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Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
PREVIEW OF CHAPTER 16 - How Christ Has Fulfilled the Function of Redeemer
Though we were alienated by sin from God, we are reconciled by Christ to God who loved us. 1. The Redeemer makes us aware of God's wrath as well as thankful for His loving act in Christ. God's wrath is set against unrighteousness, but His love precedes our reconciliation in Christ . Such a work of atonement derives from God's love for us. Here, Christ has redeemed us through His obedience, which He practiced throughout his life, and died as a sacrifice for us. He was “Crucified”, was “Dead and buried”, “Descended into hell” and rose again from the dead as the Creed says.
Did Christ actually descend into the nether world? The “descent into hell” is an expression of the spiritual torment that Christ underwent for us, for a mere bodily death on Christ's part would have been ineffectual for us (and Scripture testifies of this). Jesus Christ had to go through the sense of complete estrangement from God the Father, through a lively fear of death, in order to completely to bear our nature, and our sufferings.
The Creed also says that “on the third day He rose again from the dead.” Here it is in Christ's resurrection alone, not His death, that the victory of our faith over death lies. Then He “Ascended into heaven,” and is now “Seated at the right hand of the Father.” This place of authority and “sitting” is taken from comparison with assessors at a king's court. Here there are benefits imparted to our faith by Christ's ascension.
Then Christ will come to judge the world. Because Christ's kingdom lies hidden in the earth under the lowness of the flesh (despite His clear indication of His present power to those who believe), faith is called to ponder the visible, bodily presence of Christ which He will show in the Day of Judgment. But the blessing is that the Judge is the Redeemer! He is our strength, purity, gentleness, redemption, acquittal, remission from the curse, satisfaction, purification, reconciliation, mortification of flesh, newness of life, immortality, inheritance of the heavenly kingdom, protection, security, abundant supply of all blessings and untroubled expectation of judgment.
Book 3 Chapter 1: Christ Profits us by the working of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the bond that unites us to Jesus Christ. He is the cause by which we receive the benefits that the Father bestowed upon Christ. Outside of Christ men cannot benefit from anything of Him, for only those in Christ benefit of His work. Here we see that the agent of uniting us to Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit.
The root of life in us is the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ was endowed by the power of the Holy Spirit not to give Him sanctification of life, but to give the fullness of the Spirit to Him to dispense to men as He so needed.
There are various titles in the Scriptures for the Holy Spirit that help us have a more clearly defined understanding of His person and work. He is called the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6); a guarantee and seal of our inheritance (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:14); life (Romans 8:10); water (Isaiah 55:1; 44:3; John 7:37; Ezekiel 36:25); oil and anointing (1 John 2:20, 27); fire (Luke 3:16); spring (John 4:14); and the hand of God (Acts 11:21).
Faith is the principal work of the Holy Spirit in the life of men. His activity and power are often referred to as “faith” working. The Spirit of God is the source of faith, the inner teacher of promised salvation, the energizer of Christ in us.
Chapter 2: Faith: Its definition and properties explained
The object of our faith is Jesus Christ. More specifically, faith has as its object God through the person of Jesus Christ. Christ as God is the destination of our faith and Christ as man is the path of our faith to God as our object.
Faith involves knowledge, not upon pious ignorance. To have implicit faith is to have nothing and the Romanist doctrine of implicit faith is in error. There is a great difference in understanding a portion of Scripture, and not understanding the Christ of the Bible. Rather we ought to have a lively faith that believes the propositions of the Bible.
Faith rests upon God’s word, and here we find the Gospel leading us to faith. The Word of God and faith are inextricably bound together. Without the Word of God faith falls into mere credulity. Faith arises from the promise of grace in Jesus Christ. We should reserve this true faith for the faith that one receives as a result of a true study of the Word of God and the working of the Holy Spirit in them. It is a higher knowledge and implies a certainty about what is being believed. Even the lowest degree of real faith is real faith. The Christian struggles with degrees of faith but that does not make them ignorant or without it. Even the Apostle Paul struggled with faith at times (Romans 7). In any case, the Word of God acts as a shield to us no matter how deep our faith may be. Such a faith lies in the basis of God’s free promises in Christ Jesus, and the communication of faith, hope and love in the Christian’s mind.
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