Hope Archives - Making Scriptural Connections

Calvin’s Little Book, Week #15

We will use this week to review the territory we’ve covered in the 26 Sections of Calvin’s Chapters 1-3. Additionally we will connect the central point of Calvin’s “Little Book” with the key doctrinal concept of “sanctification.”

Maps of Calvin’s Little Book

The photograph below of modern Geneva Switzerland shows the medieval city where Calvin ministered for most of his adult life and where he wrote his Institutes of the Christian Religion from which the “Little Book” is taken.

The body of water at the top of the image is Lake Geneva, headed by its famous fountain. The red circle just below the fountain is the church named in honor of St Peter in Geneva, not to be confused with the Roman Catholic church of that same name that is part of the Vatican in Rome. This St Peter church is quite modest in size, and is much older (built in 1160-1260), and is sited on a very early, perhaps 3rd or not later than 6th Century, church foundation. It is where Calvin wrote and taught from 1536 to his death in 1563 with a brief ‘exile’ of several years (The Political Industry, TPI, of the time threw him out of the city for a time, but then invited him back).

Not readily discernible in the picture is that the church building sits at the crest of a hill in what is known today as the old city. The red circle on the lower right is the Reformation Monument honoring–which Calvin would not have wanted–the four contemporaries who ministered there as key figures in the Reformation: Ferel (1489-1565), Calvin (1509-1563), Knox (1514-1572), and Beza (1519-1605). At the bottom of the photograph, below the Reformation Monument, is the University of Geneva, which was founded in 1559 by Calvin and Beza, more than 60 years before the founding of Harvard College, the oldest university in the United States. The University of Geneva then, as was Harvard at its founding, a theological seminary for the purpose of preparing scholars, teachers, preachers, and evangelists of the Bible.

The left-to-right order of the Reformation Wall Monument, shown in the photograph below, is Farel, Calvin, Beza, and Knox. John Knox later played a key role in establishing the reformation in Scotland. Theodore Beza was a great scholar of the original languages of the Bible; he published several important editions of the New Testament Koine Greek Bible. Beza owned a 5th century mss of Koine Greek and Latin, a so-called diglot, which he donated to Cambridge University in 1581, where it is preserved to this day; it can be viewed here: Beza’s Greek and Latin mss and translations were used by the translators of the KJV Bible.

Interesting side note: a Paris printer named Robert Estienne, aka “Stephanos,” moved his printing operations to Geneva (likely because of the persecution of the strong Roman Catholic presence in France), and printed Beza’s and other important works including the famed Geneva Bible of 1560. In the course of such printing, it was Estienne (Stephanos) who created all the 31,000 verses we now have that organizes our Bibles. Prior to that time, the Bible had only been divided into books and, beginning in ca. 1000 A.D., the 1189 chapters as we still have it today. The English translation of the Geneva Bible became the standard translation used by the Puritans in America, and by Shakespeare, John Milton, John Bunyan and many many others. It pre-dates and was largely the basis of the Authorized Version (AV), aka The King James Version (1611). The Geneva Bible was also the first “study Bible,” as it included many notes to aid the reader (and which notes were found objectionable to TPI and TRI of England which was a principal impetus for it to create a government-authorized Bible, the KJV).

A pdf of the 1560 Geneva Bible in its original now archaic English is available here:

A more accessible English text of the 1599 update of the 1560 Geneva Bible is available here: A special feature of such cite is the “Interlinear” option that shows multiple Koine (Greek) source texts and multiple English traditional translations (“traditional” in the sense such translations are based on the “texts receptus,” which means, approximately, the exclusive use of Koine mss as collected shortly after the completion of the KJV translation, and not the so-called “critical texts” developed from mss discoveries beginning in the late 18th Century).

Below is a pdf of such interlinear feature for the verse we will consider below on this page, Hebrews 1:3:

Sanctification

“Sanctification” is one of the pillars of Theology. It is connected with another foundational term–Justification–in an important way, that divides many followers of Christ.

The Reformation view, and the Bible’s clear teaching, is that Sanctification follows Justification, because Justification occurs only by God’s Sovereign raising the dead in sin. The opposing view, which has been in conflict with what has just been stated is that “justification” is the deserved / earned outcome of a life of continual “sanctification.” The line of separation between these opposing is somewhat blurred by many of the second view holding that “sanctification” can only occur because of the Work of God (The Holy Spirit), and so “the credit” is not really (all / solely) man’s. However, there remains an important line of separation because this second view is that man necessarily initiates sanctification by his first act of faith, perhaps because only his mind was “dead,” and not his will, or not all of his will, or perhaps (and this is the Roman Catholic doctrine) there was a “prevenient grace” which enabled, but did not compel, faith to arise from an incompletely fallen “will,” thus the launching the opportunity but not the guarantee of a life of sanctification ending worthy of entering (after “purgatory”) the eternal realm of heaven. There are other distinctions, of course, such as the significance of “the sacraments” and “the church” in enabling / causing such sanctification.

What we wish to highlight here because of its central importance in understanding Calvin’s “Little Book” is that Calvin, and the Reformers, hold to the doctrine that “Justification” occurs first, and the never ending process (in this life) of Sanctification, follows.

