Notes
Chapter 1: Gospel-Centered Ministry
. See D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 61–64.
. Cf. Tim Keller, “The Gospel and the Poor,” Themelios 33:3 (2008): 8–22 (available at http://thegospelcoalition.org/publications).
. Jonathan Edwards, “Christian Charity: or, The Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced,” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, revised and corrected by Edward Hickman (1834; repr., Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1974), 2:164.
. See esp. Jonathan Edwards, “Christian Charity,” which lays out two “reasons” for the work. The first is “the general state and nature of mankind. . . . [M]en are made in the image of God, and on this account are worthy of our love. . . . [W]e are made to subsist by society and union with another. God hath made us with such a nature, that we cannot subsist without the help one of another” (2:164). Edwards gives us the more intellectual grounding of creation theology: all human beings are made in the image of God and have worth; the creation is good; humans are built for shalom, for interdependence. But then Edwards lays out a second reason for doing justice: we have been the recipients of the blood of Christ who though “rich” became poor so that through his poverty we might become rich. Edwards uses the gospel to get at his readers’ “affections”: “What a poor business it will be, that those who hope to share these benefits, yet cannot give something for the relief of a poor neighbor without grudging! . . . How unsuitable it is for us, who live only by kindness to be unkind! What would have become of us, if Christ had been so saving of his blood, and loth to bestow it, as many men are of their money or goods? or if he had been as ready to excuse himself from dying for us, as men commonly are to excuse themselves from charity to their neighbour?” (2:165). One could argue that this is heaping guilt on the readers, but Edwards is not saying, “Because you don’t help the poor, God will reject you,” but, “Because Jesus was rejected in your place so that God now accepts you, how can you reject these folks?” It is, as Stephen Charnock would say, making people “miserable by mercy,” using joy and love to create humble conviction and change.
. James Davison Hunter, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
. See D. A. Carson, “Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2000), 89–104.
Chapter 2: Can We Know the Truth?
. D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 96–102.
. Ibid., 99.
. Ibid., 100.
. The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement.
. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this chapter are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
. The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement.
. Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, trans. William Hendriksen (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 41.
. Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, Collected Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, 5 vols. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1982), 1:110, 178.
. John Calvin, cited in J. I. Packer, “Calvin the Theologian,” in John Calvin: A Collection of Essays, ed. G. E. Duffield (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1966), 162.
. K. Scott Oliphint, “Non Sola Ratione: Three Presbyterians and the Postmodern Mind,” in The Practical Calvinist: Essays in Honor of Claire Davis, ed. Peter A. Lillback (Fearn, Scotland: Mentor, 2002), 382.
. K. Scott Oliphint, “The Old-New Reformed Epistemology,” in Revelation and Reason: New Essays in Reformed Apologetics, ed. K. Scott Oliphint and Lane G. Tipton (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2007), 210.
. Ibid., 211.
. The Gospel Coalition Theological Vision for Ministry.
. Ibid.
. Stan Telchin, Betrayed! (Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books, 1981), 11, 22.
Chapter 3: The Gospel and Scripture: How to Read the Bible
. Scripture quotations in this chapter are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
. From his sermon entitled “How We May Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit,” as quoted in Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991), 53.
. Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1994), 275.
Chapter 4: Creation
. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this chapter are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
. Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (New York: Norton, 1991), 1.
Chapter 5: Sin and the Fall
. Matthew White, “Deaths by Mass Unpleasantness: Estimated Totals for the Entire 20th Century,” http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm.
. Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006), 433–34.
. Quoted in Henri Blocher, Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle, New Studies in Biblical Theology 5 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997), 61.
. Quoted in Harold G. Coward, The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2008), 83.
. Jonathan Edwards, The Complete Works of Jonathan Edwards (Carlisle, PA, Banner of Truth, repr. 1995), 1:145.
. Quoted in Blocher, Original Sin, 83–84.
. Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1956), 221.
. Scripture quotations in this chapter are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
. John Murray, Collected Writings of John Murray: Lectures in Systematic Theology (Carlisle, PA, Banner of Truth, 1978), 2:69.
. Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 3:64–65.
. See Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 2nd ed. (Nashville, TN: Nelson, 1998), 436–39.
. The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement.
. Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 229.
. R. L. Dabney, Systematic Theology (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1985), 323.
