God says to us, “I love you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).
Through His love, we have “a happy song” to sing (Jeremiah 31:7).
Through His love, we are “changed.” Our life is “turned around”
(Jeremiah 31:18). The love of God for us is revealed most powerfully in
His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is the fulfilment of the prophecy
in Jeremiah 31:31-34. When we consider Him – how wonderful He is – and
all He has done for us, we will “give thanks to the Lord”, rejoicing in
His goodness and praising Him for “His love which endures for ever.” We
see His love – supremely – in “the righteous branch” – Jesus: “The Lord
our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:15-16).
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...
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