The Reformation which began, arguably, in 1517 with Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses, and grew mightily in the later years of the 16th Century led in many ways by the Geneva Reformers and Calvin’s publication of the Institutes, grew / matured into the 17th Century culminating in a series of great “Confessions.” These confessional documents are, principally: The Westminster (WCF, 1647), The Savory (SDFO, 1658), the London Baptist (LBCF, 1680), and The Philadelphia (PCF, 1742). I have discussed this more fully here:

The subject of Sanctification is dealt with succinctly, precisely, and beautifully in Chapter 13 of each of these Confessions as shown below:

WCF — Chapter XIII: Of Sanctification	SDFO — Chapter XIII: Of Sanctification	LBCF/PCF — Chapter XIII: Of Sanctification
1. They who are effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, are further sanctified, really and personally, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them; the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened, in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.	1. They that are united to Christ, effectually called and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them, through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, are also further sanctified really and personally through the same virtue, by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them; the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened, and mortified, and they more and more quickened, and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.	1. They who are united to Christ, effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection, are also farther sanctified, really and personally, through the same virtue, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them; the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed, and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified, and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
2. This sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life: there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.	2. This sanctification is throughout in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life; there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part; whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.	2. This sanctification is throughout the whole man, yet imperfect in this life; there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war; the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.
3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome: and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.	3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength froin the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome, and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.	3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome; and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after an heavenly life, in evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King, in His Word hath prescribed them.

https://www.proginosko.com/docs/wcf_sdfo_lbcf.html

Why is this treatment of Sanctification relevant here? In essence, Calvin’s “Little Book” summarizes in very practical terms what the process and experience of Sanctification is in the life of Justified believers. Justification comes first, and alone by Grace. This is made very clear in Calvin’s Institutes, but not completely in the five excerpted chapters of his Little Book we are using here. Of course the objection that is raised against this belief is that a man can express faith, and so give evidence of his “Justification,” but then live a life of no evidence that any such encounter with God’s Grace has taken place; the Epistle to the Hebrews, especially its Chapter 6, makes clear that such a life was never so “justified.” As Luther said of “Faith”–we are saved by faith alone but not a faith that is alone (i.e., dead)–can be directly applied to Justification, namely justification comes first, and alone by God’s Providential Grace, but it is not the end (the telos), but the beginning.

Hebrews 1:3 and Hebrews Ch 12

As I will address in a separate post, but repeat briefly here, the opening verses of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes absolutely clear to that audience, the Jewish people of the New Testament (NT) period, that following the Mosaic Law did not, could not, and would not ever lead to “Justification,” because by no work(s) of the flesh, including so-thought-to-be Law-following, can any man be justified, however dedicated or (appearing or believing to be) sincere. The Law condemns us all, and makes us ready to grasp the need for a Savior outside of ourselves, extra nos.

Consider Hebrews 1:3 given below:

³He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV, highlights mine: bold = are the 3 participles; underline = the one verb

There are so many wonderful dimensions of the above verse. Here we will focus only on the three participles and the one, main verb. The participles are identified by the bold font and the main verb by the underlining.

The first two participles are in the present “tense” (aka “aspect”). The most English-literal translations would be: “He, Being the radiance of…,” and “He upholding the universe…” Participles are verbs that are used as nouns, which often are formed in English by the -ing ending of word (but not exclusively so). The present tense (or aspect) is contrasted with the third participle–“making purification for sins”—which is in the Aorist tense (more on that tense below). The one verb, translated by two words–“sat down“–is also in the Aorist tense.

The Aorist tense can be considered the designation of a single, one-time, past act, such as “Fred was born in England.” Fred is only going to be born once (physically), so the Aorist tense in Koine is proper. However, modern scholarship stresses, over-stresses in my simple view, that the Aorist tense should not be primarily considered as a time marker but rather a whole event designation without a time element. So our example with Fred such view would so understand the word “born” in the Aorist form as signifying the notable news is that he was born and not that it was in the past, or that it was a one-time thing.

However, one-time past, and big-single event perspectives often coalesce as with Fred and much more significantly with the Koine verb “sat down” in Hebrews 1:3. It is the clear teaching of the Epistle that Christ’s sacrifice was a one-time, completed event, and from the perspective post-Resurrection that must be a one-time past event.

The Epistle to the Hebrews develops this line of understanding throughout the text. Consider this passage below from Chapter 9:

²⁴For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9 (ESV, emphasis mine, highlighting “once”)

So it is at Heb. 1:3 that we have the Aorist tense telling us that Christ “sat down” to signify the once and for all completed event of the payment for sin.

Now back to the three participles. The first two as noted are in the present tense, whereas the third is in the same Aorist tense as the main verb. The usual rule of interpretation is that such Aorist tense participle–which is here “making purification for sins…”–is likewise a one time event, which maybe obscured by the use of the word “making” in English that could suggest that such is an ongoing, never ending act. However, it is the first two participles that are in the present tense, “Being” and “upholding,” which rightly conveys the ever active, always present situation, namely Christ “Being the radiance of the glory of God” was, is and always will be the present situation, as is His “upholding.” So a better translation of this third participle is “made purification” where “made” is not a verb but a participle, a distinction not readily noted in English.

Note that the ESV reference to “the universe” as the object of Christs “upholding” is not a translation of any Koine mss word “universe;” the original mss says He is “upholding the all” (the all is “ta panta” which is literally “the all”). So whatever succeeds the present Creation upon the New Heavens and the New Earth will still be “ta panta,” but perhaps not “the universe” as we presently understand our physical place to be.

Returning now to Justification and then Sanctification claim, the above Heb. 1:3 verse is but a single example out of many possible texts gives us clarity as to God’s one-time completed satisfaction (“propitiation”) as the the sin debt we each carry from Adam and our own nature. We never reduce such debt, let alone eliminate it, by some lifetime of piety, even perfect piety (which of course would not even be possible). The debt has been paid for those for whom it has been paid. Now what?

Let’s consider further the chain of reasoning in the Hebrews Epistle, namely its Ch 12:

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
³Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. ⁴In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
⁷It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. ¹¹For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
¹²Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. ¹⁴Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; ¹⁶that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
Hebrews Ch 12 (ESV)

The order of revelation in the Epistle is important. The above chapter clearly occurs as a concluding admonition, in Ch 12 of its 13 chapters, exactly as Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and Colossians 3 are positioned: after the indicatives (verb forms that are statements of fact, including the fact of our completed redemption and new birth) then are given the imperatives (the verb forms of commandments for being, doing, going–consistent with and deriving from the indicatives preceding).

Martyn Lloyd Jones on Sanctification re Justification

Martyn Lloyd Jones (MLJ) taught a 12-year, Friday evening study of the Epistle to the Romans, in the mid-1900s, at Westminster Chapel in London.

In his commentary on various texts of Romans Chapter 8, he makes extensive reference to various false doctrines of Sanctification. These are all excellent, detailed reviews of these alternatives in the context of the clear teaching of all of Romans, particularly Chapters 5-8, but especially of Chapter 8:12-13. The text of this passage is below, followed by links to several of MLJ’s messages based on them and the subject of sanctification:

¹²So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Romans 8 (ESV)

A Call for Action

The Way of Sanctification

Sin and the B ody

Resources for Section 4.4, Week #16, are here:

The Great Virus and the Fog of the Fall

2020 was the year, or perhaps just the first year of many more to come, of the worldwide attention to the power of an invisible internal virus, now designated COVID-19 (19 for the year, 2019, of its apparent origin).

But there is a far more sinister virus, with universal mortality with respect to Spiritual Life (Death #1) and ultimately with respect to biological life itself (Death #2), and beyond the end of space-time into eternal condemnation (Death #3). We don’t have a certain space-time date and time for the unleashing of such virus, but we have the name of the event: The Fall.

The Fog

Here, let us think about the thinking aspects and consequences of The Fall, which is a great fog in our mind and reasoning powers. Not a fog like the early morning kind after a cool night following a warm, humid day. This Fog-from-the-Fall is better symbolized by an absolute darkness and impenetrability of the ugliest, most pervasive fog conceivable.

Famed author Charles Dickens used the imagery of London fogs, which were legendary in their blackness and weight, in his books Christmas Carol (to represent the state of mind of the character Scrooge), and even more powerfully in his novel Bleak House (where first mud and then fog is used to represent the societal condition of Victorian England with mud portraying the implacable fixity of the times and fog the absolute insensibility of it):

LONDON. Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill. Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snow-flakes gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill-temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if the day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.
Fog everywhere. Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city. Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights. Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards, and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats. Fog in the eyes and throats of ancient Greenwich pensioners, wheezing by the firesides of their wards; fog in the stem and bowl of the afternoon pipe of the wrathful skipper, down in his close cabin; fog cruelly pinching the toes and fingers of his shivering little prentice boy on deck. Chance people on the bridges peeping over the parapets into a nether sky of fog, with fog all round them, as if they were up in a balloon, and hanging in the misty clouds.
Gas looming through the fog in divers places in the streets, much as the sun may, from the spongey fields, be seen to loom by husbandman and ploughboy. Most of the shops lighted two hours before their time as the gas seems to know, for it has a haggard and unwilling look.
The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar. And hard by Temple Bar, in Lincoln’s Inn Hall, at the very heart of the fog, sits the Lord High Chancellor in his High Court of Chancery.
Never can there come fog too thick, never can there come mud and mire too deep, to assort with the groping and floundering condition which this High Court of Chancery, most pestilent of hoary sinners, holds this day in the sight of heaven and earth.
On such an afternoon, if ever, the Lord High Chancellor ought to be sitting her as here he is with a foggy glory round his head, softly fenced in with crimson cloth and curtains, addressed by a large advocate with great whiskers, a little voice, and an interminable brief, and outwardly directing his contemplation to the lantern in the roof, where he can see nothing but fog.
Charles Dickens, Bleak House, Opening paragraphs of Chapter 1 (highlights are mine)

The False Confidence

Even Dickens’s brilliantly despairing imagery does not begin to touch the comprehensiveness of the post-Fall human condition. We all know this, or think we do, because in our Fallenness we cling to the life raft that even if all may be lost, we still have our senses, and our reasoning, which can be, in the best of us, honed to give us clarity, understanding. After all, we are not mere beasts, we say of ourselves. We can reason with our senses even to the state of looking down upon ourselves, seeing ourselves, doing the reasoning, and so forth like a hall of mirrors. We have the belief that we can see, truly, and see that we are seeing, from such seeing of our seeing leading to ever better seeing, as a library of wisdom gets both larger and wiser with time and curation.

But such confidence is false.

The Old Testament is full of biographical examples of individuals, such as kings, and peoples, who reject the counsel of God-sent prophets who proclaim “Thus says the Lord…” (Ex 5:1; Josh 7:13; Judges 6:8; 1 Sam 2:27; 2 Sam 24:12). The very disciples of Jesus were (mostly) utterly clueless, and worse–speaking the very words of Satan himself (Matt. 16:23; Mark 8:33). At the culmination of Jesus Christ’s public ministry, the very keepers of the Tablets of the Law, and the Temple with its Holy of Holies and its Mercy Seat, rejected with condemnation and contempt God Himself, joined by the subservient and clueless political system of its day in effecting His crucifixion and public shaming as the lowest of the low.

We are, by our Fog of the Fall nature, just the same.

The Five Fatal Errors of the Fog of the Fall

The deepest issue for natural man stems from this question: what is my condition, with respect to ultimate reality? With newborns, OBGYN’s perform an Apgar Test as a proxy of fixing the infant’s initial biological condition. Blood “panels” of dozens of measurements given another such answer. But is that all there is? Just biology?

Parents are always relieved as they learn, in most cases, that everything is “fine,” the baby is “healthy.” But there is something else present, that we all intrinsically know, and will ultimately all evidence, that is not “fine,” and certainly not even close to “fine” with respect to the Holiness of God.

What’s Our True Condition with Respect to God’s Holiness and Our Fallenness?

1 We do not know the true situation of ultimate reality, and our condition.

2 We do not know that we do not know (see #1)

3 What we ‘know’ is false

4 What we do not know is that which we ‘know’ is false (see #3)

5 We do not know that we are unable to self-correct our lack of knowing, or our false ‘knowing’

And the ultimate, and tragic irony, is that we, in Adam, and Eve, sought “the knowledge” of that tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Like the ancient curse of the all powerful evil one, that which he offers, and gives, carries with it the opposite. So with such “knowledge” came the most awful fog, the utter inability to know which is good and which is evil with respect to God, and the incapacity to choose the good.

The COVID-19 Virus

The year 2020 was a maelstrom of new observations and research activity. With it, came a flood of new words into our lexicons. Here are some examples from various 2021 issues of SCIENCE, the Journal of the American Academy of Science:

The corona (literally, “crown” which conveys, unintentionally, rule) virus
Cognitive impairment, weakness, dysfunction, decline
Attention deficiencies: decline in executive function, planning, thinking
Brain ‘fog’: trouble thinking concentrating, remembering,
Post-intensive syndrome
Brain damage
Neurological damage
Tissue / Organ inflammation
Sensory loss: taste, smell, etc.
Exhaustion
Sleep impairment
SAD: Stress, Anxiety, Depression
Hopelessness
mRNA, messenger RNA (a type of DNA), that delivers vaccines into every cell of one’s body
The transformation of one’s being: the sensation that “I’m not the same person” (as I was before COVID)
“Long Haul,” “Long Duration,” COVID (or “Long COVID”) referencing slow, or no, recovery
Viral pneumonia and respiratory tract infection, failure
Viral infected epithelial cells
Pulmonary infiltrates
Seizures
“The virus acts like no pathogen humanity has ever seen”
Viral hijacking of the machinery of the body’s cells
Disastrous immune response (chemokines that kill the cells themselves, leaving fluids and pus)
Lungs riddled with with opacity (filling what should be open spaces)
Detritus of destroyed cells (in the lungs)
Attack upon all the major organs of the body: brain, eyes, nose, lungs, heart, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and intestines.

The Virus of the Fog-of-the Fall

The COVID-19 virus itself is not always fatal, nor even seriously debilitating in every case. The virus stemming from the Fall has this morbidity statistic: 100%, or more simply…one out of one dies.

But prior to that final fatal moment, there is another 100% form of death: our desire toward God, our Creator, and to Whom we are utterly and finally accountable.

And for this virus, there is no vaccine. We all get it, as will all our offspring.

But there is a cure.

Below is God’s story of “Life” regeneration, from the Gospel of John. It’s a multi-page pdf, so be sure to scroll down through all the pages to see the whole of the story.

Calvin’s Little Book, Week #8

This week we will cover the final two sections of Calvin’s Ch 2 on “self-denial:” Sec.s 9 and 10.

Calvin Cited Verses So Far

A pdf of the key passages cited by Calvin previously and all the new ones in the present study is below:

Calvin Chapter 2.9 (D&P p. 49ff)

Beveridge translates Calvin’s Summary for 2.9 [with my additions] as follows:

9. We ought not to desire wealth or honours without the divine blessing,
nor follow the arts of the wicked.
We ought [instead] to cast all our care upon God,
and [so] never envy the prosperity of others.
Calvin, J., & Beveridge, H. (1845). Institutes of the Christian religion (Vol. 2, p. 260). Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society.

Rule / Model of the Mature Christian Life: The Principle of Perspective

Recall that the Little Book began with the idea of formulating a “rule” or “model” for the Christian life, or as some have titled the Little Book, for the “mature Christian.”. Such reference to rule / model is not about law-keeping but, rather, some universal guidelines that we can draw upon to help our day-to-day walk in a fallen world with a still indwelling fallen nature.

Here’s the D&P translation in this section 2.9.

On the contrary,
we should always look to the Lord,
that by His care
we might be led to whatever lot in life He provides for us.
Calvin 2.9, D&P p.48

“Contrary” is a recurring Biblical watch-idea expressed by various words. Recall the opening phrase of the opening Psalm [with my emphasis on “not” or “nor,” which in this context are watchwords]:

1 Blessed is the man who walks
not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
²but [in the contrary] his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1 (ESV)

In the above quoted text from Calvin 2.9, “contrary” references one’s life-seeking “without God’s blessing” leads to an end that has “every kind of misery and misfortune.” And indeed it is so. We can examine the counter-example of the “wise” man throughout all of Proverbs and see the “fool” in his folly and its consequences as a life-choosing category to be avoided. (The etymology of “folly” is “fool;” if one sees “folly” there’s a “fool” somewhere doing it, and vice versa). And we need to recognize that that “fool” can be, and often is, us, and its consequences (folly) on us and that which we touch. Thus God’s call to a rule / model of a mature Christian Life, whose exposition is the very purpose of Calvin’s Little Book, in contradistinction to the life of a fool, our natural bent. (The irony is that “high IQ” persons are in no way invulnerable to live as a fool immersed in folly, and showering it everywhere; perhaps such are even more so inclined because of the arrogance of their self-intellect).

There is a famous quote by a famous ancient secularist, Cato the Elder. The English translation of his observation is below:

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men;
for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools,
but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise.
Cato the Elder, from Plutarch, Lives
Roman orator & politician (234 BC – 149 BC)

Cato stumbled onto one of the central truths of the Book of Proverbs.

Crush a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.
Proverbs 27:22 ESV

Ordered Conducive [to] Salvation

In the closing paragraph of Calvin 2.9 (D&P p. 51) we read this essential point: “he [the mature Christian] knows that his affairs are ordered by the Lord and, as such, promote his salvation.”

Let us dig down into three key words: ordered, sufficient, and salvation.

Beveridge translates this passage in Calvin as follows:

For he [the mature Christian] has a solace [D&P, “comfort”]
in which he can rest more tranquilly [D&P, “greater security”]
than [a self-achieving man, even] at the very summit [D&P, “peak”] of wealth or power,
because he [the mature Christian] considers [D&P, “knows”] that
his affairs are ordered by the Lord
in the manner most conducive [D&P, “promote”]
to his salvation
Beveridge (1845) translation of Calvin Ch. 2.9 (D&P p. 51)

Conducive

Calvin’s Latin original uses the verb conducit, from the Latin root conduco. When used in a sentence with a direct object (“transitive”), conduco means to draw or bring together, assemble, unite, join together. When used intransitively, as here, such meaning becomes: to be proper, fitting. Think of our derived everyday word conductor as the person with the baton in front of an orchestra. The conductor uses a plan, the musical score, and all the multi-varied sound sources, the instruments, while knowing the end from the beginning and every step between, all brought together to tell one coherent, beautiful, satisfying, complete (teleological) musical story. For those classic symphonies such musical story expresses great complexity using the multi-varied voices of individual instruments, of ever varying tonal intensity and color, and tempo, that in the end completes a whole, great idea.

Calvin’s use of the Latin word derived from conduco was likely to call us to see that the Lord is such a conductor ordering the events and circumstances of our lives, and in His Providence, that of the entire world including how it all affects us.

Ordered

How does such a life journey-story happen? How could it, given all the randomness, vagaries, evil, and so forth, of this world, this life? The answer drives us into the very depth of Who God Is.

Calvin’s Latin used the verb ordinari, derived from the root verb ordino. Ordino means to set in order, compose, ordain, appoint, regulate. Ordino is what the composer-orchestrator of the symphony has done in the creation of the script, and what the conductor has done in assembling and disciplining the performers and performances, and what the conductor is doing before our ears and eyes in time.

We don’t often think of God as “Creator,” though of course we all know that such is the case. But God has made every molecule in the vastness of the universe with all their interconnections for all place and time, including every atom of one’s own body and environment. One aspect of such creation is “ordering,” hinted at in Genesis chapter 1 as living beings were created after their “kind,” and all of creation itself was done in distinct categories of time, specified by each “day.”

In a direct parallel, God “ordered” the events and circumstances for our “salvation” and do so until our days’s end.

“Ordered” in all its forms is such an important Bible word, that I’ve created a separate page on the word, here:

Salvation

Salvation is an important Biblical word. It is commonly interpreted as meaning deliverance from the condemnation of hell upon one’s death into the eternal blessing of heaven. And it does mean such in some contexts.

