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In this episode, Brett, Brian, and Jason continue their examination of the first article of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. Today they study the doctrine of the Holy Trinity by doing a Bible Study on Genesis 1:1-2.
Hey guys,
I haven’t left a comment in a while but I have been listening. Maybe I have been listening too much. You guys actually made an appearance in one of my recent dreams. Yikes!
Anyway, I have a question for Brian. At about 13:15 of this episode, you stated “a lot of Calvinist theologians would say that ‘faith is an attitude that God chooses to use’.” You went on to mention that the quote was “a line straight out of one of their systematic books.” You also stated that “faith is something that’s outside ourselves” apparently contrasting it with the previous Calvinist statement.
Would it be possible to provide the name of the Calvinist author who wrote that statement and the name of the systematic book and where it appears in the book? I have searched quite a few Reformed websites and have been unable to locate the quote.
Additionally, in my 20+ years of being a Calvinist, I don’t believe I have ever heard any Calvinist make that statement or anything even close to it. I cannot imagine any actual Calvinistic theologian who would actually disagree with the statement that “faith is something that’s outside ourselves”. All Calvinists I know affirm that and every Calvinist I have ever read has asserted that faith is a gift.
According to the Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter XI titled “Of Justification”
“Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous, not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.” If I could highlight I would highlight the words “which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.”
In Chapter XIV titled “Of Saving Faith” it states
“The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts; and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word: by which also, and by the administration of the sacraments, and prayer, it is increased and strengthened.”
Note “faith,…is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts;….”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 30 asks “How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?”
The answer is “[t]he Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.”
The Westminster Larger Catechism Question 32 asks “How is the grace of God manifested in the second covenant?”
The answer is “The grace of God is manifested in the second covenant, in that he freely provideth and offereth to sinners a mediator, and life and salvation by him; and, requiring faith as the condition to interest them in him, promiseth and giveth his Holy Spirit to all his elect, to work in them that faith, with all other saving graces; and to enable them unto all holy obedience, as the evidence of the truth of their faith, and thankfulness to God, and as the way which he hath appointed them to salvation.”
Question 71 asks “How is justification an act of God’s free grace?”
The answer is “Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepteth the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.”
Even more directly, question 72 asks “What is justifying faith?
The answer is “Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner,by the Spirit and Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation.”
Any other Reformed Confession or Catechism would assert the same: faith is a gift and, to use your words, “is something that’s outside ourselves.” Although there are areas of differences between Lutheran and Reformed, this isn’t one of them.
Again, I would be real interested to know the name of the author and book so I can try to figure out exactly what the author meant.
Keep up the good broadcasts.
Your brother in Christ,
JT
JT,
I believe the author was Wayne Grudem. Either way, I’m forwarding your comment on to Brian and I’ll have him respond to you.
I did find the following in Grudem’s Systematic Theology:
“But we may ask why God chose faith to be the attitude of heart by which we would obtain justification. Why could God not have decided to give justification to all those who sincerely show love? Of who show joy? Or contentment? Or humility? Or wisdom? Why did God choose faith as the means by which we receive justification?”
Is this the section to which Brian was referring?
JT,
As I am not familiar with the source, I can’t answer that. It does sound like the quote Brian uses. I have forwarded this comment on to Brian as well. With the COVID stuff upending the way we do ministry, and Holy Week upon us, he may be delayed in answering. Thanks in advance for your patience, and thanks for your good questions.
JT,
Brian confirmed with me that you have the correct quote. He apologized for his delay in responding to you, but as I mentioned above, the changes we’ve had to make due to the coronavirus coupled with Holy Week have more or less consumed all his time.
I went back and listened to Brian’s statement again and it seem clear that he contrasts this statement with his statement that “faith is something that’s outside ourselves”. Please ask Brian what about Grudem’s quote indicates that faith is not outside ourselves. I don’t see it especially when you consider the context of the quote which is the following:
“After Paul explains in Romans 1:18–3:20 that no one will ever be able to make himself righteous before God (‘For no human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law,’ Rom. 3:20), then Paul goes on to explain that ‘since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 3:23–24). God’s ‘grace’ means his ‘unmerited favor.’ Because we are completely unable to earn favor with God, the only way we could be declared righteous is if God freely provides salvation for us by grace, totally apart from our work. Paul explains, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast’ (Eph. 2:8–9; cf. Titus 3:7). Grace is clearly put in contrast to works or merit as the reason why God is willing to justify us. God did not have any obligation to impute our sin to Christ or to impute Christ’s righteousness to us; it was only because of his unmerited favor that he did this.
“In distinction from the Roman Catholic teaching that we are justified by God’s grace plus some merit of our own as we make ourselves fit to receive the grace of justification and as we grow in this state of grace though our good works, Luther and the other Reformers insisted that justification comes by grace alone not by grace plus some merit on our part.
“E. God Justifies Us Through Our Faith in Christ
“When we began this chapter we noted that justification comes after saving faith. Paul makes this sequence clear when he says, ‘We have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified’ (Gal. 2:16). Here Paul indicates that faith comes first and it is for the purpose of being justified. He also says that Christ is ‘to be received by faith’ and that God ‘justifies him who has faith in Jesus’ (Rom. 3:25, 26). The entire chapter of Romans 4 is a defense of the fact that we are justified by faith, not by works, just as Abraham and David themselves were. Paul says, ‘We are justified by faith’ (Rom. 5:1).
“Scripture never says that we are justified because of the inherent goodness of our faith, as if our faith has merit before God. It never allows us to think that our faith in itself earns favor with God. Rather, Scripture says that we are justified ‘by means of’ our faith, understanding faith to be the instrument through which justification is given to us, but not at all an activity that earns us merit or favor with God. Rather, we are justified solely because of the merits of Christ’s work (Rom. 5:17–19).
“But we may ask why God chose faith to be the attitude of heart by which we would obtain justification. Why could God not have decided to give justification to all those who sincerely show love? Or who show joy? Or contentment? Or humility? Or wisdom? Why did God choose faith as the means by which we receive justification?
“It is apparently because faith is the one attitude of heart that is the exact opposite of depending on ourselves. When we come to Christ in faith we essentially say, ‘I give up! I will not depend on myself or my own good works any longer. I know that I can never make myself righteous before God. Therefore, Jesus, I trust you and depend on you completely to give me a righteous standing before God.’ In this way, faith is the exact opposite of trusting in ourselves, and therefore it is the attitude that perfectly fits salvation that depends not at all on our own merit but entirely on God’s free gift of grace. Paul explains this when he says, ‘That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants’ (Rom. 4:16). This is why the Reformers from Martin Luther on were so firm in their insistence that justification comes not through faith plus some merit or good work on our part, but only through faith alone. ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast’ (Eph. 2:8–9). Paul repeatedly says that “no human being will be justified in his sight by works of law” (Rom. 3:20); the same idea is repeated in Galatians 2:16; 3:11; 5:4.”
At the core of Calvinist theology is that we are dead in our trespasses and sins and that faith is a gift. All you have to do is look at our confessions. I have already shown what the Westminster standards say about it. Here is what the Belgic Confession says about it:
“We believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of this great mystery the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, and makes him its own, and no longer looks for anything apart from him.” – Article 22
“We believe that this true faith, produced in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates him and makes him a ‘new man,” causing him to live the ‘new life’ and freeing him from the slavery of sin.” – Article 24
From the Canons of Dordt
Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith
The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: “It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ” (Phil. 1:29 ).”
Article 6: God’s Eternal Decision
The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decision.
Article 7: Election
And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them.
Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith
Accordingly, election is the source of each of the benefits of salvation. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects.
In the list of errors that the Canons of Dordt the following statements are made:
“For they deceive the simple and plainly contradict Holy Scripture in its testimony that God does not only wish to save those who would believe, but that he has also from eternity chosen certain particular people to whom, rather than to others, he would within time grant faith in Christ and perseverance.”
Question 65 of the Heidelberg Catechism asks “It is by faith alone that we share in Christ and all his benefits: where then does that faith come from?”
The answer is this: “The Holy Spirit works it in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments.”
Could the answer be more clear than this?! All of these statements and the ones in the Westminster standards support the idea that “faith is something that’s outside ourselves”.
What made me really sad about Brian’s statement was that it came directly on the heals of your statement about how our faith was created ex nihilo. I was in my car listening to you say this and my reaction was one of saying “Amen!” Then right after that, Brian tells me that many of the brightest minds in my wing of the Church would deny that.
The statement Brian highlighted clearly seems to be Grudem engaging in some kind of “sanctified speculation” and is hardly core to Calvinistic teaching. Again, I have never heard or read any Calvinist say or write anything even close to it.
I still believe none of you want to misrepresent those with whom you disagree. Calvinists do have disagreements with Lutherans. However, as I wrote before, this is not an area in which we disagree. I could be wrong about this since I have not read every thing written by every Calvinist theologian or heard all that they have said, however, it seems to me that it was a misrepresentation (even a gross misrepresentation) for Brian to insinuate that “a lot of Calvinists theologians” disagree with the idea that “faith is something that’s outside ourselves” based on this one minor speculative statement.
It seems to me that Brian’s misstatement about us Calvinists really needs to be retracted unless, of course, he can provide us with quotes from “a lot of Calvinist theologians” that faith is not a gift from outside of ourselves.
Thank you, again, JT, for your thoroughness in responding. I have forwarded your comment on to Brian, and I’m guessing he’ll interact with you more once things have calmed down after Easter.
Jason,
It seems as if Brian has no intention of walking back his broad-brush stroke criticism in this episode. I am sorry that he has not found the time to take to the air to correct the really bad misimpression he has left out there regarding Calvinists. It should be corrected in the same fashion as the misstatement was made. Corrected it on these messages would not cure the wrong.
In an attempt to help going forward I would like to suggest that when you compare your theology with other theologies you use an apples-to-apples comparison. For instance, when you are using your Confession to defend your theological position please use the Confession from another Tradition in comparing and contrasting and NOT a single line from a single theologian who is merely speculating.
Brian’s statement has less legitimacy than if he had said, also based on Grudem’s Systematic theology, “a lot of Calvinist theologians would say that only those who give a believable profession of personal faith should be baptized” because its “a line straight out of one of their systematic books.” That statement is more legitimate than his initial statement because there are a lot of Reformed Baptists who hold to that view of baptism. I would hope that Brian, and you, would realize that this leaves a very bad impression regarding the rest of us Calvinists who believe not only in credobaptism but also in paedobaptism. Leaving out that incredibly important point might allow your followers to think that all Calvinists hold to this position and, worse, you would be guilty of transgressing the commandment (I’m not going to say the number since I know we have a different numbering system) against bearing false witness.
I think I have noted in previous posts that there are legitimate disagreements between Lutherans and Reformed and that is one of the main reasons I love listening to you guys. I really want to know why you believe what you believe and see if your reasoning is such that I should consider changing mine. Listening to this podcast has also helped me misrepresent Lutheran theology less than I have in the past because I am learning nuance. I know you don’t want you podcast to do that at all. But it did in a BIG way with Brian’s unnuanced statement.
Peace of Christ be with you all.
JT