Lesson 9 - The Revelation of Humanity Flashcards
Human Nature in Its Fourfold State
1) Book written by Thomas Boston in 1730
2) Classic text of reformed anthropology
3) In which Boston speaks of 4 states of humanity
The Four States of Humanity
1) The state of innocence. Man in the state God made him.
2) The state of corruption. Man unmade himself into a corrupt nature.
3) The state of grace. Renewal by Jesus Christ for good works.
4) The eternal state. Perfectly happy or complete misery.
Primitive Integrity (Thomas Boston)
1) Original righteousness and integrity.
2) Aligned with the will and character of God.
3) The law has nothing to condemn.
Entire Depravity (Thomas Boston)
1) Entire and total depravity
2) Actual and original sin - producing misery in our life.
3) Inability to respond to grace.
Begun Recovery (Thomas Boston)
1) Regeneration and union with Christ
2) We are made entirely new, body and soul, to be able to have communion with Christ.
3) We are placed beyond the reach of condemnation.
Consummate Happiness or Misery (Thomas Boston)
1) Understanding eschatology is very important.
2) As Christians we have the hope of enjoying Christ forever.
3) We will experience glory we have only the beginning of now.
Augustine, Enchiridion, (written in 420). Stages of the state of man.
1st stage: Giving of the Law. Period of darkness (post sin)
2nd stage: law given by Moses. Characterized by rebellion of the law.
3rd stage: under the state of grace; we see a mediator solving our problem
4th stage: Perfect peace in the eternal state.
The fourfold development of the will
1) State of Innocence: (able to sin, able not to sin) posse peccare, posse non peccare
2) State of Sin: (not able not to sin) non posse non peccare
3) State of Grace: (able not to sin) posse non peccare
4) State of Glory: (unable to sin) non posse peccare
God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil.
On Free Will, Westminster Confession of Faith 9:1
Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God; but yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.
On Free Will, Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 9:2
Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
On Free Will, Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 9:3
When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so, as that by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
On Free Will, Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 9:4
The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone, in the state of glory only.
On Free Will, Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 9:5
“God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established” (WCF 3.1).
1) Westminster Confession of Faith 3:1
2) The category (doctrine) of concursus: combination of divine sovereignty and human responsibility
3) The convergence of divine and human wills.
“…He directs even our free acts, and however far above our comprehension may be the manner in which he does that, in any case it must be a co-working, a concursus. Not matter, not fate, not chance can affect us, if our freedom is to be maintained, but only the co-working of God.”
1) G. Vos, Reformed Dogmatics
2) God in His wisdom and power uses ordinary and regular means (natural law, human actions) for His will.
3) God’s providential rule does not nullify personal liability.
