tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-139489332024-03-18T04:48:03.524-05:00Theological MeditationsPhilippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.comBlogger1270125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-67543092893332408572024-03-18T04:21:00.003-05:002024-03-18T04:21:43.212-05:00Richard Muller on Calvin & the Problem of Divine Will, Permission, & ContingencyTony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-69504953870501316082023-10-28T21:13:00.001-05:002023-10-28T21:13:29.307-05:00William Dyer (d. 1696) on Christ’s General and Special Love2. Secondly, Christ is a King that loves his subjects with a distinguishing love and a separating love; the general love of Christ is scattered and branched out to all the creatures in the world, but his special love is exceeding great, and rich love is only settled upon his Church. Now if you ask me what Christs distinguishing love is, I shall name it, and but name it to you.
First, ’Tis Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-59394599895166626542023-06-26T15:47:00.001-05:002023-06-28T17:16:19.681-05:00Petrus van Mastricht (1630–1706) on Universal and Common GraceWhat is universal grace and what sort is it?
XV. Now we would not repeat concerning grace what we just above taught concerning love, if a manifold controversy, one that has been in every age most vexing, did not urge us to do so. There is, then, first, universal grace, by which God dispenses natural things to each and every creature and is thus named the Savior of all (1 Tim. 4:10), the one who Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-53766594760404167452023-05-22T08:57:00.000-05:002023-05-22T08:57:26.081-05:00R. C. Sproul (1939–2017) on God’s Will of DispositionGod’s Will of Disposition
While we understand that the decretive will and the preceptive will of God are part of His overall will, other aspects of the mystery of His sovereignty remain. One such aspect is [p 21] “the will of disposition.” It is tied up with the ability of man to disobey God’s preceptive will.
This aspect of the will of God refers to what is pleasing and agreeable to God. It Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-4413862735169782822023-05-14T04:43:00.001-05:002023-05-14T04:44:43.254-05:00James Ussher (1581–1656) on 1 Peter 3:18–20 and Christ’s Preaching Through NoahBut touching the words of St. Peter, is the main doubt, whether they are to be referred unto Christ’s preaching by the ministry of Noah unto the world of the ungodly, or unto his own immediate preaching to the spirits in hell after his death upon the cross. For seeing that it was the spirit of Christ which spake in the prophets, as St. Peter (1 Pet 1:11) sheweth in this same epistle, and among Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-75790793736320528862023-04-16T11:43:00.003-05:002023-04-16T11:44:30.712-05:00William Ames (1576–1633) on Christ’s Love for the Human RaceFor in this respect, Christ was a scandal to the Jews and folly to the Greeks [1 Cor. 1:23], but if we carefully and rightly weigh within ourselves that Christ suffered everything He suffered, not out of constraint or any other necessity or external force, but out of the obedience of love towards the human race so that He might exhibit to us the most perfect model of obedience in His own person, Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-78706146004540795792023-04-14T22:41:00.001-05:002023-04-14T22:41:22.874-05:00Geerhardus Vos (1862–1949) on Common Grace12. What is the relationship between the operations of common grace and the special grace of the Holy Spirit?
To understand correctly the difference between these two in connection with the preceding distinction, we must move out of the sphere of nature into the sphere of revelation. This revelation is itself the product of a wholly supernatural act of grace. The announcement of the truth of God Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-70133113198258009382023-04-12T05:30:00.001-05:002023-04-12T05:30:49.899-05:00Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635–1711) on the Love of GodThe Love of God
Love is an essential attribute of God by which the Lord delights Himself in that which is good, it being well-pleasing to Him, and uniting Himself to it consistent with the nature of the object of His love. The love of God by definition is the loving God Himself, for which reason John states that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). When we view the love of God relative to its objects, Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-18944067588246984912023-04-06T23:51:00.003-05:002023-04-06T23:57:22.683-05:00David Clarkson (1622–1686) on God’s Common and Special Love4. The love of Christ appears by what he has given us; his love-tokens. Whatever we have, for being or well-being, spring from his love. It is love that opens those infinite treasures of goodness, which had else been eternally locked up from the creatures. And though, in these showers of mercy, some drops fall upon the wicked, and so seem common, yet the fountain of love, from whence they issue, Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-71525237566620171292023-03-26T09:42:00.000-05:002023-03-26T09:42:13.551-05:00Donald John MacLean on John Knox (c.1514–1572), the Gospel Offer, Common Grace, and God’s Universal LoveThe Gospel Offer, Common Grace, and God’s Universal Love
Knox’s strong articulation of double predestination was accompanied by a belief in a gospel offer genuinely made to all who hear it, and a love and grace of God that was common to all. He clearly stated that the gospel offer extends beyond the elect.96 He noted that the word of God works ‘diversly in the heartes of those to whom it is Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-23031402259673590412023-03-22T16:12:00.554-05:002023-11-26T11:30:36.203-06:00Various Theologians on the Association of Common Grace Blessings to the Death of ChristI will continue to fill this out further and add more sources as time permits. The names provided are in chronological (or flourishing) order.
OutlineI. Some Definitions of GraceII. Note on the TerminologyIII. Note on the Ambiguous Use of “Universal Aspect”IV. Note on the Broader Historical ContextV. Circa 16th CenturyMartin Luther (1483–1546)John Calvin (1509–1564)VI. Circa 17th CenturyJohn Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-89194240478626106872023-03-19T05:32:00.003-05:002023-03-20T03:29:48.626-05:00Amandus Polanus von Polansdorf (1561–1610) on God’s General and Special LoveEnglish Translation by Cathedralulus:When love is attributed to God in Scripture, it does not mean a passion or an affect, for God is dispassionate [ἀπαθής], the freest, the most blissful, the most blessed, the most perfect. Nothing slavish happens to Him, nothing lowly, and finally nothing that indicates any imperfection. But God’s love denotes three completely, perfect things: eternal Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-32596549949226113182023-02-26T08:57:00.001-06:002023-02-27T11:19:57.100-06:00Thomas Goodwin (1600–1680) on God’s Common and Special LoveThis I greedily take hold of, to illustrate and carry on the ground and foundation of the special love he bears to his elect, and as agreeing with what the Scriptures say; both that love is in God, (which no man can deny to be in the nature of God to love, for he loves himself, his Son, &c.,) and that love is the ground of mercy, and, by the same reason, special electing love the ground of Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-39221098850024433812023-01-25T15:37:00.000-06:002023-01-25T15:37:21.390-06:00D. A. Carson (1946–) on God’s Provisional and Conditional Love Toward His Own PeopleIt is all too common to hear Christians talking about the unconditional love of God (which Carson touches on as well), but there is very little mention of God’s conditional love. On that note, here is some good material by Carson on the subject:2.5 God’s Provisional or Conditional Love Toward His Own People
God’s love is sometimes said to be directed toward his own people in a provisional or Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-82892000019455880122022-12-27T13:29:00.005-06:002022-12-28T08:27:38.802-06:00Marcus Friedrich Wendelin (1584–1652) on the Love of GodEnglish translation by Steven Dilday:THESIS XXIII: The Love of God is that whereby He delights Himself in that of which He approves, and desires good for it, and unites it to Himself.
EXPLANATION: I. Scripture attributes Love to God, John 3:16, God so loved the world; and verse 35, the Father loveth the Son; Romans 5:8, God commendeth His love toward us, etc.; 1 John 4:8, God is love.
II. A Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-4568946954143666812022-10-31T01:28:00.004-05:002022-10-31T10:42:52.031-05:00Ezekiel Hopkins (1634–1690) on the Saveability of All Men by the All-Sufficient Death of ChristNone of you are excluded from a possibility of being saved. The Covenant of Grace runs in most large and comprehensive terms: Whosoever believeth shall obtain eternal life. The death of Christ and his blood is a most sovereign medicine, applicable, not only to all maladies, but to all men, if they will believe. Though it is true, that none shall be saved but the elect; yet is it true also, that aTony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-48343085475431423942022-10-06T07:20:00.004-05:002022-10-07T02:59:13.692-05:00John Mayer’s (1583–1664) Explanation of the Redemption of All Mankind in the CatechismQuest. What doest thou chiefly learn out of these articles of thy Faith?
Answ. First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me and all the world. Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind. Thirdly, in God the Holy ghost, who hath sanctified me, and all the elect people of God.
