‘Deliver
me, O Lord, from lying lips’ (Psalm 120:2). God calls us to ‘believe
the truth’, ‘love the truth’ and ‘follow the truth’. We are to be people
who ‘do what is true’ (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11; 3 John 3-4; John 3:21).
How can we be such people? We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. He is
‘the Truth’ (Hebrews 12:2; John 14:6). When we are tempted to turn away
from the pathway of truth, we must remember this: ‘My help comes from
the Lord’. We must remember God’s promise: ‘The Lord is your
Keeper...The Lord will keep you from all evil’. God’s promise is not
only for ‘this time’. It’s ‘for evermore’(Psalm 121:2,5,7-8). This gives
us glorious hope as we keep on looking to Christ,‘eagerly awaiting’ His
Return ( Hebrews 9:28).
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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