“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
Rom. 8:30
“…Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Eph. 5:25-27
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Heb. 9:14
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Subsections
Calling
. Outward Call
. Effectual Call
Regeneration
Conversion
. Repentance
. Faith
Spiritual Union to Christ
Covenant of Grace
Justification
Adoption
Sanctification
Perseverance
Glorification
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Order of Contents
Articles 6
Books 2
Quote 1
Spirit given through Christ the Head 1
Aquinas vs. Scotus 1
Latin 7
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Articles
1500’s
Musculus, Wolfgang – ‘Dispensation or Bestowing of the Grace of God & of Man’s Salvation Purchased by Christ the Redeemer’ in Common Places of the Christian Religion (1560; London, 1563), folio 140.a
Musculus taught a general redemption.
Viret, Pierre – A Christian Instruction… (London: Veale, 1573), A Familiar Exposition of the Principal Points of the Catechism
3rd Dialogue
Of the Communication in the Benefits of Jesus Christ
11th Dialogue: Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost Belonging Only to the Elect
Of the Number of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, & of the distribution of them
Of the Diversity of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, and of the difference of them
Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost necessary for every man to obtain salvation thereby
In what Sort Charity is Necessary to Salvation
Of the Regeneration of a Christian Man
Of the Life of the Regenerate Man
Zanchi, Girolamo – ‘Of the Dispensation of Salvation by Christ, out of the First Chapter of the Ephesians [20 Theses]’ (1580) in Confession of the Christian Religion… (1586; Cambridge, 1599), pp. 419-24
Zanchi (1516-1590) was an important rerformed, Italian, clergyman and educator, who influenced the development of reformed theology after Calvin’s death.
Ursinus, Zachary – The Sum of Christian Religion: Delivered… in his Lectures upon the Catechism… tr. Henrie Parrie (Oxford, 1587), pt. 2, pp. 564-71 & 576-80
Of Christ’s Death, 3. The fruit of Christ’s death
‘The Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead’, 4. What are the Fruits of Christ’s Resurrection
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1600’s
Perkins, William – 58. Of the Application of Predestination in A Golden Chain (Cambridge: Legat, 1600)
van Mastricht, Peter – ch. 1, ‘The Nature of Application’ in Theoretical Practical Theology (2nd ed. 1698; RHB), vol. 5, pt. 1, bk. 6
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Books
1600’s
van Mastricht, Peter – Bk. 6, ‘Of the Application of Redemption’ in Theoretical-Practical Theology… (2nd ed. 1698; RHB), vol. 5
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1900’s
Murray, John – pt. 2, chs. 1-10 of Redemption Accomplished & Applied (Eerdmans, 1955), pp. 79-182 ToC
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Quote
1600’s
Spanheim, Sr., Friedrich
Disputationum Theologicarum Miscellaneorum Pars Prima (d. 1649; Geneva: Chouët, 1652), ‘Miscellaneous Theological Disputation’, trans. AI by Roman Prestarri at Confessionally Reformed Theology Latin
“24. Applicatory works of grace are either external or internal.
25. External ones are both calling through the Word, partly of Law, partly of gospel, and the sealing of those called through sacraments.
26. Calling through Law is prior, and that partly imperative of obedience, partly declarative of sanction, both promissory and comminatory.
27. Calling through gospel is posterior, and is imperative, first of repentance, afterward of faith.
28. Some acts of faith are as it were generic, another as it were specific, of which the latter is not required except with the former being posited.
29. Calling through nature to God the Creator is broader; calling through the word to God the redeemer is stricter.
30. Universal calling to salvation neither was, nor is, nor will be.
31. That hope of special mercy is shown in nature, or that this is the instrument of gospel-calling, is false, nor can this be said without nature being established as a herald of grace.
32. Internal applicatory works of grace are partly the effectual calling of man, partly justification of the one called, partly sanctification of the one justified, partly glorification of the one sanctified.
33. Effectual calling consists in the production of faith, nor is it made only through illumination of the intellect, but also through the efficacious motion of the heart.
34. Its object are the elect alone, although not all, such as are those who are intercepted by precipitous death before all use of reason. Its instrument is neither the voice of nature, nor the word of the Law, but of the gospel.
35. Justification both presupposes and accompanies effectual calling with indivisible connection.
36. But it is not a physical action, but moral, or rather forensic, nor transmutative of the subject, nor inhesive in the subject, but rather terminative toward the subject.
37. It is to be attributed to God efficiently, to Christ meritoriously, to faith instrumentally.
38. One act of faith is direct toward its object, another reflexive toward itself. Also the first act of faith is to believe, the second to work through charity and by means of it.
39. This latter act is the instrument of our sanctification, which is mortification of the old man according to all parts and faculties that are in us, and vivification of the new according to the same. But that is not perfect in the way, but such it will be in the goal, nor is it given here consummated, but only begun.
40. Sanctification is succeeded by glorification, which consists both in the perfection of sanctity and in the conferring of felicity, which can be regarded partly in the vision of God, partly in love and fruition of God seen.”
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On the Holy Spirit being given to Believers through Christ in the Flesh, their Head, in Heaven
Quote
1600’s
Richard Baxter
A Christian Directory... (London: 1673), Question 42, ‘But the great question is, How the Holy Ghost is given to infants in baptism?…’, pp. 818-19
“But it is Christ as our Mediator-Head that is first given us in relative union: and then:
1. The Father loves us with complacency as in the Son, and for the sake of his first beloved.
2. And the Spirit which is given us in relation is first the Spirit of Christ our Head; and not first inherent in us: So that by union with our Head, that Spirit is next united to us, both relatively, and as radically inherent in the human nature of our Lord, to whom we are united. As the nerves and animal spirits which are to operate in all the body, are radically only in the head, from whence they flow into, and operate on the members as there is need (though there may be obstructions); So the Spirit dwells in the human nature of our Head; and there it can never be lost; And it is not necessary that it dwell in us by way of radication, but by way of influence and operation.
These things are distinctly and clearly understood but by very few; and we are all much in the dark about them. But I think (however doctrinally we may speak better) that most Christians are habituated to this perilous misapprehension (which is partly against Christianity itself) that the Spirit flows immediately from the divine nature of the Father and the Son (as to the authoritative or potestative conveyance) unto our souls. And we forget that it is first given to Christ in his glorified humanity as our Head, and radicated in Him, and that it is the office of this glorified Head to send or communicate to all his members, from Himself, that Spirit which must operate in them as they have need.
This is plain in many texts of Scripture:
Rom. 8:32 ‘He that spared not his own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?’ (when He gives Him particularly to us)
1 Jn. 5:11-12 ‘And this is the record that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son: He that hath the Son hath the life, and he that hath not the Son hath not the life.’
Rom. 8:9 ‘If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his.’
Eph. 1:22-23 ‘And gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.’
Jn. 15:26 ‘The Advocate or Comforter whom I will send unto you from the Father, etc.’
Jn. 16:7 ‘If I depart, I will send Him unto you.’
Jn. 14:26 ‘The Comforter whom the Father will send in my Name.’
Gal. 4:6 ‘And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.’
Gal. 2:20 ‘I live: yet not I, but Christ liveth in me’ (I know that is true of his living in us objectively and finally, but that seems not to be all)
Col. 3:3-4 ‘For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in Glory.’ (I know that in verse 3 by ‘life’ is meant felicity or glory, but not only, as appears by verse 4, where Christ is called ‘our life’)
Mt. 28:19 ‘All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth’; verse 20, ‘I am with you always…’
Jn. 13:3 ‘The Father hath given all things into his hands.’
Jn. 17:2-3 ‘Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him, and this is life eternal to know thee, etc.’
Jn. 5:21 ‘The Son quickeneth whom He will:’ v. 26, ‘For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.’
Jn. 6:27 ‘Labor for that meat which endureth to everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed.’ vv. 32-33 ‘He giveth life unto the world.’ vv. 53-56 ‘Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life—dwelleth in Me and I in him—my flesh is meat indeed—As the Living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.’ v. 63 ‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing.’
Jn. 7:39 ‘This spake He of the Spirit which they that believe in Him should receive.’
Jn. 3:34 ‘God giveth not the Spirit to Him by measure.’
1 Cor. 6:17 ‘He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.’
2 Cor. 3:17 ‘The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’
Phil. 1:19 ‘Through the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.’
Jn. 15:4 ‘Abide in Me and I in you: As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me.’ v. 5 ‘I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: For without Me (or, out of Me, or, severed from Me) ye can do nothing.’
I will add no more: All this is proof enough that the Spirit is not given radically or immediately from God to any believer, but to Christ, and so derivatively from him to us. Not that the divine nature in the Third Person is subject to the human nature in Christ, but that God has made it the office of our Mediator’s glorified humanity to be the cistern that shall first receive the waters of life, and convey them by the pipes of his appointed means to all the offices of his house: or to be the head of the animal spirits, and by nerves to convey them to all the members.”
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On the Teaching of Thomas Aquinas vs. John Duns Scotus
Article
1600’s
Macedo, Francisco – 3. ‘Difference between the aids of auxiliary grace in the angels and in the states of integral and fallen nature’ in Collations of the Teachings of St. Thomas & Scotus, with the Differences between the Two… vol. 2 tr. AI by Vertias (Padua: Frambotti, 1671), bk. 2, Collation 7, pp. 103-70 A more detailed ToC is given at the beginning of the volume.
Macedo (1596-1681), known as S. Augustino, was a Portuguese Franciscan theologian. While exercising independent judgment, he tends to lean original-Scotus. He had a very good knowledge of Aquinas’s works (and of Thomists and their works) through his life (vol. 2, p. 424).
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Latin Articles
1500’s
Beza, Theodore – Theological Tracts… (Geneva, 1570), vol. 3, 13. A Most Complete Tract on the Doctrine & True Use of Predestination, out of Lectures of Theodore Beza on the 9th Chapter of the Letter to the Romans
Theses on the Particular Application of Predestination to the Elect… 439
Theses on the Application of the Doctrine of Reprobation to the Reprobate 439
Zanchi, Girolamo – 7, ‘The Application of Salvation by Christ, out of Eph. 1 [20 Theses]’ in The Faith of the Christian Religion (Newstadt, 1588; 1601), [Series of] Theses of Some Principal Articles of the Christian Faith Against Various Heresies, pp. 436-41
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1600’s
Burman, Francis – A Synopsis of Theology… (Utrecht, 1671), vol. 1, bk. 2, Locus 12, ‘Of the Execution of the Covenant of Grace’
16. Of the Promulgation & Application of the Covenant of Grace 497
17. Of the Subject of the Covenant of Grace. Where is treated of its latitude & universal grace 499-506
Burman (1628-79)
van Mastricht, Petrus – Theoretical & Practical Theology… new ed. (Utrecht, 1724), Book 6, of the Application of Redemption
1. Of the Nature of the Application 1 Pet. 1:2 737
2. Of the Calling of the Redeemed 1 Pet. 2:9 747
3. Of the Regeneration of the Redeemed Job 3:5 757
4. Of the Conversion of the Redeemed Jer. 31:18-19 774
5. Of the Union of the Redeemed with Christ 1 Cor. 1:30 789
6. Of the Justification of the Redeemed Rom. 3:22-27 799
7. Of the Adoption of the Redeemed 1 Jn. 3:1 823
8. Of the Sanctification of the Redeemed 1 Thess. 5:23 832
9. Of the Glorification of the Redeemed Rom. 8:39 855
Van Mastricht (1630-1706)
Heidegger, Johann H. – Theses 39-40, ‘Of the Application of the Covenant of Grace’ in Locus 11, ‘Of the Covenant of Grace’ in The Marrow of Christian Theology... (d. 1698; Zurich, 1713), pp. 250-51
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1700’s
Van Til (1643-1713)
Stapfer, Johann – 19, ‘Of the Application of the Means of Deliverance’ in Institutes of Universal Polemical Theology, Ordered in a Scientific Arrangement (Zurich, 1756), vol. 1, theses 1247-1473, pp. 352-408
Stapfer (1708-1775) was a professor of theology at Bern. He was influenced by the philosophical rationalism of Christian Wolff, though, by him “the orthodox reformed tradition was continued with little overt alteration of the doctrinal loci and their basic definitions.” – Richard Muller
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“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Titus 2:14
“God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
Gal. 4:4-5
“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed, He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”
Isa. 53:10
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Related Pages
On the Recovery & Redemption of Man
Faith as a Non-Meritorious Condition & Instrument of Justification
On the Holy Spirit being given to Believers through Christ in the Flesh, their Head, in Heaven