THE HEART OF THE REFORMATION: A 90-DAY DEVOTIONAL ON THE FIVE SOLAS

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CONTENTS

Section I: Sola Scriptura

Day 1 Natural Revelation
Day 2 The Limits of Natural Revelation
Day 3 Special Revelation
Day 4 God’s Final Revelation
Day 5 God-Breathed Scripture
Day 6 Biblical Sufficiency
Day 7 Biblical Authority
Day 8 The Power and Infallibility of Scripture
Day 9 Scriptural Inerrancy
Day 10 The Clarity of Scripture
Day 11 The Old Testament Canon
Day 12 The New Testament Canon
Day 13 Rightly Handling God’s Word
Day 14 Explicit and Implicit Teaching
Day 15 Reading the Bible Holistically
Day 16 Interpreting Scripture with the Church
Day 17 Illumining Scripture
Day 18 Preaching Scripture
Section II: Solus Christus
Day 19 The Divine Nature of Christ
Day 20 The Human Nature of Christ
Day 21 Jesus the Last Adam
Day 22 Jesus the True Israel
Day 23 Jesus the Messiah
Day 24 Jesus the Only Savior
Day 25 Obedience in Childhood
Day 26 Obedience in Baptism
Day 27 Obedience in Temptation
Day 28 Obedience under the Law
Day 29 Obedience in Suffering
Day 30 Christ Our Prophet
Day 31 Christ Our Priest
Day 32 Christ Our King
Day 33 Penal Substitution
Day 34 Particular Atonement
Day 35 Christ Resurrected
Day 36 Christ Ascended
Section III: Sola Gratia
Day 37 God’s First Covenant with Mankind
Day 38 Covenantal Intervention
Day 39 The Covenant of Preservation
Day 40 The Covenant of Faith-Righteousness
Day 41 The Law Covenant
Day 42 The Kingly Covenant
Day 43 The Covenant of Grace Fulfilled
Day 44 The Grace of Predestination
Day 45 Grace and Reprobation
Day 46 The Grace of Regeneration
Day 47 The Grace of Justification
Day 48 The Grace of Sanctification
Day 49 The Grace of Perseverance and Glorification
Day 50 Ordinary Means of Grace
Day 51 The Sign and the Thing Signified
Day 52 Word and Sacrament Together
Day 53 Baptism and Union with Christ
Day 54 The Lord’s Supper and Feeding on Christ
Section IV: Sola Fide
Day 55 The Sins of the Gentiles
Day 56 The Sins of the Jews
Day 57 The Law and Accountability
Day 58 Righteousness According to the Law
Day 59 Human Inability
Day 60 The Obedience of One
Day 61 God’s Initiative in Justification
Day 62 Faith and Justification
Day 63 Faith and Righteousness
Day 64 Justification and Sin
Day 65 Not by Any of Our Works
Day 66 Why Faith?
Day 67 What is Saving Faith?
Day 68 Justification and Our Good Works
Day 69 Keeping Grace Gracious
Day 70 Faith and Sanctification
Day 71 Living According to Faith
Day 72 The Fruit of Faith
Section V: Soli Deo Gloria
Day 73 The Primacy of Divine Glory
Day 74 The Light of Glory
Day 75 The Glory of Divine Beauty
Day 76 The Eternal Weight of Glory
Day 77 Glory and Purity
Day 78 The Sovereign Glory of God
Day 79 God’s Glory and Our Joy
Day 80 God’s Consuming Glory
Day 81 God’s Glory as Creator
Day 82 God’s Glory in Salvation
Day 83 God’s Glory in Judgment
Day 84 Christ the Glory of God
Day 85 The Church as the Glory of God
Day 86 Ascribing Glory to God
Day 87 The Coming Knowledge of God’s Glory
Day 88 Seeing God as He Is
Day 89 Sharing in Christ’s Glory
Day 90 The Glorious Return of Christ
PREFACE

With profound clarity and power, God Almighty spoke through the
prophet Isaiah, declaring, “I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no
savior” (Isa. 43:11). This was a message that the people of God needed to
hear in Isaiah’s day. Facing the realities of national decline and the threat of
foreign invasion, the men and women of ancient Israel and Judah were
prone not to look solely to the Lord God for their salvation.
Sometimes this meant putting their hopes in the gods of the empires that
ruled over the ancient Near East. At other times, this entailed their relying
on their own wisdom and efforts to find rescue by negotiating alliances with
other powers or paying them off for protection. In so doing, these ancient
members of the covenant community would not have said that they were
rejecting the Lord. Idolatry in that day did not result in abandoning the
worship of the true God altogether but in worshiping other deities alongside
the Lord of Israel. Moreover, in looking for assistance from other earthly
powers, the men and women of Israel and Judah did not believe they were
no longer trusting in the Lord. From God’s perspective, however, to not
trust in Him alone was really not to trust Him at all.
Many of us might think that we no longer face the same temptation.
Church history tells us otherwise. Even in the days of the Apostles,
professing believers were beginning to forget that besides the Lord, there is
no Savior. As we see in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, for example, some
believed that trusting in Christ alone was not enough for salvation. Instead,
faith had to be combined with works in order to make one worthy of
salvation. Since that day, there have been people in the visible church who
have looked not to Christ alone for salvation but Christ plus something else.
 The dispute between those who believe that salvation is by faith in
Christ alone and those who believe salvation comes through faith in Christ
plus something else reached a high point in the Protestant Reformation. In
seeking to address errors in the medieval Western church, the Protestant
Reformers stressed that salvation comes through faith in Christ alone and
four associated biblical doctrines that are necessary to preserving that core
truth of the gospel. Over time these truths came to be known as the five
solas of the Reformation:
sola Scriptura: Scripture is the only infallible authority for faith and
practice.
solus Christus: Christ in His person and work is the only Savior.
sola gratia: Only the sovereign grace of God accomplishes salvation.
sola fide: Faith is the only instrument by which we are united to Christ
and receive all His benefits.
soli Deo gloria: The purpose of salvation is to give all glory to God
alone.

