Westminster Conference 2018 Session 4

Our first session on the second day was on the Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck and reading his works with James Eglinton, whose biography of Bavinck is soon to appear. After helpfully sketching Bavinck's times and life (a key date here being 1848 when constititutional reform led to toleration for the persecuted seceders from the state church, six years before his birth) Dr Eglinton addressed the question of why and how to read him

1. Why to read him

1. Secularisation

Previously in Holland the state church and the seceders were agreed on what truth is but after 1848 everything became relative. This is an issue that was often engaged with by Bavinck. Eg when he was a student, when he became an MP (the just war, dealing with the poor, etc), as a journalist and in his friendships with unbelievers.

Obvious books to study are Philosophy and revelation (Stone Lectures 1908-1909) and The Christian world view.

2. Scripture

He took it with utmost seriousness. He had an a priori approach - that it was the Word of God. Without this it is impossible to appreciate Scripture for what it really is.

3. Catholicity

A favourite text was 1 John 5:4. He believed that we have obligation now not just historically.. The missionary impulse. was strong in him.

2. How to read him

He is not easy to read. Understanding the structure of his dogmatics will help. Volume 1 (Prolegomena) is probably the hardest to read. Calvin is easier because he did not need to begin with an extended discussion of the philosophical thought of the day post-Kant and post-enlightenment. The volumes that follow use the structure of the Apostles Creed.

It is worth bearing in mind that Bavinck is eager to present his opponents in the clearest terms. He therefore rehearses the argument at length, emphasising their strongest case. Comments and arguments come only later. It is useful to bear in mind.

In the discussion we considered how we confront our secular age and how Bavinck can help us.

Banner UK 2017 Final Sessions Garry Williams, Ed Collier

Our final morning was given over to two sessions. The first was a second message from Garry Williams, this time on the living Word.

The main argument was that while we must get back to Bible days we must also get forward again to today, not in a liberal or Barthian sense but an evangelical one. We are not eavesdropping on what God said to others but we are hearing the very Word of Gdo to us. The technical work of recapturing the context is important but it is only part of the work. The Bible is designed for believers in all ages.

He finished with six wonderful consequences, etc

1. An incredible demonstration of the genius of God

Everything that will ever come up has been covered already in God's Word

2. It is present to all time

Bavinck

Scripture is the ongoing rapport between heaven and earth, between Christ and His church, between God and His children. It does not just tie us to the past; it binds us to the living Lord in the heavens. It is the living voice of God, the letter of the omnipotent God to His creature. God once created the world by the word, and by that word He also upholds it [Heb. 1:2, 3]. But He also re-creates it by the word and prepares it to be His dwelling. Divine inspiration, accordingly, is a permanent attribute of Holy Scripture. It was not only ‘God-breathed’ at the time it was written; it is ‘God-breathing.’

You can open the Bible with your three year old adn they can hear God speak.

3. The risen Jesus is present to us now in all the fullness of who he is

4. Where Jesus is Satan will be

5. Preach it in a way that fits its character

Exegesis will not be enough nor even just application. People need a bold Word from God today. 

6. Doesn't the whole meeting need to reflect that?

Does each part of the service reflect what the Bible is? The Lord's Day ought to be the most dramatic day of the week.

Michael Horton "something dramatic and important is happening" when we gather before God.

His final illustration referred, I think, to Dan Smith’s Dream Shop and Tool Chest, which is a collection of woodworking tools to satisfy the most avid woodworker. His point is that in the Bible we have such a dream shop and tool chest.

The second half of the morning was the conference sermon from Ed Collier of Sheffield on the Parable of the Sower from Mark 4. He spoke very warmly and well on what he called "a perseverance producing parable for preachers" that brings about both realism and hope and expectation.

Looking at the sower the seed and the soils he made two main points

1 There will be frustrations

Some will be 
1 Snatched away

"Whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of 'real life'… was enough to show him that all 'that sort of thing' just couldn’t be true." C S Lewis (Screwtape)

2 Scorched away
3 Strangled away
2. But there will be fruit
The yields promised are way beyond what might have been expected at that time.
We are not always best placed to know how fruitful we are being. We need to rest our assurance of fruit on what the Lord's promise.
It also often takes a long time to appear. harvests take time.