seeing in a mirror dimly

Jacko’s written a great piece on what Monergism means.  Great word.  Great bloke.  And a much greater God!

Oh, and speaking of Monergism, you’ve got to bookmark the site monergism.com – it’s amazing.   Seriously one of the best theological resources out there on the web.  Reformed.  Solid.  A massive Directory of terms.  Great links.  Great Search capabilities.  Get into it.  Here’s one of their commendations:

“As a regular visitor to the Monergism.com site, I warmly commend this tremendous web resource to you. It provides a one-stop-internet-shop for a trove of classic articles, old and new, and other material that will aid Christians in their understanding Scripture and theology, that will promote a healthy devotional appropriation of Christian doctrine and that will help pastors, elders and teachers in preparation to explain and apply the truth of God’s word. Read, download, delight, learn and grow!”
Ligon Duncan

Having just preached at a wedding on the weekend, I was amused to find this as I studied for Church History:

“List of princesses, royal, electoral and of other most distinguished houses of marriageable age.

The princess royal of Sweden, fifteen years of age.  She is very tiny, and a Lutheran.

The princess royal of Denmark, eighteen years of age, tall, of excellent disposition, well-bred and graced with the best qualities of her sex.  She is a Lutheran, like the king her father; but the queen her mother, who is Reformed, has inspired her with the same opinions.

The princess electoral of Brandenburg, fourteen years of age, very well-bred, of a sweet-tempered disposition, extremely devout, and of the Protestant religion.

The princess of Hesse-Cassel, sixteen years of age, well endowed both in mind and body, of moderate height, of a gentle and kindly disposition and of the Reformed religion.

The princess of Saxe-Eisenach, twenty-five years of age, with a striking appearance and charming temper; Lutheran.

The princess of Holstein-Gottorp, twenty years of age, of excellent reputation; Lutheran.”

And none of them made the cut – William never remarried after Mary’s death!

I’ve recently read through Michael Horton‘s excellent book, God of Promise (2006) in which he discusses the covenantal structure of the Bible. Of particular interest to me were the continuity and discontinuity of the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants, and the question of how do God’s commandments (OT and NT) apply to Christians.

Horton’s covenantal theology is based on good exegesis of Scripture within a biblical theological context, conversing with historical theology (Augustine, Irenaeus, Cocceius, Perkins, Ursinius, Beza just to name a few!) along the way. He interacts with all the who’s who of covenantal research also: from Mendenhall, Kline, Vos, and von Rad through to O. Palmer Robertson and N.T Wright. All up, there’s no wonder that Jim Packer endorsed it as a ‘masterful survey of the covenantal frame of God’s self-disclosure’.

Horton explains that to determine the role of the law in the new covenant, we must distinguish between the three uses of the moral (the cermemonial and civil laws pertain exclusively to the Mosaic theocracy) law:

1) The Civil use of the law. “Sometimes in Scripture the law is regarded as a curb to criminal behaviour. Even a pagan emperor known for his persecution of the church can be called ‘God’s servant,’ as in Romans 13… Because this law is known at least in a framentary way by unbelievers, it can cause evildoers to think twice in the light of civil penalties.”

2) The Pedagogical use of the law. The law shows up our sin, and drives us to Christ. “It is in this sense that Paul says [Romans 7:7-13] even though it brings only bad news and death because of our sin”

3) The Normative use of the law; that which provides norms for the Christian life. “No longer capable of condemning us, the law sees us in Christ as those who have fulfilled it, and instead of standing over against us, it is written on our heart. The law becomes a delight even though we continue to offend in though, word and deed.”

I could go on, and perhaps I will! The continuity and discontinuity between the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants is quite a key issue I think, so I might post about that soon! But all in all, this book is a short, but excellent read for anyone grappling with the biblical-theological shape of the Bible!