Category: Theology

Classic Arm Chair Theology at its best (or should that read worst?)

In the Box: New Titles from InterVarsity Press

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment

“In the Box” posts highlight new books I’ve received in the mail.

In this post, I want to showcase a few of the titles that arrived at my doorstep in the last few weeks. I’m truly blessed to be able to read so many great books, and Christian publishers seem to never let up in their race to get high quality materials out the door. We are truly blessed with an abundance of Christian resources to help us in our walk with Christ.

The Messiah Comes to Middle Earth: Images of Christ’s Threefold Office in the Lord of the Rings by Philip Ryken (IVP)

This book promises to be a treat to read. I devoured The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien in my youth, and as I’ve aged I’ve only grown more appreciative of the rich literary treasure that Tolkien crafted. There is much that is Christian in LOTR, but it resists simple moralistic or allegorical analyses. Philip Ryken follows Peter Kreeft and others in seeing images of Christ in a wide range of LOTR characters, and in this book, he focuses on three “Christ figures:” Gandalf, Frodo and Aragorn.

For more about this book, visit this link to learn more about the Wheaton College lecture series that birthed it, or check out the book’s product page at Amazon, Christianbook.com or InterVarsity Press.

Old Testament Theology for Christians: From Ancient Context to Enduring Belief by John H. Walton (IVP)

I first encountered John Walton through his sensational book The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate. Since then I have read most of his Lost World books, as well as his contributions to other books, and his influential Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (which I reviewed here).  Walton has helped me greatly as I’ve navigated the waters of Ancient Near Eastern parallels with the Bible, and I appreciate his careful and confessional approach. This book looks to be his effort to apply his lifelong academic study for the benefit of the average evangelical church goer. I’m definitely looking forward to this work.

To learn more about this book, check out the book’s product page at Amazon, Christianbook.com or InterVarsity Press.

Sermon Download: Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment

This past Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching for a special five-part series at our church. Each week a sermon has been devoted to one of the Five Solas of the Reformation. In English, the Five Solas are: Christ Alone, Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, and to the Glory of God Alone. This is also the order we are using for the sermon series. Our pastor has opened the series and will finish it, and two other men and I are privileged to contribute one of the messages for the set.

My sermon from this Sunday was on Sola Gratia, or Grace Alone. I was especially burdened by this topic which is so all-encompassing. My sermon highlighted the role of Grace in salvation — we are saved not on account of our works (praise God!). And I also emphasized how grace opposes legalism, in both its doctrinal and practical forms. Finally I was able to touch on Sovereign Grace just a bit as well.

My text was Titus 3, and I was pleased to discover that Martin Luther preached a pair of sermons on Titus 2:11-4 and Titus 3:4-7 for Christmas of 1522. Those sermons were epsecially pertinent to my theme and I included some quotations. (You can find Luther’s sermons on Titus  here and here).

I’m sharing my sermon notes and audio in this post and welcome any feedback. You can also find all my recent sermons from The Heights Church, St. Paul, here.

If you don’t have time to listen to the entire sermon (52 minutes), please do look over my notes.

Place: The Heights Church, St. Paul
Date: November 12, 2017
Title: Sola Gratia (Grace Alone)
Text: Titus 3:3-8
Notes: Download PDF
Audio Link: Click to listen (right click to download)

Quotes to Note 42: Why the Reformation Was Needed

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment

Tomorrow is the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, as Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the church door of All Saints Church in Wittenburg on October 31, 1517. For the occasion, I have been reading through Diarmaid MacCulloch’s masterful work The Reformation: A History (Penguin, 2005), which comes recommended by Carl Trueman. I stumbled up on a passage which highlights one of the basic reasons why the Reformation was required. Some Roman Catholics like to insist that the Reformation pushed the Catholic church to reform, with its own “Counter Reformation.” So they thank Luther but insist that the Council of Trent is what was needed, not a reactionary movement to leave the Catholic church.

Yet this quote from a post-Trent Counter-Reformation pope proves why Reformers (and their Protestant descendants) found the Catholic church still so lacking. Here is Pope Paul V confronting the Venetian ambassador with the following rhetorical question in 1606:

“Do you not know that so much reading of Scripture ruins the Catholic religion?” ~ Pope Paul V, 1606

MacCulloch goes on to explain.

“One of the tasks of the 1564 Tridentine Index [of prohibited books] had been to keep vernacular Bibles away from the faithful; anyone wanting to read the Bible in a modern language required permission from the local bishop, and in the 1596 Roman Index the ban became complete and without exception. In Italy, the Index’s ban was enforced. Bibles were publicly and ceremonially burned, like heretics; even literary versions of scriptural stories in drama or poetry were frowned on.”

MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History, p. 406, words in brackets were added for clarity.

Before the Reformation, it is true that vernacular Bible translations had been somewhat in vogue, but they were based on the Latin Vulgate. The Reformation saw the introduction of vernacular translations based directly on the Greek and/or Hebrew. In areas where the Catholics had to coexist with Protestant neighbors, knowledge of the Bible was important — at least for priests who were trying to convince the Protestants of their errors. But even priestly study of the Bible was frowned upon by the Counter-Reformation pope and his heirs.

There are many other reasons for the Reformation, which we cannot detail here. But one of the lasting fruits of this movement was the liberation of the Bible for the average Christian. If the Catholic church was correct on its doctrine, why was it seemingly so afraid to let the lay people have access to the Bible? Good question indeed. Be thankful today that you live on this side of the Reformation, and you have the privilege and liberty to read God’s Word for yourself.

