‘Lord,
You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations... From
everlasting to everlasting, You are God’(Psalm 90:1-2). The Bible begins
with the words, ‘In the beginning, God...’. Before the world began,
there was God - ‘the eternal God’. He is ‘the high and exalted One’. He
is the God ‘who inhabits eternity’. He is the God ‘who lives for ever’.
He has no beginning. He has no end. He is ‘the beginning and the end’.
Our life on earth has a beginning. It has an end. Trusting in ‘the
eternal God’, we rejoice in His precious promises - ‘The eternal God is
your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms’; ‘I have loved you
with an everlasting love’; ‘The free gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord’(Genesis 1:1; Deuteronomy 33:27; Isaiah
57:15; Revelation 21:6; Jeremiah 31:3; Romans 6:23).
In this post, I will draw comparisons between Arminius and Berkouwer. * Bangs points out that the historical situation in Holland was not a simple one - Calvinism coming in, Arminius nearly ruining it and the Synod of Dort restoring it: “The earliest Dutch Reformed leaders don’t seem to be Calvinists at all. They rise out of the soil, here and there, nurtured by the old Dutch biblical piety, not seized by dogmatic insights, but steadily pressing toward a purified life of faith according to Scripture” (p. 21). This emphasis is similar to Berkouwer’s insistence that election is not a special gnosis for the theological elite. Rather, it is a confession of faith, arising from the hearts of those who have come to know the grace of God ( Divine Election (DE), p. 216). * Bangs observes that Arminius’ theological method is “practical and through faith”: “For the Theology which belongs to this world, is practical and through faith: Theoretical Theology belongs to the o...
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