There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Savior;
There is healing in His blood.
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify His strictness
With a zeal He will not own.
Frederick Faber
(HT: Martin)
December 1, 2006
Faber Hymn
Posted by Tony Byrne at 12/01/2006
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4 comments:
There is a lot of profound truth in that sentiment. While we contemplate the awesomeness of the sovereignty of God, we often are too strongly inclined to limit the magnificence of his goodness, mercy, and grace. I'm reminded of the guy on the internet (who shall remain nameless) who only wants to talk about "real grace." By that he means only saving grace. Anything else is a diversion. But this attitude minimizes and ... dare I say it? ... blasphemes the great goodness of God to sinners.
Tony: I just read your comment over at Founders regarding Akins letter. WHAT did you just say? It sure sounded profound. As if there are some Calvinists who go beyond what some Calvinists believe? And even further than some who go beyond that? Am I correct? I'm just beginning to try and figure out Calvinists. And it is getting hard because Calvinists don't all think alike. At least I don't think they do. selahV
Hi SelahV,
Thanks for contacting me. I hope you return to my blog and continue to ask questions. I've been studying the history and theology of Calvinism for quite some time, so I hope that I can help you in that regard.
With respect to my comments on that Founders post, I was attempting to say that the way Dr. Akin, Dr. Ascol and Dr. White define hyper-Calvinism is simplistic and misleading. In order to understand hyper-Calvinism (an exaggerated view of divine sovereignty that undermines certain biblical truths), one must first know what authentic or historic Calvinism is. This may be why you are having some problems thinking through all of these matters.
Dr. Akin portrayed hyper-Calvinism as being against evangelism and against human responsibility, among other things. There were some hypers (such as the Primitive Baptists) who were against those things, but many who were hyper were not. It's misleading to define hyperism that way because certain people today who are hyper (like those in the Protestant Reformed Church) have no problem affirming both, yet they deny God's love for all (or common grace) and well-meant gospel offers. Basically, Dr. Akin and Dr. Ascol are describing hyperism like David Engelsma (a PRC hyper) would. Engelsma's work on hyperism is inaccurate at best. He himself is hyper, so of course his definition will seek to narrowly associate hyperism with Primitive Baptists alone, or with those who reject the need to evangelize and human responsibility.
SelahV,
I would encourage you to listen to the lectures by Dr. Curt Daniel on The History and Theology of Calvinism. If that link doesn't work for some reason, then Click Here instead.
Also, in order to understand the so called "TULIP", I would point you to Robert L. Dabney's work The Five Points of Calvinism. If you have any other questions about these subjects, I would be glad to help.
God bless,
Tony
Hi Steve,
As usual, I whole-heartedly agree with what you've said :-)
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