STUDYING THE SOLAS

The five solas of the Reformation are core biblical truths that reinforce the
central teaching of the gospel and all of Scripture that only the Lord God
Almighty saves us from sin, death, and Satan. Moreover, the five solas help
us to understand how and why the Lord is the only Savior. Thus, it is vital
for all Christians to understand the five solas of the Reformation. In
grasping them, we will know God better, love Him more, appreciate all that
was necessary for our salvation more deeply, and be motivated to live in a
manner that redounds to God’s glory. They give us a framework for seeing
how the various parts of God’s plan of redemption fit together and for
seeing the coherent, unified message of the Bible in all its beautiful
diversity.
HOW TO USE THIS DEVOTIONAL

This devotional has been designed to help believers understand the five
solas of the Reformation and live in light of these precious truths. Over the
course of ninety days, you will explore each of the five solas and see how
they are grounded in the Word of God while also seeing how various other
biblical truths are encapsulated in each sola.
The devotional is divided into five sections, each devoted to one of the
solas. A short introduction that defines the sola to be studied begins each
section of eighteen devotionals. We recommend that you read that
introduction before beginning the devotionals of that particular section.
Each devotional gives the passage of the Scripture to be studied that day
and highlights one or more of the most important verses from the passage
for the subject of the study. Following the listed passage, you will find the
body of the study, which will provide important background for the
passage, an explanation of the text, and a discussion of how the passage
relates to other texts of Scripture and theological concepts. The coram Deo
section of each devotional provides practical application, and a list of other
passages that have bearing on the study is also given. It is recommended
that you read the passage for the day’s study in its entirety before moving
through the other sections of the devotional.
May these devotionals assist you in coming to a fuller knowledge of our
great God and Savior. To Him alone be the glory forever.
SECTION I: SOLA SCRIPTURA

Sola Scriptura is the principle that the Word of God is the only infallible
rule of faith and practice. Salvation comes only from the Lord God, who as
the Creator must be the final authority over all things in creation. His
revelation, therefore, is the final arbiter of reality. While the Lord has
revealed truths about Himself and His moral law in creation, in the things
that have been made, He has revealed His plan of salvation only in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Consequently, because the
Scriptures are the very words of God, there is no higher court of appeal than
the Word of God for understanding how we are saved and what the Lord
expects from us.
Various other authorities have been appointed by God—parents,
government, the church. However, all of these are subject to error and are
correctable by Scripture. The church, great Bible scholars and theologians,
and others can help us understand the Bible. Indeed, we must submit to the
authority of the church insofar as it conforms to the teaching of Scripture.
But no authority is higher than Scripture, and that is because it alone is the
infallible Word of God.
 DAY 1

NATURAL REVELATION
PSALM 19 “THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD, AND THE SKY ABOVE
PROCLAIMS HIS HANDIWORK” (V. 1).

Reformation-era debates regarding divine revelation focused on the

authority of Scripture and its relation to the authority of the church and the
authority of church tradition. Though the Reformers and the Roman
Catholic Church would finally disagree with respect to the final authority
and sufficiency of Scripture, there is one aspect of divine revelation on
which they did find a large measure of agreement. Both Roman Catholic
theology and Reformation theology confess that God reveals Himself in His
creation.
In theological categories, we speak of God’s revelation of Himself in
the created order as natural revelation. This is in contrast with special
revelation, wherein God speaks directly to His people via a prophet or an
Apostle. God’s revelation of Himself in natural revelation is less direct and
is addressed not to a specific person or community but rather to humanity in
general. For that reason, natural revelation is also known as general
revelation.
We say that natural revelation is less direct than special revelation
because in natural revelation, the Lord does not disclose specific truths
about salvation, specific plans for individuals, or anything of that nature.
Instead, He reveals Himself and His attributes in a general way. Essentially,
God reveals Himself through natural revelation as the Creator of all things.
As we see in today’s passage, the heavens themselves proclaim that they are
the handiwork of a personal Creator (v. 1).
 Psalm 19 emphasizes the universality of natural revelation. There is no
place on the planet where God’s natural revelation does not proclaim that
He is and that He has made all things. Romans 1:20–21 fleshes out this
revelation a bit more, explaining that natural revelation proclaims God’s
power and that we owe Him honor, thanks, and worship. It does not tell us
everything there is to know about the Lord, and we can hardly build an
extensive theology based on natural revelation. But it does tell us enough—
that we are creatures and that there is a Creator to whom our worship is
owed.
At the end of the day, no one can be a true atheist because natural
revelation is so clear. John Calvin writes, “[God’s] essence, indeed, is
incomprehensible, utterly transcending all human thought; but on each of
his works his glory is engraven in characters so bright, so distinct, and so
illustrious, that none, however dull and illiterate, can plead ignorance as
their excuse” (Institutes 1.5.1).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 14; Acts 14:15–17; 17:22–29; Romans 2:14–16

APPLICATION

Natural revelation is limited in its scope, but that does not mean it fails to
achieve its purposes. God reveals Himself in nature so that no one will be
able to plead ignorance of His existence on the last day. His message gets
through, and we can appeal to creation as proof of His existence when we
are talking with unbelievers. Let us not be afraid to use God’s natural
revelation to point others to Him.
 DAY 2

THE LIMITS OF NATURAL REVELATION

ROMANS 1:18–32 “ALTHOUGH THEY KNEW GOD, THEY DID NOT HONOR HIM AS
GOD OR GIVE THANKS TO HIM, BUT THEY BECAME FUTILE IN THEIR
THINKING, AND THEIR FOOLISH HEARTS WERE DARKENED” (V. 21).

