Calvin Synod Herald, 2008 (109. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)

2008-05-01 / 5-6. szám

10

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

Reformed Doctrine, Chapter XIV of Saving Faith

i.

Faith a gift of God is considered one of the saving graces. Faith enables the elect to believe in Christ to their salvation.[l] This is the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. [2] The ministry of the Word ordinarily brings about this grace.[3] Faith is increased and strengthened by the administration of the sacraments and prayer. [4]

II.

The authority of God speaking in Scripture is believed by the Christian to be true by the same saving grace of faith as works their salvation. [5] God works in the believer differently on each passage of Scripture according to what that passage contains; yielding obedience to commands,[6] trembling at threats,[7] and embracing the promises of God for this life and the o! ne to come. [8] However the main acts from saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting on Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life; wrought through the covenant of grace. [9]

III.

This saving faith may be weak or strong; [10] may often be attacked and weakened, but will get the victory. [ 11 ] It will mature or grow up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ[ 12] who is both the author and finisher of our faith.[13]

Questions

1. Where does saving faith come from and how?

2. How and why do we believe the bible is true?

3. What is the end result of saving faith?

4. Name some ways faith might be attacked or become weak.

Dr. Chuck Baynard Clover Evangelical Presbyterian Church Clover, South Carolina

[1] Titus 1:1; Heb. 10:39

[2] I Cor. 12:3; John 3:5; 6:44-45, 65; Titus 3:5; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; II Peter 1:1; see I Peter 1:2

[3] Matt. 28:19-20; Rom. 10:14, 17; I Cor. 1:21

[4] I Peter 2:2; Acts 20:32; Rom. 1:16-17; Matt. 28:19; see Acts 2:38; I Cor. 10:16; 11:23-29; Luke 17:5; Phil. 4:6-7

[5] II Peter 1:20-21; John 4:42; I Thess. 2:13; I John 5:9-10; Acts 24:14

[6] Psa. 119:10-11, 48, 97-98, 167-168; John 14:15

[7] Ezra 9:4; Isa. 66:2; Heb. 4:1

[8] Heb. 11:13; I Tim. 4:8

[9] John 1:12; Acts 15:11, 16:31; Gal. 2:20; II Tim. 1:9-10

[10] Heb. 5:13-14; Rom. 4:19-20; 14:1-2; Matt. 6:30; 8:10

[11] Luke 22:31-32; Eph. 6:16; I John 5:4-5

[12] Heb. 6:11-12; 10:22; Col. 2:2

[13] Heb. 12:2

TRAC Update

Christian Friends,

TRAC’s winter activities in Transylvania, Romania, are now over; and there are a number of things coming to the fore, centered in the effects this program is having on the participating students, as well as those to whom they minister. This comes out in a number of different areas:

1. Most telling, perhaps, is the testimony of the students themselves. More and more they tell us how that by taking part in the TRAC program they are being exposed to dimensions in Christian life they might never know otherwise. This is true in the Diaspora villages where only limited numbers of church members are left, but among whom they are finding a more evident sense of spiritual desire for the word of God than is evident in the large city churches. And this is even more striking to them in their work with the homeless people of their own city. Before, they had passed them by with little regard, only to find now in meeting with them a real people, poor and in need, not just for the basic foods the TRAC program supplies, but far more for the word of God, and the love and fellowship the students give them. It is something they cannot leam from books, and yet is so fundamental to an effective ministry with those that God will give them to serve in their future ministry.

2. This is being carried on with students who have now entered the full ministry. We have seen how two of them are now working with Diaspora congregations, and organizing young families to restore the viability of village life centered in their local Reformed church. Much still needs to be done; and it will take many years; but there is reason to believe that, if the Lord will bless it, this may have an important effect on the future of the Reformed faith in Romania.

3. The fruits of this can further be seen in what has happened in the village of Komlód. It was in Komlód’s quaint, ancient church that TRAC’s Diaspora work began in the fall of 1999. We were there for that service, in what was to us a new and hope-filled work. The building was in poor shape, and its aged members despondent. Communism had driven from them both the noble family that had cared for them for years, together with the young people of the village, leaving a depleted congregation - exactly the kind of situation we had come to help. Far back in the hills, along nearly impassible roads, students have been coming ever since to bring the Word of God, often accompanied by Dr. Bakos, who graciously provides them with otherwise unavailable medical aid. And the effect can be seen. Still small, its aged and poor church members have worked together to restore their old building to its original beauty, as though to express their hope that in God’s time young people will return to their congregation and carry their faith on into the future.

4. Perhaps it is to this that one of the most recent events speaks, the effort of the students to reach out to their own people for