Catechism #12 & 13

As we came to Question #12 and #13 this morning, me and the boys have made a turn from discussing human misery to discussing deliverance.

Question #12: According to God's righteous judgment we deserve punishment both in this world and forever after: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God's favor?

Answer: God requires that his justice be satisfied.Therefore the claims of his justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or another (Ex. 23:7; Rom. 2:1-11;Isa. 53:11; Rom. 8:3-4).


Question #13: Can we pay this debt ourselves?

Answer: Certainly not. Actually, we increase our guilt every day (Matt. 6:12; Rom.2:4-5)

Song of the Week

The truth of this song's message came home to me afresh last night as Bob was preaching on the second commandment and our hearts proclivity to fashion idols instead of worshiping the true God. Had God not shaken me from that sin, I'd give my heart and worship to created things instead of my creator.

Matthew Smith, "My Lord, I did not Choose You"

Catechism #10 & 11

Question #10: Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

Answer: Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge he punishes them now and in eternity. He has declared: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."(Ex. 34:7; Ps. 5:4-6; Nah. 1:2; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; Heb. 9:27, Gal. 3:10; Deut. 27:26)

Question #11: But isn't God also merciful?

Answer: God is certainly merciful,but he is also just.His justice demands that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty — eternal punishment of body and soul. (Ex. 34:6-7; Ps. 103:8-9, Ex. 34:7; Deut. 7:9-11; Ps. 5:4-6; Heb. 10:30-31, Matt. 25:35-46)

Academic Generalist

Carl Trueman, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, has a great post (actually it looks like it'll be a short series of posts) In Praise of Generalists. He demoans the overly specialized approach to academics, writing, "...NT studies shows no signs of running out of topics. All that happens is that the topics become narrower and more arcane. This has little to do with the intrinsic nature of the New Testament and much to do with the need to find a dissertation topic and then to publish. No-one gets published for saying what's been said a million times before and in the same hackneyed way. It needs to be a new topic, or at least a novel presentation of an old one...This kind of behaviour creates in turn what one might dub a vortex of specialisation: as academics know more and more about less and less, the possibility for an overall synthesis becomes increasingly impossible not only to realise in practice but even to conceive of in theory."

Just this summer I dismissed the notion of pursuing a (future) academic career, switching programs at Covenant from a ThM in Exegetical Theology to a ThM in Biblical and Pastoral Theology. The switch was away from a very specific and towards a more general and practical degree.

Why the switch? Honestly, I like studying, but burnout on topics after 4,000 pages of reading. I've been working on a study on Evangelicalism. I enjoyed the first 2000 or so pages, the last 2000 pages of reading has been tough. I'm bored with it. I like knowing a little about a lot, not a lot about a little. I like being a generalist. After I've finished this class (on evangelicalism), I'd like to bounce back and do something in the New Testament, then something in Systematic Theology - maybe the Doctrine of the Church. I can't imagine doing another 4000 pages of reading on evangelicalism, even if the topic got narrowed a bit (i.e. evangelicals view of the church, etc.). I always read multiple books at one time, but fair better when they aren't so similar I feel like I'm reading the same thing if four books. In the long run, I think being a generalist will be good for me and think I'll be better equipped to serve the church. I'm exceedingly thankful for the specialists who take time to study theological or biblical minutia. I'll continue to read the specialists, and stand in awe of their focus. But I'm not one of them, and I'm happy to have finally realized it!

Catechism #9

Q. But doesn't God do us an injustice by requiring in his law what we are unable to do?

A. No, God created humans with the ability to keep the law. They, however, tempted by the devil, in reckless disobedience, robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts. (Gen. 1:31; Eph. 4:24, Gen. 3:13; John 8:44, Gen. 3:6, Rom. 5:12, 18, 19)