God has revealed Himself so clearly in the natural order that no person
will ever be able to stand before the Creator and claim that there is
insufficient evidence that He exists and should be worshiped. We have
already seen how the Bible teaches this in texts such as Psalm 19, and
today’s passage makes the point with even greater forcefulness. As Paul
says in Romans 1:20, God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power
and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of
the world, in the things that have been made.”
Romans 1:18–32 not only proclaims that the Lord has plainly revealed
Himself in nature but also tells us that there are certain limits to natural
revelation. To put it simply, we receive enough truth about God in natural
revelation to know that He is there; however, we do not receive enough
information to be saved. In fact, Paul tells us that when sinners come into
contact with God’s revelation of Himself in nature, they suppress the truth
they have received. Without faith in Christ, when fallen people study God’s
creation, they become futile in their thinking and their hearts are darkened.
They do not honor the Lord or give thanks to Him (v. 21). What is more,
they exchange the truth that they have seen in the created order for a lie—
they engage in all manner of false religion and idolatry, worshiping the
creature rather than the Creator (vv. 22–25). In sum, sinners who encounter
natural revelation apart from grace and God’s revealing His plan of
salvation make God in their own image, and they refuse to worship the only
Lord of all.
The idolatry that results when people receive natural revelation is not
the fault of natural revelation. Instead, it is the fault of the sin that pervades
fallen human beings. Natural revelation is insufficient for salvation, but
God never intended it as a means of salvation. Instead, as Paul explains in
Romans 1–3, the point of natural revelation is to show people truth about
the Lord so that they can see the truth about themselves—namely, that they
are sinners in need of salvation. But it takes more than natural revelation for
people to be redeemed. For that, they need special revelation, the truth
about God’s work in history—preeminently in the person and work of Jesus
Christ—that is available only via our Lord’s speaking directly to His people
and revealing to them truths that nature does not teach. Today, this special
revelation is available only in Scripture.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15; Mark 16:15–16; Romans 10:14–15

APPLICATION

We can appeal to natural revelation to show people certain truths about

God’s character and even to prove that they have violated the moral law that
He has placed on the consciences of all people. However, no one will be
saved only by looking at natural revelation. We must preach the gospel—
give men and women the truths of special revelation—or they cannot be
saved from the wrath of God.
 DAY 3

SPECIAL REVELATION
GENESIS 40 “JOSEPH SAID TO [PHARAOH’S OFFICERS], ‘DO NOT
INTERPRETATIONS BELONG TO GOD? PLEASE TELL [YOUR DREAMS] TO ME’”
(V. 8B).

In the Westminster Confession of Faith, which was written by men who

embraced the biblical theology of the Protestant Reformation, we read that
although natural, or general, revelation manifests the goodness, wisdom,
and power of God, it is insufficient “to give that knowledge of God, and of
His will, which is necessary unto salvation” (WCF 1.1). However, God did
not leave us without revelation that teaches us how we can be saved. Thus,
“it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in diverse manners, to reveal
Himself, and to declare” His will of salvation to His people (1.1). Here, the
confession references what we call “special revelation.”
Special revelation is that revelation from God that tells us the way of
salvation and what it means to live in a manner that pleases Him. Typically,
we identify Scripture as special revelation, and this is correct. Yet, in the
history of His people, God has provided special revelation through other
means as well. Note that the confession speaks of “diverse ways” in which
special revelation has been given. If we look at the history of God’s people,
we can see why it says such a thing. Consider today’s passage, for example,
wherein Joseph interprets dreams given to two members of Pharaoh’s court.
He specifically attributes dreams and their interpretation to God Himself
(Gen. 40:8). So, at least at that early point in history, God sometimes spoke
to people and revealed His will through dreams.
 Elsewhere in the Old Testament, we see that the Lord also revealed His
will to Israel through the priestly Urim and Thummim. Although we do not
know exactly what the Urim and Thummim were, they were most likely
stones or sticks of different colors that could be drawn from the breastplate
in order to discern God’s purposes. Prayer would be offered, and if the
Urim was drawn, it would mean to do one thing, and if the Thummim was
drawn, it would mean to do something else (Ex. 28:30; 1 Sam. 14:41).
We could multiply examples of the different forms in which special
revelation once came. The most important of these, however, is the form of
writing. When God spoke to His people, individuals such as Moses, the
prophets, the Apostles, and others wrote down that revelation our Lord
wanted us to have in perpetuity (Ex. 24:4; Jer. 36:4; 2 Peter 3:15). As we
will see, special revelation ceased by the end of the first century, so the only
special revelation we have today is the written Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Judges 6:36–40; Joel 2:28–29; Luke 1:1–4; 2 Timothy 3:14–15

APPLICATION

Many people are looking for a revelation from God in our day. We do not
need to go looking for new special revelation, however, for we have all the
revelation for how to serve God available to us in Scripture. If we want to
know the will of God for our salvation and for our lives, we must study and
know the Old and New Testaments.
 DAY 4

GOD’S FINAL REVELATION

HEBREWS 1:1–4 “LONG AGO, AT MANY TIMES AND IN MANY WAYS, GOD SPOKE
TO OUR FATHERS BY THE PROPHETS, BUT IN THESE LAST DAYS HE HAS
SPOKEN TO US BY HIS SON, WHOM HE APPOINTED THE HEIR OF ALL THINGS,
THROUGH WHOM ALSO HE CREATED THE WORLD” (VV. 1–2).