. Ibid., 313, 324.
. Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 248.
. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Plight of Man and the Power of God (Ada, MI: Baker, 1982), 57.
Chapter 6: The Plan
. Scripture quotations in this chapter are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
. John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.12.3 (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iv.xiii.html).
. Martin Luther, “The Freedom of a Christian,” in Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings, ed. John Dillenberger (New York: Anchor, 1962), 60.
. J. C. Ryle, Holiness (repr., Chicago: Moody, 2010), 58–59.
. Owen’s original wording is cited by Ryle, Holiness, 76–77.
Chapter 7: What Is the Gospel?
. Scripture quotations in this chapter are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
. This portion of the story relates to the themes of “Creation of Humanity,” “The Fall,” “The Plan of God,” “The Redemption of Christ,” and “The Justification of Sinners” in The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement.
. This portion of the story relates to the themes of “The Power of the Holy Spirit,” “The Kingdom of God,” “God’s New People,” “Baptism and the Lord’s Supper [i.e., means of grace],” and “The Restoration of All Things” in The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement.
. “How Tedious and Tasteless the Hour,” John Newton (1779).
. This portion of the story relates to the themes of “How should we relate to the culture around us?” and “What is gospel-centered ministry?” in The Gospel Coalition Theological Vision for Ministry.
Chapter 8: Christ’s Redemption
. Here and throughout this chapter are excerpts from The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement, which has been reproduced in full in the appendix of this volume.
. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this chapter are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
. Frank Houghton, “Thou Who Wast Rich” (1894–1972).
. Thomas Kelly, “Look, Ye Saints! The Sight Is Glorious” (1809).
Chapter 9: Justification
. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this chapter are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
. Donald Smarto, Pursued: A True Story of Crime, Faith, and Family (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1990), 105.
. Ibid., 105–6.
. Ibid., 119–20.
. James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification (1867; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1955), 222.
. Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1965), 251.
. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Library of Christian Classics 20–21, ed. John T. McNeill; trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 3.11.1.
. Thomas Cranmer, “Sermon on Salvation,” in First Book of Homilies (1547; repr. London: SPCK, 1914), 25–26.
. Martin Luther, What Luther Says: A Practical In-Home Anthology for the Active Christian, ed. Ewald M. Plass (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 1959), 705, 715.
. Ibid., 704.
. Morris, Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 260.
. Thomas Cranmer, quoted in Edmund P. Clowney, “The Biblical Doctrine of Justification by Faith,” in Right with God: Justification in the Bible and the World, ed. D. A. Carson (Exeter: Paternoster, 1992), 17.
. Thomas Chalmers, quoted in Donald Grey Barnhouse, The Invisible War (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1965), 116.
. John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986), 190.
. Ibid., 190.
. Ibid., 202.
. Smarto, Pursued, 122.
. Calvin, Institutes, 3.11.10.
. Anthony A. Hoekema, Saved by Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989), 178.
. Pieter W. Van Der Horst, “Jewish Funerary Inscriptions,” Biblical Archaeology Review 18:5 (1992): 55.
. Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians, Luther’s Works, ed. and trans. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis, MO: Concordia, 1963), 26:126.
. Martin Luther, quoted in James Montgomery Boice, The Minor Prophets: An Expositional Commentary, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1996), 2:91–92.
. “Justification,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed., ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001), 646.
. J. C. Ryle, Justified!, Home Truths, Second Series (London: S. W. Partridge, 1854–71), 12.
. Calvin, Institutes, 3.11.2.
. John Calvin, “Antidote to the Canons of the Council of Trent,” in Tracts and Treatises in Defense of the Reformed Faith, trans. Henry Beveridge (1851; repr., Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1958), 3:152.
. William Cowper, quoted in James Montgomery Boice, Romans, 4 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991), 1:372.
Chapter 10: The Holy Spirit
. Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Holy Spirit (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1996), 21.
. This list is culled from Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2004), 60–61.
. Scripture quotations in this chapter are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
. Ferguson, Holy Spirit, 37.
