Man's relationship to God in creation was based on works. What Adam failed to achieve, Christ, the second Adam, succeeded in achieving. Ultimately the only way one can be justified is by works. (R.C.Sproul) Works! Works! A man gets to heaven by works? I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand! (George Whitefield) “With the wolves you cannot be too severe. With the weak sheep you cannot be too gentle.” (Martin Luther on false teachers)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Pactum Salutis, indeed! O to Grace, how great a debtor......!

I do not have a particularly active imagination, but, upon reading the following paragraph, I immediately conjured a picture of a giant steam-roller. It represented the 'job' that the contemporary evangelical church, in cahoots with post-moderns, is performing* on the glories of God's electing and redeeming purposes - clearly revealed in scripture. I copied and pasted from Martin Downes' Against Heresies. It's a quote from:

David Van Drunen & Scott Clark on the covenant of redemption:
In Reformed theology, the pactum salutis has been defined as a pretemporal, intratrinitarian agreement between the Father and Son in which the Father promises to redeem an elect people. In turn the Son volunteers to earn the salvation of his people by becoming incarnate...by acting as surety of the covenant of grace for and as mediator of the covenant of grace to the elect. In his active and passive obedience, Christ fulfills the conditions of the pactum salutis...ratifying the Father's promise, because of which the Father rewards the Son's obedience with the salvation of the elect. And because of this the Holy Spirit applies the Son's work to his people through the means of grace.

Covenant, Justification and Pastoral Ministry, p. 168

*Trying to perform

Here is an article that Martin Downes wrote for the UK version of Table Talk: 'The Emerging Church and the Cultural Captivity of the Gospel'.
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