Tag Salvation

blue-night_i7zgph6ump

Resurrection: Union with Christ

Puritan pastor Walter Marshall concludes his magisterial work on a believer’s sanctification, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, with the simple but profound dictum that “Sanctification in Christ is glorification begun as glorification is sanctification perfected.”[1]  What makes this statement work…

dock_sun_set

Grace in Glory

Arguably one of the greatest errors we can fall into when it comes to understanding grace is that ‘It’s all about me and all about now’. This attitude has reached epidemic proportions in Western churches and may well explain our…

direction_970_425

Justification and the Remonstrants

“An error in justification is dangerous, like a crack in the foundation,” said Thomas Watson. The problem with a crack is two-fold. First, trouble easily passes through, such as swelling ground water, bringing deleterious effects upon the foundation and everything…

grapes_970_425

The Ordo Salutis: Sanctification

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification,” (1 Th 4:3)[1] St. Paul writes to a group of mostly non-Jewish Christians in Thessalonica who had formerly worshiped idols and casually participated in a culture steeped in sexual promiscuity. Sanctus…

justice_970_425

The Ordo Salutis: Justification

John Calvin called justification as “the main hinge on which religion turns” and said we must devote great attention to it (Institutes, III.xi.1). When we consider justification’s role in the order of salvation it plays a crucial role in distinction…

wheat_970_425

The Ordo Salutis: Faith

From the moment Adam assented to and acted on the lie that the forbidden fruit would make him like God, unbelief became the reigning characteristic in all of God’s image bearers. Like a deep-rooted cancer, the distorting nature of disbelief…

cross_illustration_970_425

Grace in Salvation

Perhaps the greatest risk surrounding the doctrine of grace in the Bible is that we allow it to become a cliché. We talk about it, sing about it, take great care to define it, but through it all fail to…