Here is a typical class–with the students asking me all of the “hard” questions they can possibly think of!
“…much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Ecclesiastes 12:12b
We just finished our theology class for the Winter/Spring term this past Thursday, May 16th–and it is time to take a summertime break. On the average we had twenty-one students each week. Six students are pursuing the Certificate of Theological Studies program. They will be completing a final exam and a ten-page long research paper. Overall, we had a wonderful time of working our way through all of the major subjects related to the doctrine of Salvation. We covered the following topics: Predestination and Election, the Order of Salvation, Efficacious Calling, Regeneration, Conversion, Faith, Repentance, Justification, Adoption, and Sanctification. It was a great class!
Besides my weekly lectures, we discussed Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by Dr. J. I. Packer, and Redemption: Accomplished and Applied by Prof. John Murray. There were numerous “rabbit trials” along the way, but we kept coming back to the main themes related to the doctrine of Salvation and that worked out quite well. Throughout the class I regularly brought up citations from the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. It is my personal goal to not only familiarize students with our Confession of Faith, but also to help them build-up their own library with excellent Reformed literature.
Here are a few pictures from our celebratory luncheon at Pok-e-Jo’s BBQ located here in Austin. Pok-e-Jo’s BBQ is definitely “old school” Austin with some of the best brisket sandwiches around! The pork ribs are pretty good too! The entire class couldn’t join us for the luncheon, but it was still a good representative group for our closing feast. I can guarantee you, no one left hungry!
Left to right: Robert, Steven, Mike, Landy, Donna, Jacqueline, Max, and Boyd.
Left to right: Ann, Tami, Sandy, Steve, Me, and David (photo credit: Brian)
This coming Fall we will study the “History of the Early Church” (from the Apostolic Age through AD 400). Our weekly class will meet on Thursday mornings in Calvin Hall [9:30-11:30 AM, Room 206] and will begin mid-September (more info to come). In addition to lectures we will read and discuss The Apostolic Fathers (which includes The Didache & writings by Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp). Plus we will also read The Confessions by Augustine. And…Lord willing, we will offer an evening class as well.
It is remarkable to think that new books continue to be published from the pen of Rev. Dr. R. C. Sproul. How is this possible, since unfortunately Dr. Sproul died in 2017? I can only imagine that this is possible given a loyal and industrious staff at Ligonier Ministries who are capitalizing on the large trove of unfinished manuscripts and sermon recordings available to them. We are the happy beneficiaries of this effort! I suspect there will be many additional books published in the years ahead, and, frankly-speaking, that would be wonderful with me. R. C. Sproul had a unique gift for making difficult portions of the Bible understandable for the average person, and obscure concepts in theology less formidable and daunting. We can all thank God for that! Here are his three newest books:
#1 — R. C. Sproul. Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary. Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2023. [99 pages] — This particular book is an additional volume in the expositional commentary series highlighting R. C. Sproul’s preaching ministry at St. Andrew’s Chapel. Nine volumes have been produced altogether: Matthew, Luke, Mark, John, Acts, Romans, Galatians, 1-2 Peter, and now Ephesians. If you are looking for an in-depth exegetical commentary on Ephesians, you will be disappointed. These commentaries are not a detailed verse-by-verse explanation of the text. They are an edited collection of R. C.’s sermons on these passages. Hence, they are filled with many of R. C.’s signature stories and illustrations, plus his unique ability to explain difficult terms and concepts. Here is an example of his effort to make the challenging concept of Predestination much more understandable:
“Does predestination indicate that God is arbitrary? That question is asked because the Bible makes clear that the reason that He chooses particular individuals is not found in those individuals. He didn’t choose Jacob because He saw in Jacob some kind of righteousness that was not present in Esau, but as Paul indicates in Romans 9, before either one of them was born, without a view to anything that they had done or would do, God chose to give His grace to one and not the other, to show mercy to Jacob and not to Esau. That sounds arbitrary. But to do something arbitrarily is to do it for no reason at all. And there is a reason for God’s electing grace–first of all to show forth His love, because His election flows out of His love. It is done for a purpose–to redeem people and take that which is unholy and that whhc is blameworthy and to make it holy and blameless. When God redeems us, He redeems us not because we are perfect but so that we may become perfect.”
Sproul, Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary, 13
Overall, I think most readers of Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary will benefit from R. C.’s thoughtful analysis of the text. He deals with all of the major aspects of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church and leaves the minor technicalities to other biblical scholars to explain. In my opinion, this is nicely done and it will serve as a fine introduction to the letter to the Ephesians.
