On Wednesday evening Garry Williams gave a second paper on Calvin. Geoff Thomas chaired saying that today was the fortieth anniversary of the death of one of his heroes, John Thomas, Port Talbot.
In the paper Garry Williams focused on two works by Calvin - his Reply to Sadoleto and his Antidote to Trent. He sought to show that Calvin in both works proved to be a courageous advocate and a careful analyst. We too need to do both. In both of the works Calvin opposes the writers cite the Day of Judgement. Calvin is willing to accept this scenario.
Courageous advocate
Calvin (like Sadoleto) saw the doctrine of justification by faith as a heaven and hell matter. Because he saw this was such a central matter, he was able to be courageous. Though courageous Calvin is never harsh. Even heaven and hell matters demand gentleness from ministers.
Careful analyst
Calvin saw that although justification is quite straightforward yet it is made complex by man's sinful denials. He seeks to make the truth plain and clear. Garry gave us three statements and asked whether they were distinctly and exclusively Protestant:
We are justified by faith alone
We are justified by union with Christ
We are justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone
The first statement is found in Sadoleto (at this point Garry used a projected slide containing the quotation - a Banner first). The second statement also does not say enough.
By the time of Turretin a Jesuit called Vazquez was even saying that there was imputation but again redefining it. Turretin defined it as mediate satisfaction and exposed its weakness. This is mere evasive talk.
This sort of evasion will not do on the day of judgement. That is why we must engage in careful analysis.
Courageous advocacy without careful analysis will lead to misdiagnosis and butchery of the sheep.
In the paper Garry Williams focused on two works by Calvin - his Reply to Sadoleto and his Antidote to Trent. He sought to show that Calvin in both works proved to be a courageous advocate and a careful analyst. We too need to do both. In both of the works Calvin opposes the writers cite the Day of Judgement. Calvin is willing to accept this scenario.
Courageous advocate
Calvin (like Sadoleto) saw the doctrine of justification by faith as a heaven and hell matter. Because he saw this was such a central matter, he was able to be courageous. Though courageous Calvin is never harsh. Even heaven and hell matters demand gentleness from ministers.
Careful analyst
Calvin saw that although justification is quite straightforward yet it is made complex by man's sinful denials. He seeks to make the truth plain and clear. Garry gave us three statements and asked whether they were distinctly and exclusively Protestant:
We are justified by faith alone
We are justified by union with Christ
We are justified by the imputed righteousness of Christ alone
The first statement is found in Sadoleto (at this point Garry used a projected slide containing the quotation - a Banner first). The second statement also does not say enough.
By the time of Turretin a Jesuit called Vazquez was even saying that there was imputation but again redefining it. Turretin defined it as mediate satisfaction and exposed its weakness. This is mere evasive talk.
This sort of evasion will not do on the day of judgement. That is why we must engage in careful analysis.
Courageous advocacy without careful analysis will lead to misdiagnosis and butchery of the sheep.
1 comment:
This session was the daddy!
Not only was the material superb, but the way that he pitched it for the audience of pastors in front of him.
I hope I'll remember his headings -A Courageous Advocate and A Careful Analyst - but more importantly put them into practice.
Maybe you should use your influence Gary to get this out into the public domain .. why not persuade him to post it onto a website .. or even serialise it on this blog? It deserves a wider readership .. and I don't want to wait weeks for the mp3
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