We’re seven chapters into the Confession so far. Perhaps all the information has left you a bit overwhelmed. We’d quoted Sinclair Ferguson at the outset who said studying the Confession was like donning some “velcro strips” of basic theological categories upon which you can hang the thoughts of all the sermons and lessons you hear henceforth.
Instead of accuring velcro strips, perhaps you feel more like you’ve encountered fly paper, and you’re the fly!
Shorter Catechism
How to begin to take all we’ve considered so far and begin to assemble it into a coherent whole? You might be surprised (and grateful) to learn that the Divines anticipated yours and my distress. Consider the Shorter Catechism. It summarizes the salient points of the Confession and provides a simple way of memorizing them.
We’ve mentioned the value of memorizing the Shorter Catechism before. Here’s one more advocate for putting yourself through its paces–B.B. Warfield, the esteemed theologian of Princeton University. Listen to his rationale for making the Catechism your own, and then perhaps turn your attention there.
Download this week’s audio.
Continuing the thread of this morning’s topic, here’s even a bit more from one commentator on the Confession we’ve mentioned, R.C. Sproul.
The question put to him by Mark Driscoll is: Does God Really Want All People to Be Saved?. Have a listen.
A few weeks back in our discussion of God’s sovereign decree (WCF, Ch III), we happened upon the doctrine of limited atonement (which in recent years has been recast in the phrase “Particular redemption.”) 
In essence, the doctrine states that all were saved whom God was pleased to save. The death Jesus died for the forgiveness of sin was certainly sufficient to cover the sins of all people everywhere, but the Lord in His grace made His death efficient–that is, effective–for those he’d predestined to save. As we said in our discussion, the extent of whom God saves corresponds perfectly to His intent for whom He purposes to save.
The doctrine naturally raises a few eyebrows for the way it seems to insinuate that God’s love is limited in scope. It may also seem to contradict Scripture’s references to God’s love being exerted for “the world.” If John’s gospel says that God so loved the world, then how can the Divines say Jesus died only for some? Does that not suggest there are two competing wills in God?
John Piper is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. He takes up that very question here in his essay on the God’s will in salvation. (For those of you new to blogs, you click on the emboldened text to go to the source it mentions) It’s not a short read, but it’s worth the time. Feel free to raise questions!
Between Sunday and Wednesday, a quote came across our desks–thanks to Kevin DeYoung (again).
If you wondered how the doctrine of Providence makes a difference in how you face life, consider this quote from Guido De Bres, the author of the Belgic Confession (1561). It’s a letter written to his wife while he was incarcerated for his Reformed beliefs.
Guido De Bres
My dear and well-beloved wife in our Lord Jesus, Your grief and anguish are the cause of my writing you this letter. I most earnestly pray you not to be grieved beyond measure…We knew when we married that we might not have many years together, and the Lord has graciously given us seven. If the Lord had wished us to live together longer, he could easily have cause it to be so. read more…
Download this week’s audio.
Far be it from us to refrain from adding supplementary information just because it deals with chapters we’ve long since covered!
Salman Rushdie
For those who can always use a little reinforcement to their confidence in the authority of the Scriptures, consider this post from a blog I just discovered. The post caught my eye because a friend recently encouraged me to pick up a copy of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses–certainly an even more poignant selection of fiction in light of recent tragic events. The post is a response to Rushdie’s, and arguably countless others’, perceptions of the dating of the New Testament documents. Conventional wisdom assumes the date of the epistles and gospels lags so far beyond the date of the subject matter as to render them invalid witnesses.
Read what the post and the sources he cites have to say in reply.
As you heard from Tim this week in his lesson on the Confession’s understanding of creation, there are a handful of alternative interpretations of Genesis 1,2 which our denomination considers credible. 
You likely remember hearing of the Gap Theory, the Day-Age Theory, the Framework Theory. If you click here you can read the PCA’s position paper on creation which speaks in more detail about those various theories–both their strengths and weaknesses. (You can find quite a number of denominational papers on issues of interest here at the PCA Historical Center site.)
Is it critical you reach a definitive conclusion as to Moses’ meaning about the “days” of creation? As Tim said, there are other doctrines that demand more settled conviction. But considering a variety of reasonable views on a given teaching of scripture is a still a worthy exercise.
Download this week’s audio.
far be it from us to be bereft of a bit of seasonal humor. In homage to Reformation Sunday, here’s a little ditty–a polka actually–’bout the firestorm sparked by the incident in Wittenburg in 1517. Dance, sing, and give thanks for God’s providential work through the German monk.
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