(30-32) Schooling the ACNA, Costals, Tractarians, Arminians, & Others: Heinrich Bullinger

Schooling the ACNA, Costals, Tractarians, Arminians, & Others: Heinrich Bullinger.

“The Second Helvetic Confession” was a confession that (Canterbury) Matthew Parker endorsed; he wrote Heinrich Bullinger that it expressed the beliefs “of all of us.”

But, in contrast, the ACNA is invoking self-conscious efforts to efface Reformed and Reformation theology; see amnesia-efforts at: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=18192#.Um_6jIzD9jo

A lengthier document, Mr. Bullinger’s Decades was required for ordinands in the Church of England. Mr. (Rev. Dr. Prof.) R. Scott Clark has provided an outline of the Decades at: http://clark.wscal.edu/bullinger.php .

The Decades is available at: http://www.amazon.com/The-Decades-Henry-Bullinger-Volumes/dp/1146886381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380934921&sr=8-1&keywords=heinrich+bullinger+decades+volume+1 .

"The Second Helvetic Confession" is at: http://www.ccel.org/creeds/helvetic.htm

We say with Zachary Ursinus, "Friend, entering here: be short and leave…or else stay and assist us in the work."

Or, with Proverbs 12.1: “Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates correction is stupid.” Be calm and take your medicines daily.

Now, school-time with Mr. Bullinger:

CHAPTER XV
Of the True Justification of the Faithful

WHAT IS JUSTIFICATION? According to the apostle in his treatment of justification, to justify means to remit sins, to absolve from guilt and punishment, to receive into favor, and to pronounce a man just. For in his epistle to the Romans the apostle says: "It is God who justifies; who is to condemn?" (Rom. 8:33). To justify and to condemn are opposed. And in The Acts of the Apostles the apostle states: "Through Christ forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38 f.). For in the Law and also in the Prophets we read: "If there is a dispute between men, and they come into court...the judges decide between them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty" (Deut. 25:1). And in Isa., ch. 5: "Woe to those...who acquit the guilty for a bribe."

WE ARE JUSTIFIED ON ACCOUNT OF CHRIST. Now it is most certain that all of us are by nature sinners and godless, and before God's judgment-seat are convicted of godlessness and are guilty of death, but that, solely by the grace of Christ and not from any merit of ours or consideration for us, we are justified, that is, absolved from sin and death by God the Judge. For what is clearer than what Paul said: "Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23 f.).

IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. For Christ took upon himself and bore the sins of the world, and satisfied divine justice. Therefore, solely on account of Christ's sufferings and resurrection God is propitious with respect to our sins and does not impute them to us, but imputes Christ's righteousness to us as our own (II Cor. 5;19 ff.; Rom. 4;25), so that now we are not only cleansed and purged from sins or are holy, but also, granted the righteousness of Christ, and so absolved from sin, death and condemnation, are at last righteous and heirs of eternal life. Properly speaking, therefore, God alone justifies us, and justifies only on account of Christ, not imputing sins to us but imputing his righteousness to us.

WE ARE JUSFIFIED BY FAITH ALONE. But because we receive this justification, not through any works, but through faith in the mercy of God and in Christ, we therefore teach and believe with the apostle that sinful man is justified by faith alone in Christ, not by the law or any works. For the apostle says: "We hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law" (Rom. 3:28). Also: "If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness .... And to one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness" (Rom. 4:2 ff.; Gen. 15:6). And again: "By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God--not because of works, lest any man should boast," etc. (Eph. 2:8 f.). Therefore, because faith receives Christ our righteousness and attributes everything to the grace of God in Christ, on that account justification is attributed to faith, chiefly because of Christ and not therefore because it is our work. For it is the gift of God.

WE RECEIVE CHRIST BY FAITH. Moreover, the Lord abundantly shows that we receive Christ by faith, in John, ch. 6, where he puts eating for believing, and believing for eating. For as we receive food by eating, so we participate in Christ by believing.