During the Protestant Reformation, people were looking for a word from
God, just as they search for a word from Him today. The Reformers,
including individuals such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, proclaimed
that there is but one place to find special revelation—the Scriptures of the
Old and New Testaments. They asserted the doctrine of sola Scriptura: the
only source of special revelation for the church today is the Bible; thus, the
Bible is the only infallible authority for the church.
Since God has provided special revelation to people in other forms such
as dreams (Gen. 40), how do we know special revelation today is found
nowhere else besides Scripture? Today’s passage helps answer that
question. God did speak to His people in various ways and at various times.
Yet “in these last days”—this era wherein the Lord is fulfilling His
promises—He has spoken finally and definitively in His Son (Heb. 1:1–2).
So, we look for special revelation nowhere but in Christ.
However, this does not mean we look only to the actual words that
Christ spoke during His earthly ministry. Those words are included, of
course, which means we receive the Gospels and other portions of the New
Testament that record what our Lord said while He walked the earth (for
example, 1 Cor. 11:23–25) as special revelation. But we also receive as
special revelation that which Christ affirmed as special revelation, which is
“the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). This
threefold designation of special revelation, we will see in due time, is
coterminous with the thirty-nine-book Old Testament canon that we follow
as Protestants.
What of the New Testament books that do not record what our Lord said
during His earthly ministry? We receive those as special revelation as well
because of the uniqueness of the Apostolic office. In the ancient world, as
Dr. R.C. Sproul often observed, the title apostle was used even in the
secular realm for those who had the full authority to speak on behalf of a
higher official. Jesus’ Apostles were His official spokesmen who bore His
full authority, so their writings are as much the words of Jesus as any other
portion of Scripture.
Only the Apostles speak with an authority equivalent to Jesus’ during
the new covenant era. There are no Apostles today because there are no
living eyewitnesses of the resurrection to confirm other Apostles (Acts
1:12–26; Gal. 1:18–2:10). Thus, special revelation ended with the death of
the last Apostle in the first century.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 33:11a; John 6:68; 1 Corinthians 15:1–11; 1 John 1:1–4

APPLICATION

Many people today claim to be Apostles. However, to be an Apostle, one

must be an eyewitness of Jesus’ resurrection or be confirmed as an Apostle
by other resurrection eyewitnesses (Acts 1:12–26; Gal. 1:18–2:10). This is
impossible in our era, so there are no living Apostles giving us special
revelation. We must be content with what we have—the Apostolic and
prophetic words of Scripture. To look beyond these for a word from God is
to look in vain.
 DAY 5

GOD-BREATHED SCRIPTURE
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 “ALL SCRIPTURE IS BREATHED OUT BY GOD AND PROFITABLE
FOR TEACHING, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, AND FOR TRAINING IN
RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Human beings speak with their mouths as their breath moves across their
vocal cords, causing the cords to vibrate and produce sounds that are
formed into letters and words by our lips, tongues, and teeth. There is a
breathing out that has to take place for speech, and understanding this
reality helps us to understand Paul’s point in today’s passage. Scripture, he
tells us, results from God’s breathing out in speech. This is a rather clear
way of saying that Scripture is the very speech of God. It is His Word.
The Greek word translated as “breathed out” in 2 Timothy 3:16 is
theopneustos, and Scripture is the only thing described as such by the
Apostles. Thus, Scripture has a unique character as the voice and words of
the Lord. It uniquely serves as God’s special revelation, as His inspired and
revealed will for His people. Nothing else today is theopneustos, so we can
point to nothing but Scripture as the Word of God.
When we speak of Scripture as theopneustos, we are pointing to its
divine inspiration. The Word of God written is identical to God’s speech. It
is exactly what He intended us to have as the revelation of His will and how
to please Him. At the same time, this does not take away from the Bible’s
human character. God breathed out His Word, but He did so through the
instrumentality of His prophets and Apostles. So, for example, the book of
Romans is Paul’s word, bearing the Apostle’s unique style and character.
Nevertheless, it is also God’s Word, given by Him. That our Lord used a
man to give us the book of Romans does not in any way make it less than
the very speech of God. And this applies to all books of Scripture.
Following 2 Timothy 3:16 and other passages, the Protestant Reformers
affirmed verbal plenary inspiration. Verbal inspiration means that
inspiration pertains to the very words themselves, not just the meaning that
the words convey. If Jesus could appeal to the tense of a verb to settle a
theological question (“I am the God of. . .”; Matt. 22:23–33), inspiration
must apply to specific words and even their specific forms. Plenary
inspiration means that all the words of Scripture are given by God, not just
some of them. We cannot say that the Lord spoke only the words of
Scripture that pertain to doctrine but not those that record history. No, God
spoke it all, using the distinct style of each human author to give us His
Word for all of life. Paul says all Scripture—everything received as canon
—is God’s Word, not just select portions of it (2 Tim. 3:16).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 34:27; John 10:35; Hebrews 3:7; 2 Peter 1:21

APPLICATION

The process of biblical inspiration is mysterious, for we do not know

exactly how God moved the human authors of Scripture to give us His
Word. Nevertheless, we know that Scripture is the Word of God, and so it
can be trusted to give us nothing but the truth of God. When we want to
know God’s will for us, we must turn to Scripture, for it is there alone that
we will find the Lord’s guidance.
 DAY 6

BIBLICAL SUFFICIENCY
2 TIMOTHY 3:17 “THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE COMPLETE, EQUIPPED FOR
EVERY GOOD WORK.”

