The Vicarious Humanity of Christ and the Reality of Salvation (book review)

The Vicarious Humanity of Christ and the Reality of SalvationChristian D. KettlerUniversity Press of America, Lanham, MD, 1991; 338pp., $28.00;ISBN 0 8191 8273 7'A memorable month in 1981', when Kettler served as teaching assistant at Fuller Seminary to Thomas F. Torrance, stimulated him to explore further 'the profound evangelical and ecumenicalimplications of Torrance's doctrine of  …

The Spirit, the Scriptures and salvation

In his post, The perspicuity of Scripture, Ben Myers quotes from Berkouwer's "fine book", Holy Scripture (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1975), p. 275.He begins his post, "Reformation theologians spoke of the "clarity" or "perspicuity of Scripture ... According to Reformation theology, the message of salvation shines out clearly from Scripture through the power of the Holy …

They Killed Him. God Raised Him!

"Come, let us kill him" (Matthew 21:38). This is the human story of Christ's crucifixion. He was "put to death by wicked men." There is also the divine story - "the deliberate plan and foreknowledge of God"(Acts 2:23). The wicked men thought that this was the end of Jesus. They were wrong! - "God raised …

Everlasting love and everlasting salvation

Psalm 136:1-26  ‘His love endures for ever’. This is the great message contained in every single verse of this Psalm. It’s a message worth repeating – over and over again! God’s love is an everlasting love – ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love’ (Jeremiah 31:3). God’s love is an unfailing love – ‘My …

‘Justification By Faith’ Or ‘Justification By Grace Through Faith’?

Using the phrase, "justification by faith" can be misleading. It tends to suggest that it's our faith that saves us. It gives the impression that our faith is more important than it really is. It could lead us to think more highly of ourselves than we should. We should really speak about "justification by grace …

The relationship between grace and faith

When we are worshipping the Lord, we praise Him, rejoicing in this: He has saved us by His grace. When we say that He has saved us by His grace, we do not deny that that we have been saved through faith. We say both these things: "by grace" and "through faith". "Through faith" reminds …

You Raise Me Up …

"Your eyes are too pure to look on evil" (Habakkuk 1:13). The contrast between our sinfulness and God's holiness is an absolute contrast - never the two shall meet. Can we raise ourselves up from our sinfulness to God's holiness? - No! We cannot. We need to be raised up from above, by the Lord. …