JUSTIFICATION IS NOT ATTRIBUTED PARTLY TO CHRIST OR TO FAITH, PARTLY TO US. Therefore, we do not share in the benefit of justification partly because of the grace of God or Christ, and partly because of ourselves, our love, works or merit, but we attribute it wholly to the grace of God in Christ through faith. For our love and our works could not please God in Christ through faith. For our love and our works could not please God if performed by unrighteous men. Therefore, it is necessary for us to be righteous before we may love and do good works. We are made truly righteous, as we have said, by faith in Christ purely by the grace of God, who does not impute to us our sins, but the righteousness of Christ, or rather, he imputes faith in Christ to us for righteousness. Moreover, the apostle very clearly derives love from faith when he says: "The aim of our command is love that issues from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith" (I Tim. 1:5)

JAMES COMPARED WITH PAUL. Wherefore, in this matter we are not speaking of a fictitious, empty, lazy and dead faith, but of a living, quickening faith. It is and is called a living faith because it apprehends Christ who is life and makes alive, and shows that it is alive by living works. And so James does not contradict anything in this doctrine of ours. For he speaks of an empty, dead faith of which some boasted but who did not have Christ living in them by faith (James 2:14 ff.). James said that works justify, yet without contradicting the apostle (otherwise he would have to be rejected) but showing that Abraham proved his living and justifying faith by works. This all the pious do, but they trust in Christ alone and not in their own works. For again the apostle said: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, [The Latin reads: "by the faith of the Son of God."] who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not reject the grace of God; for if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose," etc. (Gal. 2:20 f.).

Ernst Hengstenberg's "History of the Kingdom of God Under the Old Testament:" Strange Fire," Costals, Baptists, R2K & Liberals

Hengstenberg, Ernst Wilhelm. History of the Kingdom of God Under the Old Testament, Vol. 1. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1871. Volume 1 is 469 pages. http://www.amazon.com/History-Kingdom-Under-Testament-Transl/dp/B009MXNY8G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381869400&sr=8-2&keywords=hengstenberg+history+of+the+kingdom+of+god

This brief section contains the seeds that, if developed, addresses several modern disorders. It's just amazing: Costalists & the "Strange Fire" Montanists, Baptists and covenant signs, liberals (think mainline), even R2K (no theocratic statehood until Moses) and more. Mr. Hengstenberg was dealing with German rationalism and Schleiermachian pietism.

Introduction: the Extent, Nature, Division, Import and Method of Treating the Old Testament

Of interest, “two kingdoms” emerge: one is the kingdom of nature and the other the kingdom of grace. The first deals with God as the Creator, Preserver and Ruler, e.g. divine providence. The second kingdom is the kingdom of grace. The Old Testament is the establishment and confirmation of the kingdom of grace amongst humans. It deals with guilt, disordering of the image of God, the divine sentence, the Deluge, confusion of foreign languages (to impede unity, communication, and hubris), and serves up an “economy of preparation” or an “economy of promise.”

Offhand, we would add that this orientation serves to dissever the Baptists from the discussion, to wit, the unity of the gracious covenant of salvation.

Varied aims and the importance:

• OT studies are an independent discipline yet related to other disciplines

• Initiates, confirms, strengthens faith (a theme Mr. Hengstenberg repeats)

• Evinces internal coherence and preparation for Chirst

• Unity of doctrine

• Shows divine judgment and allowance of persecution; we would add that immediately one sees rebuttals here to the modern Montanists.

• Shows the “being and attributes of God”

• Provides the supplies: “makes the theologians a theologian.” We would add that this phrase is extremely potent! Vitally so!

• Provides for “awe and “reverence”

• Is a “rich source for humility”

• Rich source for strength and stedfastness, e.g. Martin Luther, Psalm 46, and his “Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott”

• Helps those who “waver and totter”

Isolated comments on some liberals (German rationalism, Schleiermachian pietism, Deism):

• Lucke, De Wette, and Meyer: in reading their works, one sees a “guide not competent for his task.”