#2 — R. C. Sproul. Hard Sayings: Understanding the Difficult Passages of Scripture. Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2023. [165 pages] — Out of the three new books, this is the one that I enjoyed the most. It takes twenty-seven difficult passages–from both the Old and New Testaments–and sets forth well-reasoned explanations of each one. Sproul is not given to presenting every possible explanation for each text. Instead, he concentrates on the most popular explanations and evaluates them in three ways: (1) on the basis of other Bible passages (“Scripture interprets Scripture”), (2) by focusing on settled theological beliefs, and (3) by showing inconsistencies in logic in various substandard explanations. Here is an example from Genesis 6 on “the sons of God”:
“Many Hebrew scholars believe that chapter 6 describes not the intermarriage between angels and human women but the intermarriage between the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth. One line had been growing in godliness and the other one had been intensifying in wickedness. Suddenly this is disrupted when the two lines come together; now everybody is caught up in this relentless pursuit of evil, and the desires of their hearts are only wicked continually. Only Noah is left from the sons of God–that is, those who are obedient to God. Because of Noah’s obedience, God grants Noah grace and spares him as God decides to destroy the rest of mankind. The problem in Genesis 6 of the apparent intermarriage between the sons of God and the daughters of men serves a broader purpose for us, and that’s to warn us to be very careful about the inferences that we draw from Scripture that are not necessarily warranted. The descriptive terms “sons of God” and “daughters of man” do not give us license to make the assumption of interaction between heavenly beings and earthly beings. We have to be very careful when we look at a difficult text like this to see how the same language is used in the broader context of all Scripture. It’s a very important principle of interpretation to interpret Scripture by Scripture.”
Sproul, Hard Sayings: understanding the difficult passages of Scripture, 25
Once again, Sproul is not exhaustive in his comments about each one of these texts. He deals with a few alternative explanations, shows why they need to be rejected, and then clearly sets forth the preferred explanation. This book could have been strengthened by the inclusion of footnotes (or endnotes), an author index, an index of Bible passages, a subject index, and a bibliography. Nonetheless, it is a very fine resource that I am sure to use for many years to come.
#3 — R. C. Sproul. Joseph: From Dreamer to Deliverer. Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2023. [185 pages] — Even though this hardbound book has the most pages when compared to the other two volumes, it is the smallest and most compact. In many respects it is a “booklet” that could easily fit into a backpack or a briefcase. The chapters are lined out neatly according to the text in Genesis (Ch. 37-50), and essentially they are edited versions of R.C.’s sermons on the life of Joseph. Nonetheless, R.C. brings up many related issues in theology, philosophy, psychology, and history. He has a wonderful way of expounding the text, but also bringing out into the open many insights on the flaws of human character and the impact of sin in people’s lives. In particular Sproul addresses the issues of conscience, guilt, lies, and sorrow over sin. Here is a sample from Genesis 42:
“They had watched Jacob’s grief and anguish when they reported to him that Joseph had been slain by a wild animal. They had kept this deception from Jacob all these years, but it was still bothering them. Like the pagan who trembles at the rustling of a leaf when meeting his first adversity, they were afraid that they were experiencing the vengeance of God for their sin through what was happening with this powerful ruler of Egypt. Sin is a burden to carry. Joseph’s brothers were bearing a burden of guilt that had not been forgiven or redeemed, and it was haunting them. We must not assume that unbelieving, impenitent sinners, even thought they may acquire a hardness of heart or stiffness of neck, are left without any conscience. The conscience is still God’s inner voice by which even unbelievers are accused of their sin. It does not bring them to true repentance, but it does bring them to fear–to being frightened of the judgment of God. In the perilous situation before the stern prime minister of Egypt, who was accusing them of being spies and threatening to keep one of them in prison, Joseph’s brothers began to talk among themselves honestly. They were not trying to conceal from one another their treachery from years ago. They all knew that they had engaged in this conspiracy against Joseph. They were admitting their guilt, which is one of the hardest things for a human being to do. As fallen people, even when we are clear in our own minds about our guilt, we try, like Lady McBeth, to wash that stain from our hands, to remove the spot and blemish from our souls–but we can’t do it. So we lie to ourselves and conceal from ourselves and from everyone else what we really are, because ‘the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick’ (Jer. 17:9).”
Sproul, Joseph: From Dreamer to Deliverer, 105-106
Sproul’s colorful commentary on the life of Joseph does a wonderful job of showing the depth of human misery, the consequences of sin, and the blessings of forgiveness and reconciliation. All of these episodes in Joseph’s life point toward the person and work of Jesus Christ, and Sproul is quick to point this out (cf. John 5:39). Although this is a small volume that may be overlooked on the burgeoning book tables at Ligonier conferences, I think it will prove to be a welcome commentary on the life of a significant Old Testament figure, namely Joseph. God providentially directs all the details of Joseph’s life, and that is a very good lesson for each and every Christian to take to heart.