But the root meaning of “saved” is “deliverance,” as a broad idea. The context reveals the matter in which deliverance occurs. So, such deliverance can mean solely a temporal rescue.

What did Calvin mean by his use here of “salvation?”

All the necessary life trials and experiences that will cause us to grow to a state of righteousness such at at our death, but only then, we can be truly justified and thus admitted to eternal life?
As above, but as God’s Plan of our growth, sanctification, to bring us to maturity, become an ever clearly image of God, because we have already been adopted as His child and declared “righteous?“

To ‘get’ Calvin’s answer we need to examine the other 75 chapters of his 80 chapters of Institutes from which our Little Book has been excised. To summarize, Calvin says, and the Scripture he records clearly supports, the second case above, and not the former. Such is the huge doctrinal divide between Arminianism / Pelagianism / Semi-Pelagianism (the first answer above), and the Reformed / Westminster Confession (the second answer above). This huge subject is beyond the scope of Calvin’s Little Book and our discussion here. What is directly relevant is that Calvin is not, definitely not, teaching here that such conductive and order is for the purpose of creating a possibility (if we cooperate) of our gaining eternal life only by producing our own righteous merit at the end of our days here.

Calvin Chapter 2.10 (D&P, pp. 51)

Beveridge translates Calvin’s summary of this section as follows:

10. We ought to commit ourselves entirely to God.
The necessity of this doctrine.
Various uses of affliction.
Heathen abuse and corruption
Calvin, J., & Beveridge, H. (1845). Institutes of the Christian religion (Vol. 2, p. 260). Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society.

“His [The Mature Christian] Lot in Life”

D&P translates Calvin by the phrase “his lot in life.” This occurs on p. 48 and at the bottom of p. 51. Such phrase is an English idiom similar to “luck of the draw.” These expressions are about what seems to be the utter randomness of life. Even situations that we are experiencing that appear to be the result of our own intentional acts can be later seen as a “lot in life” not at all envisioned by those earlier acts (or thoughts). But, here we each are, in some present condition, that bounds us in some way.

Is this “lot” then just the net result of thoughtful and random steps, likely more of the latter and less of the former? When we think back on our bigger choices in life, we recognize the “road not taken” as the line goes in the famous poem by Robert Frost, and wonder what our “lot” would presently be had we instead taken that other road at such past major junctures. (In Frost’s poem he evokes that exact idea by putting us at that moment of choosing and saying, inwardly, “sorry I could not have taken both”). How did we make that choice? Was it really an independent choice? Was it really more random than “choice?”

It our life is framed by a conviction of atheism, or by a God who is only the distant, uninvolved Creator-Observer, which is the essence of Deism, then we must understand that our life as it unfolds is mostly, if not entirely, just the random running downhill from birth to death like a pinball in one of those old style machines, bouncing off various bumpers and levers. But, as Calvin has been teaching from the Scriptures, and specifically considering the “Hand” we used to summarize five key points in the opening of Chapter 1 of The Little Book, the Bible teaches that our life has been under the oversight of our Heavenly Father. Life has not been random.

Our Responses to God’s Sovereignty of our “Lot in Life”

Our Present “Lot” has been designed by God. And, so? Calvin leads us to four responses we should then have:

We should not pursue after wealth and honors by unlawful acts and such seeking to advance our self-interest by any means. (D&P, bottom of p. 48)
We will be self-restrained so not to “burn with untamed lust” for riches and honors we have not experienced. (D&P, middle of p. 49)
If our hopes for a certain level of prosperity are unrealized, we are at peace with knowing God Who could have made it so, made it better, just as it now is. (D&P, bottom of p.49, and p. 50).
On the other hand, if we do prosper as had been hoped, we do not attribute such to our self effort and talents (contrary to President Thomas Jefferson’s claim that man’s fruition is the natural result of industry and talent).

Calvin cites John 3:27: “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” And, Psalm 131:1-2:

1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
    my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
    too great and too marvelous for me.
²But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
    like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Psalm 131:1-2 ESV

Resolving the difference, however great, between our “lot” (as it is, so far) compared to what we had thought or hoped it would be, occurs when (1) we are humble before our creator, and (2) appreciate that as a loving Father He has ordered our life toward achieving our salvation and His Glory, which will lead ultimately to our greatest joy. There’s even a country and western song that says “I thank God for unanswered prayers” (Unanswered Prayers; song writers: Patrick Alger / Garth Brooks / Larry Bastian).

Calvin Ch 2.10 (D&P p. 51)

This final section of Ch 2 deals with the “what about?” questions of life. We inwardly believe, and are commonly mis-taught, that embracing God as our Father will lead only to (really) good times, pretty much all the time, for a really long time. A brief inspection of the life of most people in the Bible’s narratives clearly reveals that such was not their experience, humanly speaking. And we can readily see many adversities in the lives of those around us, and our own lives too. And, then, we all die, many not propped up with many down pillows surrounded by a squad loved ones humming “Glory Glory Hallelujah ….” Some of us, many of us, will die alone, and between now and then, which could be soon, there will be many experiences we would not have freely chosen.

