christ’ on their website:

“When we want to understand the importance of a person we turn to his work. If we think, for example, of Winston Churchill our minds instinctively go back to the dark days of the war when he rallied the Empire. If we think of Napoleon we recall his mighty deeds on many battlefields. If we think of Einstein his enunciation of the theory of relativity gives us the measure of his greatness. What men do shows what men are.

Similarly in the religious world, if we wish to understand something of the person of Jesus Christ we do well to begin with what He has done. John sums it up for us in a sentence: ‘the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world’ (1 Jn. 4:14). The greatness of Christ is to be seen in the fact that He brought salvation, not for just a few, but for ‘the world’…”

Read it here.

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