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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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John Calvin – The Whole of Our Salvation

4 Oct

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved. – Eph. 2:4-5

Paul ascribes the whole of our salvation to God’s mercy, which is as great as it is because of his love for us. Love is what moved God to save us.

~John Calvin~




Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Galatians, Ephesians (Downers Grove, IL; IVP Academic; 2012) p. 281.

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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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Martin Luther – The Freedom of the Christian

2 Oct

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. – Galatians 5:13

Paul warns against the danger of using freedom for selfish purposes. The freedom of the Christian is a slavery to love.

~Martin Luther~






Reformation Commentary on Scripture – Galatians, Ephesians (Downers Grove, IL;IVP Academic; 2011) p. 185

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George Whitefield – The First Gospel Promise

1 Oct

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel. – Genesis 3:15

This first promise must certainly be but dark to our first parents, in comparison of that great light which we enjoy. And yet, dark as it was, we may assure ourselves they built upon it their hopes of everlasting salvation and by that faith were saved.

~George Whitefield~




The Sermons of George Whitefield (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 2012) p. 45.

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John Calvin – The Spectacles of Scripture

28 Sep

Now in describing the world as a mirror in which to behold God, I would not be understood to assert either that our eyes are sufficiently clear-sighted to discern what the fabric of heaven and earth represents, or that the knowledge we thereby derive suffices for salvation. As a matter of fact, because the Lord invites us to himself by means of created things but with no effect except thereby to render us inexcusable, he has added (as was necessary) a new remedy, or at any rate mitigated the coarseness of our disposition by means of other assistance. For with Scripture as our guide and teacher, not only does he make plain those things that would otherwise escape our notice, he virtually forces us to behold them, as if he had assisted our dull sight with eyeglasses.

~John Calvin~







Genesis 1-11: The Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL; IVP Academic; 2012) p. 13.

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Wolfgang Musculus: Trusting God as Creator

27 Sep

The knowledge that we all have the same creator and maker admonishes us not to harbor contempt for God’s work, whether in ourselves or in another, by asking “Why did he make it like this?” Thus we read in Isaiah, “Woe to anyone who, like an earthen potsherd, argues with its maker. Shall the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?'” And in Proverbs, “Whoever disregards the needy insults their maker.” And so this faith, wherein we believe that we have been created by God, brings about these three things in our hearts: First, that with all our hearts we depend in all things upon God our creator. Second, that each of us be contented with our circumstances–indeed, that we embrace them with thanksgiving, given that God our creator has placed us in them. Third, that none of us view our neighbor’s circumstances with contempt, however vile and miserable they be, lest we thereby cast aspersions upon our common creator.

~Wolfgang Musculus~




Genesis 1-11: The Reformation Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL; IVP Academic; 2012) p. 12.

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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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