But we can freely choose to see God’s hand even in the adversity. That was Job’s greatest moment in responding to the charges of his three friends.

Calvin expresses this rightful perspective:

Indeed, the believer should accept whatever comes
with a gentle and thankful heart,
because he knows that it is ordained by Lord.
Calvin, Ch 2.10, D&P p. 53.

We will examine “order” and all its forms including “ordained” as used above and “orderly” below by Calvin on a separate page, here:

Calvin closes Ch 2 on Self-Denial with following:

…the rule of godliness is to
recognize that God’s hand is the sole judge and governor of every fortune,
and because his hand is not recklessly driven to fury,
it distributes to us both good and ill
according to his orderly righteousness.
Calvin, Ch 2.10, D&P, p. 54

Self-Denial Parody

A popular song today, has an entirely different take on Calvin’s long chapter on “self-denial,” one much more ‘in tune’ with our time and culture.

Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble
When you’re perfect in every way
I can’t wait to look in the mirror
‘Cause I get better lookin’ each day
To know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble
But I’m doin’ the best that I can!
Chorus of song “It’s Hard to be Humble,” (c) Mac Davis

It’s a long way from “saved a wretch like me” in the hymn vastly more in tune with Calvin Ch. 2: “Amazing Grace.”

Next week’s study, Week #9 is here:

Three Deep Questions (from Pilgrim’s Progress)

John Bunyan’s two books Pilgrim’s Progress have been, since first published in 1678, the most widely distributed (and until the last 50 years or so, read) books in the English language other than the Bible itself. Written mostly, perhaps entirely, from imprisonment because Bunyan refused to conform to the religion ‘industry’ of the day and instead sought to preach the Bible to any who wished to hear it.

In prison, he found a brilliant and creative way to do that by his pen, writing an allegory of a narrator’s dream of a journey undertaken between two cities, a birthplace known as “The City of Destruction” to heaven itself, “The Celestial City.” There were two such journeys, first of the husband and father “Christian” who undertook it though his wife (and children, and neighbors) were unwilling, even mocking, of it. Subsequently the journey is told of his wife “Christiana” (and children) born from her repentance of her prior refusal.

One important event of passage, perhaps the key moment, is Christiana’s encounter with “The Wicket Gate.” (The Wicket Gate represents that passage from one’s physical life as being with no meaning, i.e. the embodiment of “materialism” or “naturalism,” or that there is meaning but only within humanistic space-time framework). At that Gate she is confronted by the “Keeper.” When she knocks at the door, repeatedly and ever more earnestly, after a terrifying barking by a mongrel dog, the Keeper appears, and asks of Christiana three deep questions:

Who are you?
Where have you come from?
What do you seek?

Bunyan’s book is not Scripture, but in this ever brief encounter he expresses through the Keeper three deeply insightful questions that are keys to that journey to the Celestial City, and to us readers 350 years later.

A Self-Discovery

Here in the most-unusual year of 2020, and in the midst of the closing three holidays of customary celebration–Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years–how might you (and I) answer these questions before God Himself, not hiding behind the mask as we would normally do? What would you, could you, respond to the Keeper of the Wicket Gate’s questions that would be true? Writing, however briefly or long, is essential because it instantiates thought in fixed, concrete form. Keep it private so you’re not inclined ‘to pose’ as we all are by nature.

Ernest Hemingway–far from being a Christian influence–did contribute a useful writing tool, namely: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know,” or in this case three true sentences (at least), the truest you can bear to write as you now sit here. Hemingway’s admonition was about how to get unstuck as a fiction writer; my suggestion is how to become transparently honest as to the greatest possible realities and, so, to become ‘stuck.’

A Lord Jesus Christ-Discovery

‘Stuck’ we all are, if we’re honest, but ‘stuck’ is not all we should be. Again, particularly in this Christmas / year-end context, and the year 2020, I invite you to this challenge: read the four Gospels of Christ’s life (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) asking these same three questions, but of Jesus, while asking God to reveal the deepest reality you are able to grasp.

All together the four Gospels are only about 40,000 words, or one-quarter the size of Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, for which his answer was “it tolls for you” (i.e., announcing your death, as in time it shall for each of us, and now, given the experiences of 2020, perhaps sooner than we expected).

If your reading speed is just 200 words per minute, the Gospels can be completed in 200 minutes, or a little over three hours. This is relevant because you’ll want to read them through multiple times. Wise counsel on reading is that “one cannot read a book once,” meaning the first read of any weighty text cannot be fully grasped because what one reads at the beginning requires in some meaningful way the understanding of what is developed in the body and conclusion. Rereading (at least) four times makes a huge difference, as does having a pencil and pad at hand.

It may be helpful to your reading the Gospels by noting their contexts:

Matthew: strongly connected to the Old Testament, showing that Christ was indeed the fulfillment of the Promised One. Matthew has the long, well-known (but often misunderstood) “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7).
Mark: brief, immediate (a frequently used word), miracle-noting, showing Jesus’s power over creation and events.
Luke: long, literary, rich in exposition, showing Jesus as True Teacher. Luke also has the beloved “Christmas Story.”
John: beginning in eternity past, parallel to the opening verse of Genesis, focused on the final week in the ministry of Jesus the upper room discourse and Jesus’s arrest, crucifixion, and post-crucifixion events (comprising the final nine chapters of the Gospel), and the intimate unity: of Himself (God the Son, The Lamb of God), with God the Father, and with God the Holy Spirit (“The Comforter”), and with us.