Rev. Dr. Marcus J. Serven, ThM and DMin
The Genevan Foundation – Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15
Written by Dr. Marcus Serven
Rev. G. I. Williamson (1925-2023)
One of the earliest books I ever read that explained the details of the Westminster Confession of Faith was written by the Rev. G. I. Williamson (1925-2023). At the time I was a young man serving in my first solo ministerial position as the Pastor of Campbell Presbyterian Church (PCA) in San Jose, CA. A compassionate Ruling Elder at our church gave me my first copy of The Westminster Confession of Faith: For Study Classes. That copy is now falling apart from many years of usage and I have replaced it with a new copy of the 2nd edition. I found Williamson’s writing style to be simple, direct, filled with an abundance of Scripture, and thoroughly orthodox. Reading through his volume on the Westminster Confession of Faith gave me lots of personal encouragement. I finally realized that I wasn’t the only one who embraced the doctrines of God’s sovereignty, the grace of God in salvation, and the progress of God’s kingdom throughout history. In short, it was “a breath of fresh air” for a young red-haired Presbyterian pastor! Even though I never met Rev. G. I. Williamson in person, through his books I welcomed him into my life as a “spiritual father.” It is appropriate, then, for me to quote Pastor Williamson on the subject of adoption. Here is a citation that clearly states his views on the role of the Holy Spirit in the doctrine of adoption:
God chose his elect not only to be regenerated, justified, sanctified, and glorified, but also to be adopted. Therefore, we note that the Lord Jesus did this work in order that we might be adopted, as well as called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). To receive the Holy Spirit is to receive “the Spirit of adoption” (Rom. 8:15). One cannot receive the Spirit nor can one trust in Christ apart from adoption. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become Children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). But what is adoption? “Adoption, as the term clearly implies, is an act of transfer from an alien family into the family of God himself” (John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955). It means that those who were by nature children of wrath, children of darkness, even children of Satan (Eph. 2:3; Col. 3:6; John 8:44), are constituted children of light and of God.
Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith, 146
Words such as these speak of the wonderful transformation that comes about through the work of the Holy Spirit. Unrighteous sinners are transformed into sons and daughters who are wrapped in the robes of Christ’s righteousness (Rom. 3:24-26; Rom. 5:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:21; Col. 1:13-14). Our sins are forgiven, and our standing before God is made possible through the atoning work of Jesus (Isa. 53:4-6; Heb. 10:22; 1 Pet. 2:24-25). This is not just a hypothetical change, but it is an entirely new reality (Jn. 3:1-8; Rom. 5:18-19; 2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:1-17). When we come to truly believe the idea that the objective work of Jesus on the Cross has subjective results in our lives, it produces a thankful heart that praises God for our deliverance. Moreover, the Spirit of God indwells the believer and becomes a “guarantee” of our inheritance as the people of God (Rom. 8:14-17; Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:13-14, 18; 1 Pet. 1:3-5). These are precious doctrines that have comforted many believers in times of distress and trial.
Beyond the indwelling presence of the Spirit of adoption, the believer also has access to God in a way that was never experienced before. In particular, the believer can come into the presence of God through prayer. Williamson notes,
One of the chief privileges belonging to those who receive the grace of adoption is prayer. Only those who are adopted can pray in a manner acceptable unto God. Thus the Spirit given in effectual calling is the Spirit of adoption, whereby believers are enabled to pray (Rom. 8:15). The Spirit enables us to realize that we are sons and to exercise the privilege of prayer as sons. “The Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). Finally, we note that God treats such persons as children. They receive his pity and protection (Ps. 103:13; Prov. 14:26). They are under his watchful providence (Matt. 6:30-32; 1 Peter 5:7). He also subjects them to appropriate discipline because they are his sons (Heb. 12:6-11). But above all, he keeps them in safety even to the end (Rom. 8:23, 28, 38-39).”
Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith, 148
It is wonderful to know that the Lord is completely available to us–at any time, in any place, and under any circumstances (Heb. 4:16; 10:23). He hears the prayers of his people, and he delights to assure us that “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Moreover, he promises that in the midst of our anxieties we can “let our requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6b-7). It is a great privilege to have access to God. This truth is the foundation of our prayers. God hears his people, and we can be thankful for that fact.
I hope you have enjoyed this brief introduction to the writings of Rev. G. I. Williamson. He had a lengthly pastoral career of over fifty years serving congregations in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Churches of New Zealand, and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. After retiring in 2011, he settled in Iowa and served the regional church by preaching, teaching, and writing. Rev. G. I. Williamson has four noteworthy books that you might want to have in your own personal library. All are in print. In my opinion, all of them are “winners.” Here they are:
Williamson, G. I. The Westminster Confession of Faith: for Study Classes. Second Edition. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2004.
Vos, Johannes G. The Westminster Larger Catechism: A Commentary. Edited by G. I. Williamson. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002.
Williamson, G. I. The Shorter Catechism: For Study Classes. Two Volumes. Second Edition. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2003.
Williamson, G. I. The Heidelberg Catechism: A Study Guide. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1993.
Let us give praise to Almighty God for the life and ministry of the Rev. G. I. Williamson (1925-2023). He lived for Christ, and died in Christ. And even though he is “absent from the body,” according to the promise of God he is now “present with the Lord” ( 2 Cor. 5:1-9). Soli Deo Gloria!
Rev. Dr. Marcus J. Serven, ThM and DMin
The Genevan Foundation – Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved
