Westminster around the Web

This week on Westminster around the Web we'll focus on the doctrine of Trinity. Let's see what is being blogged concerning this great doctrine:

The Da Vinci Code is popular and now being made into a big Hollywood movie. One of the key claims of the The Da Vinci Code is that the doctrine of the Trinity and the deity of Christ was a creation of Constantine. Here, James White (who wrote a terrific book, The Forgotten Trinity) - is currently doing a multi-part review of the Da Vinci Code. James White translates a sermon preached approximately 145 years prior to Nicea, and 130 years prior to Constantine's battle where he allegedly saw the sign of the cross in the sky and the phrase, "in this sign, conquer". This sermon was preached on Passover around 180 A.D. by Melito, bishop of Sardis.

And so he was lifted up upon a tree and an inscription was attached indicating who was being killed. Who was it? It is a grievous thing to tell, but a most fearful thing to refrain from telling. But listen, as you tremble before him on whose account the earth trembled!
He who hung the earth in place is hanged.
He who fixed the heavens in place is fixed in place.
He who made all things fast is made fast on a tree.
The Sovereign is insulted.
God is murdered.
The King of Israel is destroyed by an Israelite hand.
This is the One who made the heavens and the earth,
and formed mankind in the beginning,
The One proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets,
The One enfleshed in a virgin,
The One hanged on a tree,
The One buried in the earth,
The One raised from the dead and who went up into the heights of heaven,
The One sitting at the right hand of the Father,
The One having all authority to judge and save,
Through Whom the Father made the things which exist from the beginning of time.
This One is “the Alpha and the Omega,”
This One is “the beginning and the end”
—the beginning indescribable and the end incomprehensible.
This One is the Christ.
This One is the King.
This One is Jesus.
This One is the Leader.
This One is the Lord.
This One is the One who rose from the dead.
This One is the One sitting on the right hand of the Father.
He bears the Father and is borne by the Father.
“To him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.”

As James White says, "...rejoice, as I rejoice, at the thought of this ancient believer and the fact that he reveled in the truth about the God-man Jesus Christ just as we do today! Oh that we had more preaching like this in our land today!"

Greg Koukl over at Stand to Reason writes Does the Trinity Make Sense? What I like is a comment on the Stand to Reason Blog - here a commenter says:

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November 28, 2005  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)

Basil against the Spirit Fighters

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks in Question 6:

How many persons are there in the Godhead?
There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity was always a part of the early church, but not always clearly defined, and often under attack. At the Council of Nicea in 325, the phrase "begotten not made," and "of one essence with the Father" was written. But the belief that the Holy Ghost is God and equal in power and glory remained unclear.
The Arians had lost when they tried to deny Christ's divinity. Now the Arianizers were trying to cast doubt on the person of the Holy Spirit.

Basil of Caesarea was born shortly after the Council of Nicea. His parents were born in a time of great persecution. But by the time Basil was born, the persecution of church was perpetrated by Christians against Christians. There was a group called "Pneumatomachi" (fighters against the Spirit) who were denying that the Spirit was fully God. Eustathius was a leader among the "Spirit fighters", and a friend and mentor of Basil.

Michael Haykin writes this week about Basil, the fight for orthodoxy and a loss of his friend Eustathius.

Eustathius’ interest in the Spirit seems to have been focused on the Spirit’s work, not his person. For him, the Holy Spirit was primarily a divine gift within the Spirit-filled person, One who produced holiness [Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, “Eustathius von Sebaste”, Theologische Realenzyklopädie, 10 (1982), 548-549]. When, on one occasion at a synod in 364, he was pressed to say what he thought of the Spirit’s nature, he replied: “I neither chose to name the Holy Spirit God nor dare to call him a creature”! (Socrates, Church History 2.45).

For a number of years, Basil sought to win Eustathius over to the orthodox position. Finally, in the summer of 373 he met with him for an important two-day colloquy, in which, after much discussion and prayer, Eustathius finally acquiesced to an orthodox view of the Spirit’s nature. At a second meeting Eustathius signed a statement of faith in which it was stated that:

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November 28, 2005  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)

There is no Plan B

The Doctrine of God leads us to a study of God's attributes. A. W. Pink has written the classic book, The Attributes of God. It is in this small book that he covers the infinite attributes of God's foreknowledge and the decrees of God.

Before going into Pink's writing let me demonstrate an unfortunate error (heresy) that is growing in the evangelical church today. It is the Openness of God controversy - or Open Theism. I find this thinking occasionally creeping in, as I am in conversation with other dear Christians.

Lignon Duncan has written about this controversy - and demonstrates one compelling example of the error - read and think!

In his book, (Greg Boyd - The God of the Possible) Boyd tells the story goes that a young woman raised in a Christian home, from a very young age a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ, longed in her early years to be a missionary and longed to marry a godly man who would share a similar goal, and they would go to Taiwan and minister for the rest of the days of their life. That was the desire of her heart. And, lo and behold, at Bible College she met this young man who shared her vision for Taiwan. He was godly, he was committed, and they fell in love. And for three and a half years they courted one another, they prayed together, they went to church together, they prepared themselves for the mission field, and during their senior year, this man proposed to her. Not surprisingly, this young woman named Suzanne immediately said yes. And so for several months they fasted and they prayed over the matter, and they concluded that this marriage was God’s will, and that gave her a sense of confirmation that this is what God would have her do. And so with a sense of joy and peace, they marched into life. But shortly after college, the newly married couple went away to missionary school, and two years into this training, Suzanne learned that her husband was an adulterer. He was cheating on her, involved in an adulterous affair with a fellow student at the missionary college. He repented initially, but then he went right back to the affair, and despite Christian counseling, that pattern repeated itself over and over and over during the next years. As you can imagine, their dream for the mission field was immediately shattered, and eventually, their marriage broke up. And so Suzanne came to Mr. Boyd for counsel. “How do I interpret this? I was trying to do God’s will, and look at what has happened to my life.” Here’s the pastoral counsel, here’s the wise pastoral advice that open theism is ultimately able to offer: “Suzanne, take comfort. God didn’t know this was going to happen. This caught him just as off guard as it caught you. But here’s the good news, Suzanne, sometimes God’s plan B can be just as good as his plan A.” So much for the pastoral counsel of open theism.

