In
Psalm 4, there is a great message of the Gospel. By ourselves, we are
sinners, turning God’s glory to shame, loving delusions and seeking
false gods (Psalm 4:2). By grace, God has done something about this -
‘the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself’ (Psalm 4:3). When we
pray, ‘Answer me’ (Psalm 4:1), we have this confidence: ‘the Lord will
hear when I call to Him’ (Psalm 4:3). The Lord hears the sinner’s
prayer, ‘Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my
prayer’ (Psalm 4:1). Jesus Christ is God’s Answer to this prayer. Christ
brings relief (salvation). This salvation arises from the mercy of God.
In Christ, we have a ‘joy’ and ‘peace’ which the world can neither give
nor take away (Psalm 4:7-8). When the seeking sinner comes with
question, ‘Who can show us any good?’ (Psalm 4:6), the Gospel Answer is
always the same - Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
A response to a comment by G. R. Osborne on Berkouwer’s understanding of the doctrine of final perseverance
In his contribution to Clark Pinnock (editor), Grace Unlimited (1975), G. R. Osborne states that Berkouwer, in Faith and Perseverance, pp. 9-10, “speaks of the time less ness of the doctrine of final perseverance, founded on ‘the richness and abidingness of salvation” (p. 188, emphasis mine). This single-sentence comment on Berkouwer’s view hardly gives a fair indication of the type of thinking found in Chapter 1 of Berkouwer’s Faith and Perseverance - “Time li ness and Relevance” (pp. 9-14, emphasis mine). Berkouwer insists that “the living preaching of the Scriptures, which offer no metaphysical and theoretical views about … ‘permanency’ as an independent theme in itself, does nothing to encourage ‘a continuity which is … opposed in any way to the living nature of faith” (p. 13). Berkouwer stresses that “The perseverance of the saints is not primarily a theoretical problem but a confession of faith” (p. 14) and that “The perseverance of the saints is unbreakably connected wi...
Comments
Post a Comment