bookslover
Puritan Board Doctor
UPDATE: Well, I'm now 70 pages into Volume 2. He's discussing the Ten Commandments one by one.
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How nice. I would edit this to say acompton at midamerica dot edu to avoid bots and spam.E-mail me and I can get you a PDF - [email protected]
Some would see the Unpardonable Sin as what happens when sinners continue to reject the work of the Holy Spirit in getting them to see and receive Jesus Christ, but it seems that Jesus applied that to a specific time and place, to the Pharisees who had them in their midst, and yet ascribed his miracles and deeds as being done for Satan and not for God.Here is his take on why he thinks the unpardonable sin is unpardonable (he has no opinion, at least in this section, as to what the unpardonable sin is) -
As to order, the covenant of works precedes and the covenant of grace follows. From this to that, there is granted an appeal from the throne of justice to the throne of mercy. Hence, the violator of the covenant of nature has a remedy in the covenant of grace, but the violator of the covenant of grace has no further remedy or hope of pardon because there is no other covenant by which he can be reconciled to God. On this account, the sin against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable because it is committed against the covenant of grace. (12.4.10 [Volume 2, Page 191])
I thought that was interesting.
What would be the Orthodox position then?UPDATE: Finished Volume 2 a few days ago and am now 50 pages into Volume 3.
For Turretin's take on Romans 7, you should read Volume 2, pages 697-699. He takes the orthodox position, of course. But it's an interesting read.
I have his three volumes but haven’t read them.... I’m a bit intimidated by them
What would be the Orthodox position then?
What would be the Orthodox position then?
Would the position be then that Chapter 7 of Romans describes Paul as while in his new nature does now want to serve and please God, but that he still is weak in the flesh, and Chapter 8 is the revelation from God to us that we must now live in and by the Holy Spirit?Paul is speaking about his current life as a believer. Believers feel the struggle - as unbelievers cannot - between the old man and the new man, the sin nature and the new nature.
What was interesting to me was that while in my AOG days, their prominenent viewpoint was that Chapter 7 described Paul before salvation happened , but did not agree with them, as hard to see a lost person even delighting in the Law of the Lord.Paul is talking about his life as a believer.
The first Systematic theology read by me before becoming a calvinist was the 3 part one written by Charles Hodge, and knew that he interacted a lot with Catholic viewpoints, and he to me was a tough read at times. How would he compare to Turrentin than?Sarah, jump in! You are SOOO missing out! I can't stress this enough. It's like a gold mine. Turretin really is not "too hard." Some topics are harder but many are easy. Don't start on Vol 1, Pg 1. People get scared because they start in at page 1 and can't make sense of the prolegomena and philosophy. I don't recommend that. Skip right to the sections that you want to learn about. If you want to understand the Sacraments/Baptism/Supper, then go there. If you want to understand our view of Scripture, go there.
For example, I'm trying to convince a brother that Roman Catholicism is false and their reading of history and biblical interpretations are false. So I've been relying heavily upon Turretin. Calvin is pre-Rome's Trent, so not as directly helpful. Turretin directly addresses Rome's "confession" Trent and also leading theologian at the time, Bellarmine. Basically, Turretin's Table on Contents are questions directly opposing Rome, Arminians and Socinians. So you just skip to the question you need. He's got the whole argument laid out for you in the EASIEST question-answer format with answer 1, 2, 3, 4. He has them even numbered. Super easy to follow. He deals with Rome's best theologians and he always gives evidence directly from the church fathers that shows Rome has departed historically and that the Reformation is a return to the fathers.
I find Turretin more helpful than Bavinck and much more helpful than Berkhof. Berkhof is way too brief - his section on the sufficiency of scripture is a brief summary and only about 1 1/2 pages. Bavinck in large text size is about 13 pages and he deals with Rome directly. Turretin in small text size is 8 pages and deals directly with Rome's leading arguments and theologians. Turretin will be your most helpful resource when trying to answer a question due to his direct Q&A format.
I strongly encourage reading Turretin by section/topic.
Would the position be then that Chapter 7 of Romans describes Paul as while in his new nature does now want to serve and please God, but that he still is weak in the flesh, and Chapter 8 is the revelation from God to us that we must now live in and by the Holy Spirit?
Turns out he didn't like the Three Stooges.
I hope there will be many brethren (not just yourself) down the line who accrue some residual benefit from your energies spent in this study. Your occasional commentary in this thread was encouraging, too.
Richard,Thanks, Bruce. I learned a lot.
FINISHED!!
As for eschatology, Turretin has virtually nothing to say regarding the Big Picture except to say how wrong the chiliasts are (no thousand-year kingdom before the consummation). He concentrates almost entirely on personal eschatology.
By chiliasts presumably you mean pre-millennials (the term in the early church described those who believed Christ would return and their would be a resurrection of the saints before the end of the world).