. While the Bible clearly teaches that the Spirit was sent by both the Father and the Son, it is less clear whether the Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. According to the earliest version of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (ad 389), the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father.” The phrase “and the Son” (filioque) was famously added at the Council of Toledo in ad 589, leading to a schism between the Eastern and Western churches. The controversy that ensued was part political, part theological, and part misunderstanding. The Western tradition fits well with the biblical emphasis on the Spirit’s work to remake us in the image of Christ and safeguards against notions of salvation that put the Spirit’s work at the center apart from Christ. But those defending filioque (as I would) must still listen carefully to Eastern concerns. See Letham, Holy Trinity, 201–20.
. See D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 534–39.
. Jonathan Edwards, “The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God,” in Jonathan Edwards on Revival (1741; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1995), 121.
. See John Piper, Finally Alive (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2009), 30–31.
. Ibid., 39–42.
. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeil; trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 3.1.1.
. Ibid.
. John Murray, Redemption, Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1955), 161.
. According to Ferguson, Holy Spirit, 100.
. John Stott, Baptism and Fullness: The Work of the Holy Spirit Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1975), 43.
. J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005), 57.
. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1943; repr., New York: Touchstone, 1996), 178.
. See Graham Cole, Engaging with the Holy Spirit: Real Questions, Practical Answers (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007), 49, 81, 97.
. See Rom. 1:11; 5:15–16; 6:23; 11:29; 2 Cor. 1:11; Heb. 2:4.
. On this point, charismatics and noncharismatics are in agreement. See Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994), 1016; Richard B. Gaffin, Perspectives on Pentecost: New Testament Teaching on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1979), 47.
. Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 120.
Chapter 11: The Kingdom of God
. Don Cupitt, “Post-Christianity,” in Religion, Modernity, and Postmodernity, Religion and Spirituality in the Modern World, ed. Paul Heelas (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998), 218.
. Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (New York: HarperCollins, 2004), 2–3.
. Richard J. Bauckham, God and the Crisis of Freedom: Biblical and Contemporary Perspectives (Louisville, KY: Westminster, 2002), 50–51.
. Ibid., 68.
. John Bright, The Kingdom of God (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1980), 196ff.
. The primary definition of both the Hebrew word malkuth and the Greek word basileia describes the rank, authority, and sovereign rule exercised by a king. The kingdom may make reference to the realm, sphere, place, or people, but these are secondary definition entries to that of a sovereign kingly rule (see Pss. 103:19; 145:11, 13; Dan. 2:37).
. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this chapter are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
. The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement.
. Graeme Goldsworthy, “The Kingdom of God and the Old Testament,” http://www.presenttruthmag.com/archive/XXII/22-4.htm.
. Meredith G. Kline, Kingdom Prologue (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006), 12.
. Richard Pratt, “What Is the Kingdom of God?” http://www.thirdmill.org/files/english/html/th/TH.h.Pratt.kingdom.of.god.html.
. Goldsworthy, “Kingdom of God and the Old Testament.”
. George R. Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 19.
. Pratt, “What Is the Kingdom of God?”
. Ibid.
. Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom of God, 20.
. John Piper, “Book Review of The Kingdom of God by John Bright,” http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByTopic/
30/2687_Book_Review_of_The_Kingdom_of_God_by_John_Bright/.
. George E. Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1959), 15.
. Tim Keller, “Preaching the Gospel,” PT 123 Gospel Communication (Spring 2003): 58–59.
. Richard J. Bauckham, Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 35.
. Piper, “Book Review.”
. Craig Koester, “The Dwelling of God: The Tabernacle in the Old Testament, Intertestamental Jewish Literature, and the New Testament,” CBQMS, 22 (1989): 102.
. Ibid., 102. John 1:51 (“You shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”).
. Herman Ridderbos, The Gospel according to John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 51.
. D. A. Carson, The Gospel according to John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 182.
. Piper, “Book Review.”
. Richard J. Bauckham, God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament, Didsbury Lectures, 1996 (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1998), viii, 35.
. Bauckham, God and the Crisis of Freedom, 17.
. John Stott, The Cross of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1986), 160.
. Tim Keller, “A Gospel for the More Secular,” http://redeemer.com/resources, and especially his Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters (New York: Dutton, 2009).
. Tim Keller, John 12 sermon, www.redeemer.com/sermons.
. Confessional Statement: “Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace . . . we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God.”
. Ibid.: “We are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God.”
. Tim Keller, “Preaching the Gospel,” 33–34.
. The Gospel Coalition Theological Vision for Ministry.
. Schwartz, Paradox of Choice, 215–17.
. Timothy Keller, “Preaching in a Postmodern City,” (unpublished version), 21.
. Ibid.
Chapter 12: The Church: God’s New People
. This chapter represents an exposition of the eleventh point, “God’s New People,” of the Foundation Documents of The Gospel Coalition.
. All Scripture quotations in this chapter are the author’s translation.
. George M. Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003), 467.
. Timothy Keller, Gospel Christianity (New York: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 22.
. Cornelius Plantinga, as quoted by Keller in Gospel Christianity, 16.
. D. A. Carson, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2000), 44.
. Quoted in Iain H. Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The First Forty Years 1899–1939 (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1982), 141–42.
. C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, vol. 2: The Full Harvest (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1973), 246.
. C. H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1954), 344.
. Dionysius, quoted by Eusebius in Eusebius: The History of the Church, trans. G. A. Williamson (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1965), 7.22.
. Tertullian, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989), Apology 39.
. C. H. Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit (Pasadena, CA: Pilgrim, 1855), 1:208–9.
Chapter 13: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
. D. Marion Clark, “Baptism: Joyful Sign of the Gospel,” in Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship, ed. Philip Graham Ryken, Derek W. H. Thomas, and J. Ligon Duncan III (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2003), 171.
. James V. Brownson, The Promise of Baptism: An Introduction to Baptism in Scripture and the Reformed Tradition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007), 24–25.
. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations in this chapter are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
. Clark, “Baptism,” 179.
. Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines within the Church (Chicago: Moody, 1996), 138.
. Obviously, Presbyterian paedobaptists do not draw the same conclusion from Romans 6 as to the mode of baptism (i.e., going down to “the watery grave”) that credobaptists do, as explained below.
. Clark, “Baptism,” 177.
. Of the writing and reading of books on baptism there is (it seems) no end. But here are a few of the very best credo- and paedobaptist presentations of the respective arguments that look at both Scripture and Christian history. (1) Believer’s Baptism: Sign of the New Covenant in Christ, ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Shawn D. Wright (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 2006); an impressive set of essays from noted credobaptist scholars. (2) Baptism: Three Views, ed. David F. Wright (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009). Professor Wright was my Doktorvater at the University of Edinburgh, and though a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) elder, he was a convinced credobaptist and a formidable student of the history of infant baptism. This book has strong credo and paedo presentations, as well as a Bunyan-style compromise view. (3) George R. Beasley-Murray, Baptism in the New Testament (London: Macmillan, 1962); an exhaustive, scholarly study that argues the believers-only baptism view. (4) Geoffrey Bromiley, Children of Promise: The Case for Baptizing Infants (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979). Bromiley was a noted historical theologian, and though small and meant for a popular audience, this little book is an able presentation of the paedobaptist view. (5) Paul K. Jewett, Infant Baptism and the Covenant of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978). A critique of infant baptism from a covenantal believers baptism position. (6) The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, ed. Gregg Strawbridge (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2003); a collection of essays arguing the paedobaptist view ably. (7) Rowland Ward, Baptism in Scripture and History (Melbourne: New Melbourne Press, 1991); a brief, but helpful presentation of the issues from a paedobaptist perspective that focuses on mode. (8) Joachim Jeremias, Infant Baptism in the First Four Centuries (London: SCM, 1960); a survey of the Patristic evidence, asserting a paedobaptist interpretation of the material. (9) Kurt Aland, Did the Early Church Baptize Infants? (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963); a credobaptist rejoinder to Jeremias by a noted scholar. (10) Joachim Jeremias, The Origins of Infant Baptism: A Further Study in Reply to Kurt Aland (London: SCM, 1963). Jeremias responds to Aland, still advocating a paedobaptist interpretation of the Patristic data. (11) Everett Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009). A noted scholar of Patristics, out of the Campbellite tradition, Ferguson presents a massive survey of the evidence from the church Fathers. He concludes, mode: immersion; purpose: forgiveness and regeneration (at least from Tertullian on). Needless to say, both credobaptist and paedobaptist members of The Gospel Coalition would draw different conclusions from the evidence, but Ferguson’s work is important.
. James Orr, “Baptismal Regeneration,” in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1939), 1:397.
. Stephen Charnock, The Doctrine of Regeneration (repr. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1980), 99–100.
. Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 167.
. John Calvin, Treatises on the Sacraments: Catechism of the Church of Geneva, Forms of Prayer, and Confessions of Faith, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage, 2002), 173.
. Richard D. Phillips, “The Lord’s Supper: An Overview,” in Give Praise to God, 197.
. John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols. (Louisville, KY: Westminster, 1960), 2:1362 (§4.17.2).
. Phillips, “The Lord’s Supper,” 198–99.
. Calvin, Institutes, 2:1370 (§4.17.10).
. For a fuller treatment of these passages, including a discussion of the often illegitimately appealed to John 6, see J. Ligon Duncan III, “True Communion with Christ in the Lord’s Supper,” in The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century, vol. 3 (Ross-shire: Mentor), 429–75, esp. 450–71.
. Donald Macleod puts it forcefully: “The question of the Lord’s presence in the Sacrament is not raised by the New Testament material itself.” Priorities for the Church (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2003), 122.
Chapter 14: The Restoration of All Things
. Scripture quotations in this chapter are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
. N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 204.
. Ibid., 223.
. George Eldon Ladd, The Presence of the Future (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974), 139; emphasis in original.
. Ibid., 151.
. Ibid., 165.
. Ibid., 227–29.
. George Eldon Ladd, Crucial Questions about the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1952), 131–32, emphasis added.
. There are two reasons for this. First, the “building” or “house” in v. 1b stands in a parallel relationship with “home” in v. 1a. Since the latter refers to our earthly, unglorified body, it seems reasonable to conclude that the former refers to our heavenly, glorified body. Secondly, the description in v. 1b (“not made with hands,” “eternal,” and “in the heavens”) is more suitable to the glorified body (see esp. 1 Cor. 15:35–49). Paul’s point would be that our heavenly embodiment is indestructible, not susceptible to decay or corruption or dissolution.
. Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1973), 174.
. Murray Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 406.
. Ibid., 405.
. Ibid., 406.
. A brief but exceptionally helpful treatment of this issue is provided by D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 515–36.
. Ibid.,525.
. Ibid., 534.
. John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, 2nd ed., rev. and exp. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003), 122.
. See Rev. 22:10–11. On this latter text Carson comments: “If the holy and those who do right continue to be holy and to do right, in anticipation of the perfect holiness and rightness to be lived and practiced throughout all eternity, should we not also conclude that the vile continue in their vileness in anticipation of the vileness they will live and practice throughout all eternity?” (Gagging of God, 533); emphasis in original.
. Ibid., 527.
. See the promise as given to Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3; 13:14–17; 15:7; 17:8), and in turn to Isaac (Gen. 26:1–5), Jacob (Gen. 28:13–14; 35:12), and Moses (Ex. 6:4, 8; 13:5–11; 32:13; 33:1; Num. 10:29; cf. Num. 11:12; 14:23; 32:11; Deut. 12:8–11).
. Ladd, The Presence of the Future, 59. In this regard, see esp. Matt. 5:5 and Rev. 5:10.
. Donald Garlington, “Reigning with Christ: Revelation 20:1–6 and the Question of the Millennium,” in Reformation and Revival Journal, vol. 6, no. 2 (1997): 61; emphasis in original.
. This is the contention of Christopher Wright in his article, “A Christian Approach to Old Testament Prophecy Concerning Israel,” in Jerusalem Past and Present in the Purposes of God, ed. P. W. L. Walker (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
. G. K. Beale rightly reminds us that “the progress of revelation reveals enlarged meanings of earlier biblical texts, and later biblical writers further interpret prior canonical writings in ways that amplify earlier texts. These later interpretations may formulate meanings of which earlier authors may not have been conscious, but which do not contravene their original organic intention but may ‘supervene’ on it. This is to say that original meanings have ‘thick’ content and that original authors likely were not exhaustively aware (in the way God was) of the full extent of that content. In this regard, fulfillment often ‘fleshes out’ prophecy with details of which even the prophet may not have been fully cognizant.” The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004), 381.
. George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1972), 276.
. G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, SC: Attic Press, 1974), 330.
. Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, ed. John E. Smith (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1969), 2:114