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Herman Bavinck – God Himself the Final Ground

6 Nov

Our own spirit does not by nature impel us to call God our Father and to count ourselves among his children. There is an essential and easily recognizable difference between the witness of the Holy Spirit, when he says to our soul, “I am your salvation,” and the temptation of Satan, when he whispers, “Peace, peace, and no danger.” “Can a person, impelled by the devil, possibly call God Abba! Father! in faith?” Christian faith points back to the testimony of the Holy Spirit. “Though theology scoffs and philosophy scorns, God himself is the final ground of my faith in God.” (Beets).

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 593.

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John Paton: I Saw Him Watching All the Scene

15 Oct

They encircled us in a deadly ring, and one kept urging another to strike the first blow or fire the first shot. My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; I saw Him watching all the scene. My peace came back to me like a wave from God. I realized that I was immortal till my Master’s work with me was done. The assurance came to me, as if a voice out of Heaven had spoken, that not a musket would be fired to wound us, not a club prevail to strike us, not a spear leave the hand in which it was held vibrating to be thrown, not an arrow leave the bow, or a killing stone the fingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ, whose is all power in Heaven and on Earth. He rules all Nature, animate and inanimate, and restrains even the Savage of the South Seas. In that awful hour I saw His own words, as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of Heaven: “Seek, and ye shall find. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” I could understand how Stephen and John saw the glorified Savior as they gazed up through suffering and persecution to the Heavenly Throne!

~John G. Paton~


John G Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides. An Autobiography. (Edinburgh, Scotland; The Banner of Truth Trust; 1994) p. 207.

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Herman Bavinck – God Seeks a Dwelling Place in Humanity

9 Oct

Included in objective revelation, i.e., in the person of Christ and in Scripture as his word, is everything human beings need to know God and to serve him. The revelation of God was completed in Christ and recorded with complete adequacy in Scripture. But this revelation in Christ and in his Word is a means, not an end. The end is the creation of a new humanity, which will fully unfold the image of God. Therefore the whole revelation must be transmitted from Christ to the church, from Scripture to the [believer’s] consciousness. God seeks a dwelling place in humanity.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 588.

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Wolfgang Musculus: What is a Covenant?

8 Oct

A covenant not only is based on friendship and mutual benevolence but also carries an obligation by which covenanting parties are mutually bound to one another. In the world, covenants are constituted for this purpose, so that each party gets something useful from it, whether peace or mutual aid. But that logic falls short here. Indeed, God does not make covenants with humans for that reason, that he might make use of their works or obtain some other advantage from their obligation to the covenant, but rather so that he might assure human beings of his will, faithfulness and beneficence by means of such a bond. The point is driven home [in Gen. 6:18] not only by calling this a covenant but also by the verb haqimoti that is, “I will establish, I will build, I will confirm.” Thus he labors on behalf of the weakness of our faith, lest we have any doubts about the firmness of his benevolence. Here, in the making of a covenant, God’s benevolence comes together with his faithfulness and truth–traits in which he has never failed anyone. He could have simply blessed Noah and his family, but God wished to strengthen him in his faith and confidence in him through the firmness of his own benevolence and truth.

~Wolfgang Musculus~




Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Genesis 1-11: (Downers Grove, IL; IVP Academic; 2012) p. 251-252.

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Herman Bavinck – What is the Testimony of the Holy Spirit?

5 Oct

By it [the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the Word of God] alone the entire church originates and exists. The entire application of salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit; and the witness to Scripture is but one of many of his activities in the community of believers. The testimony of the Holy Spirit is not a source of new revelations but establishes believers in relation to the truth of God, which is completely contained in Scripture. It is he who makes faith a sure knowledge that excludes all doubt. It finds its analogy, finally, in the testimony our conscience offers to the law of God and in the assurance we have concerning God’s existence.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 584.

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Herman Bavinck – How Do We Know Scripture is From God?

3 Oct

That Scripture is the word of God, says Calvin, was not established by the church but was certain prior to the church’s decision, for the church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. Scripture brings with it its own authority; it is self-based and self-attested as trustworthy (αύτοπιστος). Just as light is distinguished from darkness, white from black, sweet from bitter, so Scripture is recognized by its own truth. But Scripture acquires certainty as God’s own Word with us by the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Though proofs and reasonings are of great value, this testimony surpasses them by far; it is more excellent than all reason. Just as God can only witness concerning himself in his Word, so his Word does not find belief in the hearts of human beings before it is sealed by the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who spoke through the mouths of the prophets must work in our hearts to persuade us that they faithfully proclaimed what had been commanded by God. The Holy Spirit, accordingly, is the “seal” and “guarantee” for confirming the faith of the godly. If we have that testimony within us, we do not rest in any human judgment but observe without any doubt as if we were gazing upon God himself in it–that Scripture came from the mouth of God through the ministry of human beings. We subject our judgment to it “as to a thing far beyond any guesswork!”

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 583.

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Herman Bavinck – The Bending of the Will

26 Sep

Revelation may ever so much be made credible by the proofs, yet it is and remains a truth of faith… Faith, therefore, accepts the truth, not on the basis of one’s own insight, but on that of divine authority. “For faith does not assent to anything except on the ground that it has been revealed by God.” And in order for human beings to acknowledge that authority of God, an antecedent change of will has to occur. Believing is indeed an act of the intellect, but it presupposes a bending of the will by grace; the intellect must be disposed toward faith by the will. The assent of faith, accordingly, occurs only by an act of God “moving inwardly through grace.”

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 579.

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Herman Bavinck – Belief Doesn’t Prove Anything

24 Sep

Believing itself is no proof for the truth of that which is believed. There is a huge difference between subjective certainty and objective truth. In the case of faith or belief, everything depends on the grounds on which it rests.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 578.

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Herman Bavinck – Religion Produces Martyrs

15 Sep

Believing and knowing are not distinct in the matter of certainty. The certainty of faith is as firm as that of knowledge. Indeed, the certainty of faith is the more intense of the two: it is virtually unshakable and ineradicable. For their faith people are prepared to sacrifice everything, including their life. Galileo three times retracted his agreement with the Copernican system. Kepler, against his conviction, occupied himself at Graz with astrology to maintain his livelihood; the needy mother (astronomy) had to live from her foolish daughter (astrology). Who would give his or her life for a scientific thesis, for example, that the earth rotates around the sun? But religion produces martyrs. In terms of sheer power the assurance of faith far exceeds scientific certainty.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 577-578.

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Herman Bavinck – Making Salvation’s Goods Certain

13 Sep

According to Scripture, this [Biblical] faith brings its own certainty with it. It is the assurance (ύποστασις) of things hoped for and the conviction (έλεγχος) of things not seen (Heb. 11:1), not because it is inherently so solid and firm but because it is grounded in God’s testimony and promise, as the sequel of Hebrews 11 clearly teaches. It makes the invisible goods of salvation utterly certain for us; indeed, even much more certain than one’s own insight or a given scientific proof could ever make it.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 573.

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