• “Many have gone astray”

• A “mass of prejudices, distorted views, and false arguments”

• “Half-dealing”

• “Ever increasingly deism and rationalism”

• They know “nothing of the living God”

• Deny the authority of Christ and the apostles; Mr. Hengstenberg gives the standard list of texts

• Deny the antiquity of the historical books and have “tried by all means to throw suspicion on the antiquity of the separate books,” yet Moses was able to write

• Deny the Psalms and Prophets who follow closely the historical books and who reflect the kingdom of God

• The “impossibility of miracles is purely dogmatic”

• We are “living in an age of monstrous exaggerations”

A notable quote worth preserving by a historian Woltmann (35), a quote that suitably defangs the Munsterites, the Radical Reformers (Anabaptists), the frenzied Montanists, and the “Strange Fire” Costals in their disorder and distempered minds and affections:

"The history of the Old Testament has a truly iron connection, by virtue of the unchangeable nature of revelation, which constantly continues alike, and the historical personality of God;--by the absence of that love of the marvelous which leads to the fabrication of miracles, exemplified by the fact that wonders are related only where some object worthy of God can be pointed out, where manifestly a grand crisis takes place, where the question relates to the existence or non-existence of the kingdom of God—as in Egypt, in the time of Elijah, and during the captivity;--and by the circumstance that in many periods where no such phenomena are record, the narrative adheres to the ordinary course of nature; as, for example, in the period of the death of Joseph to the appearance of Moses; throughout nearly the whole time of the Judges; in the time of David and Solomon; and in the period succeeding the Babylonish captivity, the history of which is recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah;--and finally, by the fact that, even in the relation of wonderful events, as, for instance, the Egyptian plagues, the passage through the Red Sea, the feeding of manna and quails, etc., there is no concealment of those natural causes whose efficacy was merely intensified by God, or directed in a peculiar manner, so that the supernatural, as it is most clearly set forth in the plagues of Egypt, rests almost thoughout upon naturalistic ground, while a mythical representation either ignores this connection, or willfully destroys it.”

Mr. Hengstenberg notes that the holy God is an “enemy to every lie and scorns fictitious praise,” the “highest and only aim of all the historical books of the Old Testament” (35). 

This absolutely levels the frenzied Montanists like Hinn and the Costalist-questers for signs and miracles. This statement by Mr. Woltmann and Hengstenberg largely lines up with the sober Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 5.3: “God, in His ordinary providence, makes use of means, yet is free to work without, above, and against them, at His pleasure.”

Contrary to other national histories, deifying their leaders, the Old Testament does not do this, but show foibles, faults, sins, and wickednesses with God and His divine grace overcoming and prevailing. Other histories show “a self-interested attempt to glorify itself, to place its origin in the most remote antiquity…” or, in short, to brag, puff and appear as deities. (Think about many Anglican blowhards here, puffing away about their supremacy as well.) The Old Testament does the opposite, defining depravity and exalting God’s conquering grace:

• Abraham’s weakness in Egypt

• Isaac’s weakness

• Jacob’s deceits

• Atrocities of Jacob’s sons at Shechem

• Reuben’s incest

• Joseph’s brothers’ malice, envy, kidnapping and slave-traffickry

• Moses’ murder of Egyptians

• Moses’ denial of the Abrahamic covenantal sign of circumcision to his son

• Aaron’s failure in the Golden Calf fiasco

• Rebellion and complaining of Aaron, Miriam and associates

• Corruption of Aaron’s priestly sons, Nadab and Abihu

• Korah, Datham and Abiram’s rebellion

• Constant complaining and failures in the wilderness more largely

• Moses denied entry to the promised land

• Book of Judges: Samson and others

• Eli’s failures and the corruption of his sons

• Saul’s failures

• David’s failures

• Solomon’s failures

• Kings and Chronicles chronicle regal, priestly and prophet corruptions

• The Prophets uniformly address the same

Wilhelm De Wette’s triumphalist and devolutionary liberalism is worth noting (50).

“Happy were our ancestors who, in ignorance of the art of criticism, themselves truly and honestly believed all they were taught. History lost at least this respect, that she faithfully related myths which she was obliged always to continue to relate as truth, even while from love to the doubter, adding the warning that they were myths; but religion gained. I have not been the first to commence criticism; but since the dangerous game has begun, it must be carried through, for only that which is perfect of its kind is good. The genius of humanity watches over the race, and will not suffer it to be robbed of the noblest which exists for men.”

Mr. Hengstenberg notes that this view “has been born to the grave. Now it has risen again with the church” (50). To wit, while the liberals attempted to bury the OT account of God’s providence, abilities, and the divine record, new voices are arising to defang and bury Mr. De Wette.