We are considering the doctrine of Scripture affirmed by the Protestant

Reformers, which is encapsulated in the Latin phrase sola Scriptura.
According to the Reformation—and biblical—principle of sola Scriptura,
Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith for the church. Because the Word
of God is the only theopneustos—God-breathed—special revelation that we
possess today (2 Tim. 3:16), no rule of faith can supersede Scripture. There
is no higher court to which we can appeal for faith and practice, for there is
nowhere else besides Scripture where we can surely find God’s voice today.
That God’s Word is inspired does not mean that He dictated it or that He
overrode the personalities, gifts, and stylistic choices of the human authors
through whom the written Word of God has come to us. It does mean that
He worked in and through these authors such that their words are His
words.
Sola Scriptura also leads us to the doctrine of biblical sufficiency. To
say that Scripture is sufficient is to say that the Bible contains all that we
need for determining what we must believe and how we are to live before
God. Scripture must be interpreted if we are to understand what we are to
believe and how we are to act, but the sufficiency of Scripture indicates that
we need no other source of special revelation for faith and life in addition to
the Bible.
Passages such as 2 Timothy 3:17 affirm the sufficiency of Scripture.
Having affirmed that God’s Word is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness” (v. 16), Paul explains that
Scripture is enough to make us “complete, equipped for every good work.”
Scripture in its totality is all that is needed so that we will be completely
prepared to serve the Lord. A good work is anything that is pleasing to God,
so this text covers everything from determining sound doctrine to knowing
the deeds the Lord requires of us as proof of our faith in Him (see James
2:14–26). Being equipped for every good work requires understanding the
doctrinal foundations of God-pleasing actions and the actions themselves,
as is seen in how the New Testament Epistles typically move from
presenting doctrine that must be believed to practical application and moral
instruction. John Calvin comments on today’s passage that to be complete
means to be “one in whom there is nothing defective.” To avoid being
defective with respect to faith and life, we must study Scripture and put its
teachings into practice.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Ezra 7:10; Psalms 73:24; 119:105; 2 Peter 1:19; Jude 3

APPLICATION

We are tempted to look for God’s will in places other than the one place He
has revealed it—His Word. As we ponder the will of God for our lives, we
must be careful to follow the guidance of Scripture. It is sufficient to give
us the principles we need to know to please God wherever we are and
whatever we are called to do.
 DAY 7

BIBLICAL AUTHORITY
JOHN 10:35 “SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE BROKEN.”

Historians often describe the doctrine of Scripture, and particularly the

authority of Scripture, as the formal cause of the Reformation. In
philosophy, a formal cause is like a blueprint or plan; it is what determines
the shape or form of something. To say that the final authority of Scripture
was the formal cause of the Reformation is to say that the different views of
biblical authority between the Protestants and the Roman Catholics explain
why the Reformation took the shape it did. Because the Reformers believed
Scripture is the only infallible authority for the church (sola Scriptura), they
affirmed that church tradition and the bishops could be corrected by
Scripture when Scripture conflicted with other authorities. Roman
Catholics, on the other hand, said church tradition and the Magisterium
(teaching officers of the church) were equal in authority to Scripture. Thus,
Rome would not allow herself to be corrected on matters such as
justification and worship, for their views on those issues were determined
by extrabiblical traditions, which they believed had divine authority.
That Scripture stands above all other authorities is evident from just a
cursory reading of the Bible. First, Scripture’s unique ontological
(pertaining to being or essence) character as theopneustos—God-breathed
—means that every other authority is on a lower level by nature. By
definition, God is the highest authority possible (Heb. 6:13), so what He
says is the final arbiter of truth. And if the only place we have His words is
Scripture, then Scripture is the highest court of authority to which we can
appeal. Nothing else is on the same level, for only Scripture is theopneustos
(2 Tim. 3:16–17).
Moreover, when we look at the example of Christ Himself, we find that
He viewed Scripture as having the highest authority. In today’s passage, for
example, Jesus says that “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Other
traditions and authorities can be set aside (Matt. 15:1–9), but “the doctrine
of Scripture is inviolable” (John Calvin).
To say that Scripture is the only infallible authority and the final
authority for the church does not mean there are no other authorities to
which we should pay heed as believers. God does invest His church, for
example, with authority as “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15).
But other authorities are secondary, and their authority is derivative; they
have the right to command us only insofar as what they teach conforms to
the written Word of God.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 13; 28:15–68; Matthew 5:17–20; Mark 7:9–13; Acts 15:1–

21

APPLICATION

Church tradition and the teaching we receive in our local churches are vital
for helping us understand the Scriptures. However, those authorities, as well
as all other authorities, are subject finally to the Word of God. No one may
demand that we believe or do something that is contrary to Scripture. Let us
submit to God-ordained authorities in the church but only insofar as they
teach what Scripture teaches.
 DAY 8

THE POWER AND INFALLIBILITY OF

SCRIPTURE
ISAIAH 55:10–11 “SO SHALL MY WORD BE THAT GOES OUT FROM MY MOUTH;
IT SHALL NOT RETURN TO ME EMPTY, BUT IT SHALL ACCOMPLISH THAT WHICH
I PURPOSE, AND SHALL SUCCEED IN THE THING FOR WHICH I SENT IT” (V.
11).

The Protestant Reformers worked for many things, but perhaps the goal
that they worked hardest to achieve was to restore the church’s confidence
in Scripture. Stressing the unique inspiration and authority of the Bible, the
Reformers sought to bring the Western church in submission to the Word of
God after many years of the church’s following those who claimed too
much authority for themselves. They recognized that Christians are
perennially tempted to look for God’s power in things such as techniques,
relics, the state, and individual personalities. But with respect to ministry,
God has invested His power in one place, and that is His Word.
Isaiah 55:10–11 emphasizes the power that the Lord has invested in His
revelation. The word that goes forth from the mouth of our Creator—which
is Scripture, as Scripture is “breathed out by God” (2 Tim. 3:16–17)—
cannot fail to accomplish the Lord’s purposes for it. When God sends forth
His Word to bring about a person’s salvation, that person will not finally
resist His revelation. It will convert the man, woman, or child that God
intends to save. At the same time, when the Lord sends forth His Word to
someone He has not chosen for salvation, that revelation will result in the
hardened person’s hardening his heart even further. God’s Word is powerful
and effective both to reveal the way of salvation to Christ’s sheep and to
hide it from the goats, those who have not been chosen from the foundation
of the world for redemption (Matt. 11:25–27).
Just as the Word of God cannot fail to achieve the purposes for which it
is given, Scripture cannot fail to teach the truth. The Scriptures are infallible
—that is, incapable of teaching error. This is a necessary consequence of
divine inspiration and the omnipotence of God. Scripture is God-breathed,
and since God is truth Himself (Jesus, who is God incarnate, identifies
Himself as truth; John 14:6), He is incapable of telling any lie. “Every word
of God proves true,” as Proverbs 30:5 tells us.
The power of God guarantees the infallibility of His inscripturated
Word. Some people argue that it is possible for Scripture to contain errors
because it was written by human beings, and human beings are capable of
erring. However, being capable of error and actually making an error are
two different things. “All things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27), and
surely God can inspire people to write in such a way that their words cannot
teach error.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Job 34:12; Psalm 119:25, 107; 1 Corinthians 1:18; Hebrews 4:12–13