Does God have a Plan B?

Let's go to A. W. Pink:

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November 21, 2005  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)

From Times Square to Nicea - The Doctrine of the Trinity

Christianity stands or falls with confession of the deity of Christ and of the Trinity - Herman Bavinck

On Thanksgiving Day, at the Thanksgiving Day parade, (broadcast by NBC) as on New Year's Eve at the celebration in Times Square over 3 million people (plus an additional 1.5 million travelers each day) will see the Unitarian Universalist advertisement on the jumbo NBC Astrovision screen overlooking Times Square.

The tag line is Imagine a religion where people with different beliefs worship as one faith...

It is true - they join the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Swedenborgs, Muslims, United Pentecostals and other religions that deny the deity of Christ and the Trinity.

Athanasius said "in the confession of the Trinity throbs the heart of the Christian religion: every error results from or upon deeper reflection may be traced to, a wrong view of this doctrine." Athanasius understood better than anyone in the early church that Christianity stands or falls with the doctrine of the Trinity. He wrote the treatise entitled Against the Gentles -- On the Incarnation, affirming that Jesus was both God and Man. Later in his fight against the the Arian heresy he wrote Three Discourses Against the Arians where he stress that the Father's begetting of the Son was an eternal relationship between them and not a point of time. He also wrote a defense of the divinity of the Holy Spirit in his Letters to Serapion.

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November 19, 2005  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)

New Blog Design

Tim over at Challies Dot Com has created another great blog design for me. About a year ago he worked on my other blog Mine and Thine and now hits a homerun here. Thanks Tim - and Westminster fans - enjoy!

November 18, 2005  |  Permalink   |  TrackBack (0)

Does God Exist and the Problem of Evil

Evil is evidence that God exists.

There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory: most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin' the rewarder of them that diligently seek him' and withal most just and terrible in his judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter 2 :1

The problem of evil has long been a question among Christians. But in light of studying the doctrine of God - I'd like to address how evil proves God's existence. in other words, because of the existence of evil we know that there is "one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection." Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds addresses evil as evidence for God:

It was William Lane Craig, I believe, whom I first saw formulate the syllogism in this way:

1. If objective moral values exist, then God exists.
2. Objective moral values exists (i.e., evil is real, not illusory).
3. Therefore, God exists.

The fact that atheists must presuppose the very thing they intend to deny fits well with the colorful illustrations that Cornelius Van Til used to use in order to demonstrate the fundamental inconsistencies of all non-Christian worldviews. Van Til argued that non-Christians were operating on "borrowed capital"--using the Christian worldview in order to destroy it. They couldn't help themselves. They need to use fundamentally theistic categories--like laws of science, morality, and logic--as tools to defeat theism, and yet they cannot account for them on their worldview.

Van Til compared this to a little girl sitting in her father's lap, slapping him in the face. She must be supported by him in order to rebel against him. Another time he spoke of the futility of non-Christian thought as being like a man made out of water using a ladder made out of water in order to climb up out of water!

Everything testifies that God is. (Psalm 19). Some have said 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and mass genocide prove that God does not exist - a loving God would never ordain such evil. Just the opposite!

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November 16, 2005  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)

The Doctrine of God

On we march to Chapter 2. Below this brief post I list the memory verse, Shorter Catechism questions and hymn for this section.

The Westminster Confession of Faith is building towards some very difficult and hard doctrines. We have come to know and love the authority, sufficiency, inspiration, necessity, clarity, inerrancy and infallibility of Holy Scriptures in Chapter One. Now we move onto finding out who God is. Once we know (or try to know) God, His nature, His attributes, His essential properties - we move to understanding the Trinity. All this builds to the Doctrine of God's Eternal Decree - a very hard doctrine.

But let's take our time and come to know God, love the Trinity, learn of his absolute perfection. These steps towards understanding who God is, is just as important as our understanding of Holy Scripture. These doctrines will function as a foundation for our understanding as we move forward.

Memory Verse for Chapter 2: Matthew 3:16-17

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Westminster Shorter Catechism Questions 4-6

Q. 4. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

Q. 5. Are there more Gods than one?
A. There is but one only, the living and true God.

Q. 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.

Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy - page 100 Trinity Hymnal

November 10, 2005  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)

Righteousness in the Land of Forgetfulness

Have God's people forgotten? When we forget, we fall by the way.

The Reformation that began with Martin Luther 488 years ago must continue today. We must always be reforming - seeking first the kingdom of God - and His righteousness. We must base our reform on sola Scriptura - the authority of Scripture.

The Confession points to our source - Scripture. Luther called us back to our foundation - the Word of God. Let's not forget what came before us, the creeds, the councils, the work of the church. But let our authority be known - for the

“better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary.” (WCF 1:1)

Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? - Psalm 88:12 Let us not forget!

Thursday, we watch the film Luther and than move on to Chapter 2 - Of God, and of the Holy Trinity. I hate to move on, but much awaits us we look the “one only living and true God”. Shorter Catechism assignments, memory verse and hymn will be discussed in the next post. Happy Reformation Week!

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November 2, 2005  |  Permalink   |  Comments (0)   |  TrackBack (0)