Return to the Self-Discovery Questions (and Answers)

In light of the above study of Christ from His biography as contained in the Gospels, and looking at your original writing of self-discovery to Bunyan’s three questions of the Keeper of The Wicket Gate, how do you answer them now?

We are all Pilgrim’s here…and sometimes we make a little Progress. Answering insightful questions can help make that possible. Jesus asked 300 of them, including, with regard to submission to authority by paying the Roman Denarius Tax: “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” (Matthew 22:20). These two questions were really not about the coin and the payment, but about you, and me (Matthew 22:21).

A Coda: Pilgrim’s Progress

For ‘extra credit,’ read, or re-read Pilgrim’s Progress. It is available on the internet as a free pdf in various forms; try to find a modern English treatment. It is also available in Kindle format, such as below (Amazon).

Pilgrim’s Progress (Illustrated): Updated, Modern English. More than 100 Illustrations. (Bunyan Updated Classics Book 1) Kindle Edition
by John Bunyan (Author), Donna Sundblad (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition 4.7 out of 5 stars 2,758 ratings

The Encouragement of Hope

My interest is certain helpful observations Dr. Packer gives in his Ch 4 on “Hoping,” specifically as to hoping in / during one’s latter / last / final days here in Space-Time.

Below are my notes from Packer’s book. Shown in quotations are his words, or texts from Scripture (the NIV translation). Any typos are mine.

Ch 4: Christ and the Christian’s Hoping

The bible’s Promise

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3-4 NIV

• “There comes a point at which the elderly and those who, as we say, are getting on realize that of all the things they wanted to do, they have done all they can, and the rest are now permanently out of reach.”

“What then? “Secular social theory has shown itself unable to answer.”

But the Bible does answer that question:

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
Proverbs 4:18 NIV

Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.
Psalm 71:18 NIV

The philosopher Immanuel Kant “observed that the question, what may I hope for? is one of the most important questions one can ever ask, but he did not claim that he could answer it.”

What the Bible gives us, that secular theory cannot is… HOPE.

But such HOPE is not a wish, or dream, or aspiration; nor is it an invention that we ascribe to as a pretend just to make life, especially older life and final days, tolerable. HOPE is not “the weak sense of optimistic whistling in the dark, but in the strong sense of certainty about what is coming because God Himself has promised it.”

“The Bible…speaks directly to [HOPE]…setting before those who are Christ’s a destiny that reaches beyond this world to a kaleidoscope of wonders, enrichments, and delights to which it gives the generic name ‘glory.’ This destiny is big and exciting, and the New Testament writers show that they felt it to be so. As having something big and exciting to look forward to…”

5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”[b] Since we have that same spirit of[c] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

5 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 4:5 – 5:8 NIV

The word “comfort” as it translates the Greek original word of the NT is something far stronger than we usually ascribe to the translated word used here. It is better understood here as “renewal of strength through encouragement.”

•“God-taught hoping leads to God-given strengthening. When humanly, we are weak, then in the Lord we are strong.

Glory? The Bible has three uses of the word “glory.”

1. Glory designates what God shows, reveals to us, such as His work and presence, through His revealed Word.

2. Glory also is used for the praise that we offer to God in recognition of Who He is, as The One Who is uniquely Praise worthy.

3. Glory also is used to point to “God’s continue transforming work in us,” consisting of the fruit of the Spirit of God: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). “The Spirit imparts in the heart, as a matter of purpose, the desire for and habit of thus realizing the moral profile of Jesus which Christlikeness in the most significant sense fo the word.”

Hope Fulfilled

“…from the moment of our death we shall be at home with our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“While we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” 2 Cor 5:6-8

“All believers should feel that way, for no matter how old or sick we are, thoughts of our future with Jesus will bring fortitude and joy into our hearts. Jesus Himself from His throne, will see to that.”

“Our new body, we may be sure, will match and perfectly express our perfected new heart, that is, our renewed moral and spiritual nature and character. That body will reflect us as we were at our best, rather than as we are physically at the time of leaving this world; indeed, we should expect it to be better than our physical best ever was. The new body will never deteriorate , but will keep its newness for all eternity. It will know no inner tensions between one desire and another each pulling against the other, nor will desire to do something ever outrun energy and ability to do it. Now, when we are in glory, shall we ever lack, or fail to show, love to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to all the brothers and sisters in Christ who are with us there.”

“Look Forward and Look to Christ”

“Christians plan paths of faithfulness to Christ knowing that these involve both apparent and real weakness. And they settle for this on the understanding that journeyings of faithfulness, which please their Lord as of now, lead to final glories.”

“…it is wonderful to know that somewhere in the process of transition out of the body into the next world, Christ Himself will meet us, so that we may expect His face to be the first thing we become aware of in that new order of life into which we will have moved.”