APPLICATION

We affirm the human origin of Scripture, for it was written by human

beings and bears the marks of human authorship. However, we also affirm
the divine origin of Scripture, that God superintended the authors of the
biblical text in such a way that the final product cannot teach falsehood. If
we believe otherwise, then we have denied the omnipotence of God and
have no reason to trust that He can save us.
 DAY 9

SCRIPTURAL INERRANCY
PSALM 18:30 “THIS GOD—HIS WAY IS PERFECT; THE WORD OF THE LORD
PROVES TRUE; HE IS A SHIELD FOR ALL THOSE WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM.”

Because Scripture is the only source of special revelation that we possess,

it is the only infallible and final authority for the church. This is the doctrine
of sola Scriptura, which the Protestant Reformers embraced to correct
errors that said other authorities such as post-biblical church tradition are
equivalent to Scripture as a rule of faith. As we have seen, the doctrine of
sola Scriptura is a necessary consequence of passages such as 2 Timothy
3:16–17, which identifies only Scripture as “breathed out by God,” or
divinely inspired. And because God is incapable of erring, whatever He
inspires is likewise incapable of teaching error.
Our doctrine of biblical infallibility, which says that the Bible cannot
teach error, has to do with the capability of Scripture—what it can and
cannot do. But if Scripture is unable to teach falsehood, that has
implications for Scripture regarding what it actually is. Because the Bible is
incapable of teaching error, Scripture is actually free of error. The Word of
God does not affirm anything that is false, and we refer to this doctrine as
the doctrine of scriptural or biblical inerrancy.
Scriptural inerrancy is a good and necessary consequence of biblical
infallibility, but it is also taught explicitly by the biblical writings. In
today’s passage, for example, we find a strong affirmation that every word
of the Lord proves to be true (Ps. 18:30). Commenting on this text, John
Calvin writes, “The word of God is pure, and without any mixture of fraud
and deceit, like silver which is well refined and purified from all its dross.”
Other important passages that demonstrate the inerrancy of Scripture
include John 17:17, wherein Jesus says to His Father, “Your word is truth.”
Importantly, when we speak of biblical inerrancy, we are speaking of
the original text of Scripture, not its manuscript copies. We do not possess
the actual hard copies that the Apostles and prophets wrote; instead, we
have copies of these writings. Since only the Apostles and prophets were
inspired, only the text that they wrote is inerrant. Various copies may, and
do, contain differences, additional words, and other discrepancies between
them. This is not a problem, however, for the Bible is preserved better than
any other ancient book, and we are able to reconstruct the original text that
the Apostles and prophets wrote even though all we possess is many, many
manuscripts from scribes who copied the Bible.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Samuel 7:28; Psalm 12:6; Ecclesiastes 12:10; Colossians 1:5b

APPLICATION

We do not have the original manuscript copies that the Apostles and
prophets wrote; however, we can determine the original text by comparing
the various manuscripts that we do have. We can be confident, then, that we
have an inerrant Bible in its original languages. We need not fear that the
Scriptures have any errors, so we may fully trust these writings. In so doing,
we are trusting God Himself.
 DAY 10

THE CLARITY OF SCRIPTURE

DEUTERONOMY 6:6–9 “THESE WORDS THAT I COMMAND YOU TODAY SHALL BE ON
YOUR HEART. YOU SHALL TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY TO YOUR CHILDREN, AND
SHALL TALK OF THEM WHEN YOU SIT IN YOUR HOUSE, AND WHEN YOU WALK BY
THE WAY, AND WHEN YOU LIE DOWN, AND WHEN YOU RISE” (VV. 6–7).

Commentators on Scripture during the medieval era developed a complex

means of interpreting the Bible known as the quadriga. According to the
medieval quadriga, every biblical passage had a fourfold meaning—a
literal sense, a moral sense, an allegorical sense, and an anagogical sense.
To know the literal or most obvious meaning of a passage was a good thing,
but to know the higher moral, allegorical, and anagogical meanings was
even better. Precious few, however, could attain to these other, more hidden
meanings of Scripture. This tended to obscure the meaning and significance
of the Bible for the uneducated, and it led to all sorts of fanciful
interpretations among those who had more learning. Only the most
“advanced” thinkers, for example, could see that the census recorded in
Numbers was not really about the number of Israelite soldiers but rather
about the several steps it takes for the soul to ascend to God.
Of course, there is nothing in Scripture itself that justifies such a view
of biblical interpretation. In fact, if the Bible teaches anything about itself, it
is that its basic message is clear enough for anyone—even a child—to
understand. This idea is known as the clarity of Scripture, which is also
called the perspicuity of Scripture. It was a doctrine that the Protestant
Reformers embraced, and they endeavored to return the church to the
clearest, literal meaning of the Bible.
 That the Bible is clear enough for even a child to understand is assumed
in passages such as Deuteronomy 6:6–9. Moses instructs the people of
Israel to teach the divinely revealed commandments of God to their
children. This implies that the children are capable of understanding and
applying the Word of God as their parents teach it to them. But note that it
also implies that ordinary mothers and fathers are able to have a grasp of
Scripture sufficient enough to teach it to their children. This is particularly
notable, given that most of the people to whom Moses originally spoke
these words would not have had much in the way of education, and many of
them would have been unable to read at all. Neither of these factors,
however, was a barrier to understanding enough about the Scriptures to be
able to understand them and teach them to others.
The clarity of Scripture does not deny that some passages of Scripture
are difficult to understand (2 Peter 3:15–16). It does mean that anyone who
studies the Word of God can discern the basic message of salvation and
what it means to please the Lord.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 119:130; Proverbs 1:8–9; Mark 12:35–37; 2 Timothy 3:14–15