The Five Solas of the Reformation

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Tuesday will mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. One way of focusing on the key truths recovered by the Reformers is looking at what has come to be known as the “Five Solas.” These truths are pictured below and represented by the following Latin phrases: Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria.

The following points are adapted from part 5 of my teaching series: “A Survey of the Reformation: Its History and Doctrine” which is available for free download here.

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Scripture Alone

  • The Scripture was liberated for the common people.
  • Reformers insisted on Scripture’s supreme authority. [Scripture has final say over church tradition, but the Reformers still appreciated much that the Church Fathers and the ecumenical Church councils had agreed on (e.g., the orthodox statements on the Trinity and the Deity of Christ, for instance).]
  • Scripture was held as infallible and inerrant.
  • Scripture was preached — preaching and Scripture reading took pride of place in the “order of worship.”

Faith Alone

  • Faith, not works, is the condition for justification.
  • Faith provides an “alien righteousness” –the works of Christ on our behalf (active and passive).
  • Justification by faith is a gift of God — and was absolutely essential to the Reformation.
  • Justification declares us righteous, it doesn’t start the process of making us righteous (sanctification).
  • However, we are justified by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone. (No place for “easy-believism”).
  • Helpful quote: “Where there is true faith, works necessarily result, just as fire necessarily brings with it heat.” (Swiss Reformer, Ulrich Zwingli)

Grace Alone

  • Grace didn’t just enable man to “pull himself up by his bootstraps.”
  • Grace for the Reformers, was Sovereign
  • Helpful definition: “the free favour of God… conferred… upon the unworthy.” (19th Century Calvinistic Baptist, William Newman)
  • Grace = “unmerited favor”
  • God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense
  • Grace calls us (Gal. 1:15), regenerates us (Titus 3:5), justifies us (Rom. 3:24), sanctifies us (Heb. 13:20-21), and preserves us (1 Pet. 1:3-5).

Christ Alone

  • The Church does not dispense salvation, Jesus does –Acts 4:12.
  • Mary & the Saints are not the mediator, Jesus is the only mediator –1 Tim. 2:5.
  • The Cross-work of Christ is sufficient for all the merit needed for salvation –Christ is “our righteousness.”
  • The Cross-work of Christ is not repeated, but a finished work (no “re-run” of Christ’s sacrifice in the Mass).
  • Christ’s righteousness was both passive (submitting to death for us) and active (life that pleased God).
  • Today, we need to remember that Christ alone is where salvation is to be found –not in other religions or philosophies (contra postmodernism and pluralism).

God’s Glory Alone

  • Hebrew word for glory is: kabod = “weight”
  • Greek word for glory is: δοξα = “opinion”.
  • Definition: “value or worth, intrinsic to something and the value we externally place on it (in worship).”
  • God’s goal is to manifest His glory.
  • Helpful summary: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 1)
  • God is the one who gets glory in the work of salvation – not man, Mary, the saints, or the Church.

A Survey of the Reformation: Its History and Doctrine

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment

This Fall marks 500 years since the start of the Protestant Reformation. October 31, 1517 is the date that Martin Luther nailed his “Ninety-five Theses” on the church door in Wittenberg. His Reformation ideas quickly spread over all of Europe by means of the movable-type printing press… and the rest, they say, is history.

In honor of this anniversary, I am re-posting my teaching series entitled, “A Survey of the Reformation: Its History and Doctrine.”

I developed this teaching series in 2012 and have taught through it for adult Sunday School classes in two different churches. The audio files are primarily from 2012, but one of the lessons had corrupted audio and so I made a replacement recording in 2014 the next time I taught the material.

My goal in this series is two-fold: to introduce people to the history and ideals of the Reformation, and to give an introduction to the doctrine known as the five points of Calvinism or the doctrines of Grace. I have found that understanding and appreciating the doctrines of Grace is easier when one is led to understand the history of the Reformation as a whole. Also stressed in this study, are the Five Solas, and the Reformation emphasis on God’s sovereignty.

The Reformation doesn’t stand or fall with the doctrines of Grace, but that understanding flows directly from the heart of the Reformation. And while Luther may not have agreed on all the particulars of how the five points came to be articulated, he is in fundamental agreement on God’s role in salvation — as were all the original reformers.

Feel free to use the .pdf and .mp3 audio files freely, I just ask to be credited as the source of this presentation. May God grant the spirit of the Reformation and its doctrine, to continue to occupy a warm place in the hearts and minds of God’s people.

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A Survey of the Reformation: Its History and Doctrine

HISTORY

  1. Introduction & An Overview of Church History • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  2. Forerunners of the Reformation • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  3. The Protestant Reformation • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  4. Puritanism & The Legacy of the Reformers • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.

DOCTRINE

  1. Reformation Doctrine: The Big Picture • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  2. Total Depravity & Irresistible Grace • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  3. Limited Atonement • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  4. Unconditional Election • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  5. Perseverance of the Saints • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  6. Answering Objections • Download the Audio ∼ View the Slides.
  7. Why the Reformation Matters Today • No audio (see note below) ∼ View the Slides.

Note: You may notice that the audio deviates from the slides more and more as the lessons progress. This is due to the fact that the slides match the 2014 audio, which is unavailable. The 2012 audio files line up closely with my older slides available here. 

I used a variety of resources for this series, but the four I recommend to my SS class are listed here below: