Final Essays Flashcards
Discuss Sanctification, its subjects, agent, nature, and means.
The subjects of sanctification are all those who have been effectually called, justified, and adopted will then be sanctified. The agent of sanctification is the Holy Spirit. The nature of sanctification is throughout the whole man (body and soul), mortification, vivification, extends to the whole man yet remains imperfect in this life, and irreconcilable warfare with the sure victory obtained by Christ. The means of sanctification is the Spirit blessing the use of the Word, sacraments, and prayer and applying the death and resurrection of Christ to them.
Discuss what God does in adoption and its benefits.
Those who are effectually called and justified are then brought into the family of God, have the name of Christ put upon them in their baptism, are indwelled by the Spirit of Christ, and have a right to all the privileges of God in their adoption. The benefits of adoption are having bold access to the throne of grace (Heb 4:16), being pitied by the Father (Ps 103:13), protected (Ps 27:1-3; Prov 14:26), always provided for (Matt 6:30, 32), chastened (Heb 12:5-8; Prov 3:11, 12), will never be cast off (Lam 3:31, 32), and inherit all the promises of God (Heb 6:12; 1 Pet 1:4).
A member of your church tells you they have no assurance of salvation. How would you deal with them?
Avoid the two most common mistakes: assuming conversion and failing to ask if there’s any unconfessed sin. Once these two mistakes are thoroughly addressed, I would impress upon the individual to look to Christ. Do they believe that Christ died for all the sins of His children? Do you believe that in Christ is everything you need for pardon? Are you producing fruit of saving faith? If so, who is the one producing the fruit? Do you see a difference in your life now versus even a few years ago? Do you love God? In addition to these questions, I would have the individual test their adoption because adoption is the most significant doctrine as it relates to assurance. 1) Do you believe Jesus is the Messiah (1 John 5:1)? 2) Do you love the brethren (1 John 3:14; 4:7)? 3) Do you keep the commandments (1 John 5:3, 4)? 4) Do you deliberately practice sinning (1 John 3:9)? Or, do you seek to practice righteousness (1 John 2:29)?
A member of your church thinks the Lord’s Day is a carry-over of Judaism. Prove to them that the Christian Sabbath is a moral and perpetual commandment.
The fourth commandment properly sets down the time that is to be devoted for the worship of God; namely, one-day-in-seven. This was the seventh day of the week under the Old Testament following the order of creation and was changed to the first day of the week symbolizing the day in which Christ rose from the grave. This perpetual command to observe the Christian Sabbath can be laid down in a twofold way: as a law of nature and as a law of God. As the Sabbath is a law of nature, it existed and was observed prior to the giving of the decalogue; hence it is ever binding. As a law of God, it was revealed as part of the moral law, has not been rescinded by any new command from God, Jesus Himself enforced it during His ministry, and is necessary for man’s mental, physical, and religious rest not only for the cessation of ordinary employments and recreations, but also for the public and private worship of God. In this way, the Scriptures teach that the Sabbath is a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment.
Demonstrate why we do not practice paedo-communion.
There are only two sacraments in the New Testament which have entirely different purposes: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The purpose of baptism is to be a visible mark of citizenship into the visible church and is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace with the attached benefits to be done but once in a person’s life. On the other hand, the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remember Christ’s death and satisfaction until His return, as a sealing of the benefits of the covenant of grace, spiritual nourishment, growth in grace, renewing of their vows to Christ and obedience to Him, and a means of communing with Christ and fellowshipping with other believers. As the Lord’s Supper is a feast to nourish the soul, grow in grace, and renew a person’s vows to Christ, this sacrament is to be repeated regularly as a part of the worship service. First Corinthians 11:27-29 gives the warning, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement on himself.” These verses give the dire warning that those who eat and drink in an unworthy manner without examining themselves will bring judgement upon themselves. To be a worthy partaker of the bread and wine, a person must have the spiritual understanding of the true meaning of the bread and wine, faith to feed upon Christ, conviction of sin with true and sincere repentance, love for Christ and the brethren, a resolve for new obedience, and have a charitable spirit to all men. Upon these conditions, it becomes abundantly obvious children are unable to truly examine themselves for any spiritual nourishment and growth and grace. It’s also plain that it takes more than a mere profession of faith for someone to be admitted to the table. Therefore, paedocommunion is a gross practice that becomes superstitious at best and heaps coals of judgement upon the unworthy partakers at worst.
What are the types of church discipline and what are its purposes?
There are three types of church discipline: 1) admonition, suspension from the Lord’s Supper, and excommunication. The purposes of church discipline are to reclaim the sinner, deter others from following in sin, a purging of sin from the church, vindicate the name of Christ, and preventing the wrath of God from bearing down upon the church.
List, explain, and give Scripture for Witherow’s six principles for church government.
1) Office bearers are chosen by the people (Acts 1:23). 2) offices of bishop and elder are identical (Acts 20:17-28). 3) In each church there ought to be a plurality of elders (Acts 14:23). 4) Ordination is the act of the presbytery (Acts 14:23). 5) The privilege of appeal to the assembly of elders, and the right of government exercised by them in their corporate character (Acts 15). 6) Christ alone is Head of the church (Col 1:18).
Give, with scripture, Witherow’s arguments for infant baptism.
The foundational principle that forms the basis for infant baptism rests upon the intimate relationship between parent and child. As the parent acts, so acts the child. This is a principle that is found in natural revelation but is also repeatedly sanctioned by God Himself in the Scriptures. Adam stood for all his posterity in the covenant of works and Christ in the covenant of grace (Rom 5: 21), Noah represented his seed after him (Gen 9:9), and Abraham is the spiritual father from all his offspring after him (Gen 17:10). Deuteronomy 29:9-13 is a clear example of parents entering into a covenant with God for themselves and their children. The nearness of the parent-child relationship is at the foundation of man’s nature. Additionally, since the Abrahamic covenant, there has been a visible sign of membership into the people of God that marked God’s people from the world. In the Old Testament, this initiatory rite was circumcision and was given to children for nearly two thousand years before the coming of Christ. This rite made its subjects members of the visible church, benefits of the religious privileges, and recipients of spiritual blessings (Gen 17:1-14). This visible church is God’s collected assembly of all those who profess true faith and their children. This understanding of the visible church was true in the Old Covenant and is essentially the same as the New Covenant. Because children were included in the visible church in the Old Testament, it would take an explicit command of God to reverse this decision; however, no such divine command can be found in the entirety of the New Testament (cf. Mark 10:14; 1 Cor 7:14). Therefore, children are still included in the covenant in the New Testament. As children were received into covenant membership with circumcision in the Old Testament, so children are received into covenant membership with water baptism in the New Testament. With all these evidences, it is apparent that children have always been and still remain covenant members of the people of God; therefore, to withold this sacred ordinance from children is a great sin.