APPLICATION

Many people treat the Bible like a puzzle or a secret code that is full of
hidden meanings accessible only to a select few. Nothing could be further
from the truth, however. Scripture can be understood by anyone who puts in
the basic effort to read it in its context. We can read and hear the Scripture
with profit, knowing that God’s message to us is clear.
 DAY 11

THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON

LUKE 24:44 “[JESUS] SAID TO THEM, ‘THESE ARE MY WORDS THAT I SPOKE
TO YOU WHILE I WAS STILL WITH YOU, THAT EVERYTHING WRITTEN ABOUT ME
IN THE LAW OF MOSES AND THE PROPHETS AND THE PSALMS MUST BE
FULFILLED.’”

Facing the prospect of losing Europe to Protestantism, Roman Catholics

convened a council to respond to the Protestant Reformers and their ideas.
This gathering, the Council of Trent, met on and off from 1545 to 1563.
Trent is one of the most important councils Rome has ever held, as it
codified Roman Catholic dogma regarding justification, the sacraments, and
other subjects.
One of the key questions Trent was tasked to answer for the church of
Rome was the extent of the canon of Scripture—the list of books that the
church acknowledges as divinely inspired and thus considers to be sources
of theology. Against the Protestants, Trent declared that in addition to the
thirty-nine books of the Old Testament that the Reformers received as
Scripture, the apocryphal or deuterocanonical books are also canonical for
the Roman Catholic Church. But in stating that
apocryphal/deuterocanonical books such as 1–2 Maccabees, Tobit, Judith,
and others are Scripture, the Council of Trent also went against church
tradition. The top Bible scholars in church history, including Jerome, did
not believe the apocryphal books were Scripture, and even many Roman
Catholics who attended the Council of Trent did not want Rome to declare
those books canonical.
When we look to Jesus and the Apostles, it is clear that the Protestants
were right. Every time Jesus and the Apostles quote from a book they
regard as Scripture, they introduce the quote with a formula such as “it is
written” or “Scripture says” (for example, Matt. 4:4; Rom. 10:11).
Sometimes, the New Testament refers to apocryphal books, but such books
are never quoted as if they are Scripture (for example, Jude 14–15).
Today’s passage shows us clearly that Jesus’ Old Testament canon
included only the books in our Protestant canon. He refers to “the Law of
Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44), which corresponds
to the traditional Jewish canon that contains the same books as our Old
Testament canon, albeit in a different order. The Law refers to Genesis–
Deuteronomy. The Prophets are Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Isaiah–
Malachi minus Daniel and Lamentations. The Writings are everything else
in our Old Testament; sometimes first-century Jews called this section “the
Psalms” because Psalms is the largest and most famous book in the
Writings.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Nehemiah 8:1–8; Daniel 9:1–2; Matthew 7:12; John 1:45

APPLICATION

Jesus is our Lord, so if we are to be faithful to Him, we do not want to have

an Old Testament canon that is any different than the one He had. The
apocryphal books can be useful as historical works and even as repositories
of human wisdom, but they are not divinely inspired and cannot determine
doctrine. We must derive our theology only from divinely inspired works,
so let us be careful to prove all our beliefs by the inspired Scriptures.
 DAY 12

THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON

2 PETER 3:15–16 “COUNT THE PATIENCE OF OUR LORD AS SALVATION, JUST
AS OUR BELOVED BROTHER PAUL ALSO WROTE TO YOU ACCORDING TO THE
WISDOM GIVEN HIM, AS HE DOES IN ALL HIS LETTERS WHEN HE SPEAKS IN
THEM OF THESE MATTERS. THERE ARE SOME THINGS IN THEM THAT ARE HARD
TO UNDERSTAND, WHICH THE IGNORANT AND UNSTABLE TWIST TO THEIR OWN
DESTRUCTION, AS THEY DO THE OTHER SCRIPTURES.”

If Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith and practice for the church,
then it is vital that we know which books constitute Scripture. There are,
after all, many books that claim to be from God or that others claim are
from the Lord. How, then, do we identify what the Lord has inspired and
what He has not? Discerning the Old Testament canon is relatively easy, as
we have seen. If Jesus is Lord, then we want to have the canon that He
followed, and we know that His Old Testament canon was the thirty-nine-
book Protestant Old Testament canon.
Things are more complicated when it comes to the New Testament. Yet,
church history shows that there was an early consensus about the New
Testament canon. Certain books—including the four Gospels, the Pauline
Epistles, the Acts of the Apostles, 1 Peter, and 1 John—were universally
accepted, with almost no one doubting their scriptural status. Some early
believers, however, had questions about books such as Revelation and 2–3
John. In the end, certain objective factors helped move the church to receive
these books as Scripture: they had a credible claim to Apostolic authorship,
taught in accord with the other unquestioned books, and were read in
churches in all parts of the known world. By the middle of the fourth
century AD, the church had settled on the twenty-seven books of the New
Testament, and the Protestant Reformers affirmed this canon just as the
Roman Catholics did.
Although the aforementioned objective factors regarding the New
Testament books were appealed to as the church was discerning the scope
of Scripture, the reception of the canon also involved subjective factors as
well. Because Scripture is from God Himself and because there is no
authority higher than the Lord, the final reason why the church received the
canon it did was due to its hearing the voice of God in the pages of the
received books. While objective evidences for canonicity are persuasive
and necessary, we are finally convinced to receive Scripture as Scripture by
the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His people. John Calvin wrote:
“These words [of Scripture] will not obtain full credit in the hearts of men,
until they are sealed by the inward testimony of the Spirit. The same Spirit,
therefore, who spoke by the mouth of the prophets, must penetrate our
hearts, in order to convince us that they faithfully delivered the message
with which they were divinely entrusted” (Institutes 1.7.4).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

