The Church of Christ
Especially in an age of doubt and confusion,
it is her duty to define the Christian faith and proclaim it to the world.
Especially in an age of doubt and confusion,
it is her duty to define the Christian faith and proclaim it to the world.
What do the scriptures principally teach?
The scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
Hold fast to the form of sound words, which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:13).
This has been a very helpful question and answer for me. How important for the Christian to have a structured answer for what the Bible principally teaches. The Westminster claims it teaches who God is, and what He commands us to do.
Let's think about some of the things that would apply under these two catagories:
What we are to believe about God: Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Holiness, Justice, Grace, Wrath, Mercy, God's relationships and covenants with mankind, God's decrees, God's heart.
What we are to believe about what God requires of us: keeping the law, faithfulness, repentance toward God, faith in Jesus Christ, holiness.
All the great things can be put under these two categories. Considering the historical books of the Bible (Kings, Chronicles, Ezra...etc), the confession is claiming that God is teaching us who He is and what He requires of us - which is why I went on a spill about Christians desperately needing to read the whole Bible my last post. It's easy to assume we understand God, but God is too big. Mankind (Christian or not) cannot possibly just naturally learn these things, who God is and what He requires of us, through personal feelings and life's experiences. We, as Christians, are to carefully search and submit to all that we find in His Word. Anything outside of the Word of God will only lead to confusion, danger, and in the end, death.
Hold fast to the form of sound words, which you have heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:13).
This has been a very helpful question and answer for me. How important for the Christian to have a structured answer for what the Bible principally teaches. The Westminster claims it teaches who God is, and what He commands us to do.
Let's think about some of the things that would apply under these two catagories:
What we are to believe about God: Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, Holiness, Justice, Grace, Wrath, Mercy, God's relationships and covenants with mankind, God's decrees, God's heart.
What we are to believe about what God requires of us: keeping the law, faithfulness, repentance toward God, faith in Jesus Christ, holiness.
All the great things can be put under these two categories. Considering the historical books of the Bible (Kings, Chronicles, Ezra...etc), the confession is claiming that God is teaching us who He is and what He requires of us - which is why I went on a spill about Christians desperately needing to read the whole Bible my last post. It's easy to assume we understand God, but God is too big. Mankind (Christian or not) cannot possibly just naturally learn these things, who God is and what He requires of us, through personal feelings and life's experiences. We, as Christians, are to carefully search and submit to all that we find in His Word. Anything outside of the Word of God will only lead to confusion, danger, and in the end, death.
3 comments:
Hey JMo. This is Matthew. You have some really interesting posts on here. Keep at it! How is your relationship with the RP church? Have you considered becoming a member?
Reading your posts, I think you should seriously consider the full-time ministry. The church needs more people like you, and our denomination always needs more laborers. You can reply with a comment on this blog or on facebook.
See you,
- Matthew
He is a member :)
I like the idea of going through the Catechism Jon, I've just been getting back into the memorization of the Larger again, after my break. I need to review some of the older ones but man, each answer is pretty fully packed and carefully stated if you take the time to examine it! Very concise!
Thanks for the encouragement. I had actually set my attention on other things, but I'm afraid I need to learn the discipline of finishing what I started.
I'll work on a post then!
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