Explain. In this, one thing must be warily understood, viz. How Jesus Christ the Son Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-62451892968659565402022-09-25T14:25:00.023-05:002022-11-27T07:48:20.506-06:00Miscellaneous Quotes from Martin Luther (1483–1546) Related to the Love of God and the Death of Christ for the Sins of the Whole World and Human RaceSelect Works:Volume 4:
This is therefore a new prophecy never heard of any one before. For here, the one Christ alone casts away the general punishment of the whole human race, contained in Gen. 3 “And unto dust shalt thou return:” nor does the scripture, which consigns all men to dust, ever say any such thing of any one but Christ. He alone, by a new and glorious MICHTAM, bears this sweet and Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-87163622519902101342022-09-25T10:04:00.000-05:002022-09-25T10:04:43.106-05:00Martin Luther (1483–1546) on John 1:29Behold, the Lamb of God!
This is an excellent and splendid testimony of John regarding the introduction of the new rule and kingdom of Christ. It is a powerful statement. The words are clear and lucid; they tell us what one should think of Christ. John’s earlier words (John 1:17), “The Law was given through Moses,” can hardly be called praise of Moses. But in this passage John virtually chides Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-45935009602950602712022-09-23T10:51:00.001-05:002022-09-23T10:51:20.975-05:00Philip Doddridge (1702–1751) on 1 Timothy 2:4d Will have all men to be saved.] It is far from being my design, in any of these notes, to enter deep into controversy, but I must confess I have never been satisfied with that interpretation which explains all men here, merely as signifying some of all sorts and ranks of men; since I fear it might also be said on the principles of those who are fondest of this gloss, that he also wills all men Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-51356434747570733532022-09-22T04:59:00.026-05:002022-09-23T13:04:42.730-05:00Richard Stock (c.1569–1626) on the General and Special Love of GodNext he loves his creatures freely; the cause why he loves them, is in himself, not in them; he loves some with a special love, and some with a general, freely; that appears by the Scriptures, John 3:16. God so loves the world. 1 John 1:3. Herein is the love of God manifest, that he hath given us his son. 1 John 4:19. God loves us first; if first, then freely; and no love in us, procured his loveTony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-68972337983808421642022-09-18T10:20:00.001-05:002022-09-19T03:36:52.684-05:00An Excerpt from Martin Luther’s (1483–1546) Second Sermon on Mark 7:31–37TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Second Sermon—Mark 7:31–37
This sermon is given in place of the preceding sermon in edition c and appeared in pamphlet form under the title: “A sermon on the Gospel of Mark, 7th chapter, preached in the Castle Church at Wittenberg before the Elector and Duke Henry of Saxony by Dr. Martin Luther. Wittenberg, 1534.” At the close stands: Printed at Wittenberg by NicholasTony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-77433979086249378692022-09-18T05:19:00.025-05:002022-09-18T09:09:58.208-05:00Martin Luther (1483–1546) on John 3:16–21Gospel for Pentecost Monday
John 3:16–211
1. This is one of the best and most glorious Gospel readings, characteristic of St. John’s writing, so that it would be worthy of being written in golden letters, not on paper but on the heart, if it could be. It really should be the daily reading and meditation of every Christian in his prayers, in order to intercede for himself, to strengthen his Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-40430305249846612912022-09-09T12:35:00.004-05:002024-03-03T21:25:12.240-06:00Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) on God Kneeling to Sinners in the Offers of GraceRemedy (9). The ninth remedy against this device of Satan is, seriously to consider, That it is no disparagement to you to be first in seeking peace and reconcilement, but rather an honour to you, that you have begun to seek peace. Abraham was the elder, and more worthy than Lot, both in respect of grace and nature also, for he was uncle unto Lot, and yet he first seeks peace of his inferior, Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13948933.post-42244346468681644212022-09-05T11:05:00.005-05:002022-09-05T11:09:43.420-05:00Benjamin Keach’s (1640–1704) Notes Related to Matthew 23:37THE COMPASSION OF CHRIST TO SINNERS UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A HEN
“How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a Hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Matt. 23:37.
The Lord Jesus shows by these words his great compassion and affection to the Jews, who refused the offers of his love and infinite favour.
Three things are considerable in the text.
1. Tony Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02102293843397809802noreply@blogger.com0