John 14:26; Acts 13:48; 1 Thessalonians 1:4–5; 2 Timothy 1:14

APPLICATION

In confessing the self-attestation of Scripture, we are affirming that the

authority of Scripture does not derive from the church or any authority
other than God Himself. We believe in Christ because the Holy Spirit
convinces us, and we believe Scripture because the Holy Spirit convinces
us. We have objective evidence for our beliefs and should affirm it, but only
the Spirit can make us trust God’s Word.
 DAY 13

RIGHTLY HANDLING GOD’S WORD

2 TIMOTHY 2:15 “DO YOUR BEST TO PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD AS ONE
APPROVED, A WORKER WHO HAS NO NEED TO BE ASHAMED, RIGHTLY HANDLING
THE WORD OF TRUTH.”

Martin Luther is often identified as one who argued for the right of
individual Christians to interpret the Bible for themselves. In large measure,
this is correct. After all, Luther himself stood firm on the doctrine of
justification by faith alone because he was convinced by his reading of
Scripture that the doctrine was true even when much of the medieval church
disagreed. Luther is also famous for translating the Bible into German so
laypeople could read it or at least understand it when it was read to them.
He and the other Reformers believed that the Bible was not a closed book
available only to the scholarly elite and the clergy but rather the possession
of all Christians.
Luther and the other Protestant Reformers, however, did not believe that
Christians had the right in their private interpretation of Scripture to
interpret it incorrectly. The doctrine of sola Scriptura does not mean that
Christians are to pay attention only to their personal understanding of the
Bible or that we can make the Scriptures mean whatever we want them to
mean. After all, Martin Luther is often quoted as saying, “The Holy Spirit is
no skeptic.” The meaning of Scripture is not so uncertain that we can all
come up with our own views and never know the truth. That would be a
skeptical view of divine truth that says it is wholly subjective and
objectively unknowable. Scripture is the only infallible authority for the
church, but it is not the only authority. There are other authorities that may
command us insofar as they agree with Scripture. Church tradition,
including the teaching of councils and individual theologians, as well as
ordained teachers are lesser authorities that help us understand God’s Word
and provide a measuring stick against which we can check our personal
interpretations of Scripture. As a good rule of thumb, if we think we have
come up with something new, it is likely that we have read Scripture
wrongly. The Reformers, after all, did not claim to teach any new doctrines,
and they regularly appealed to church fathers and others in support of their
views.
With the right of private interpretation comes the obligation to interpret
Scripture correctly. We must work diligently with the text to rightly handle
“the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), as Paul tells us in today’s passage. Let us
follow sound interpretative principles and read the Bible within the
community of God’s people—the church—so that we do not go astray.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Ezra 7:1–10; Nehemiah 8:1–8; Acts 20:28–32; Ephesians 4:11–14

APPLICATION

For millennia, godly men and women who are indwelled by the same Holy
Spirit who dwells in us have been reading and interpreting Scripture. We
would therefore be foolish to ignore their writings and their teachings. It is
good for us to have access to the writings of some of the best interpreters in
church history, such as John Calvin and Martin Luther. They err at times,
just as we do, but they are a helpful guide to understanding God’s Word.
 DAY 14

EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT TEACHING

1 CORINTHIANS 10:1–11 “THESE THINGS HAPPENED TO THEM AS AN EXAMPLE,
BUT THEY WERE WRITTEN DOWN FOR OUR INSTRUCTION, ON WHOM THE END OF
THE AGES HAS COME” (V. 11).

Recognizing our obligation to sound biblical interpretation, we will now

consider one of the most important rules for identifying the meaning of a
biblical text. Whenever we read the Scriptures, it is vital that we keep in
mind the principle that the explicit, direct teaching passages of the Bible
must control our interpretation of passages that convey their teaching less
directly and more implicitly.
As an example of the distinction between passages that teach implicitly
and those that teach more explicitly, let us consider what the New
Testament has to say about the resurrection of Jesus. The accounts of the
resurrection in the four Gospels all describe the event in such a way as to
make it clear that a miracle occurred in Jesus’ rising from the grave. The
presence of angels, an extremely heavy stone being rolled away, and
appearances of Jesus all add up to a miracle having taken place, and since
only God has the power to perform miracles, we can draw the conclusion
that the Gospels implicitly teach that God raised Jesus from the dead. None
of the Gospels, however, at least in their narration of the resurrection
events, say directly that “God raised Jesus from the dead.” But, we do find
such explicit statements elsewhere in passages such as Ephesians 1:20. That
text from Paul’s letter would be an example of a passage that makes an
explicit, direct teaching statement.
 The implicit teaching passages of Scripture will shape our theology, but
if we allow implicit teaching to contradict what the Bible says explicitly
and directly, we will draw erroneous conclusions. For example, several
passages of Scripture describe the Lord as relenting or changing His mind
(for example, Ex. 32:14; Jonah 3:10). If we allow such texts to control our
theology and override more explicit teachings found in God’s Word, we will
believe that like us, God sometimes encounters new information,
unforeseen circumstances, or something else such that He experiences an
actual change of mind as we might. Yet, the more explicit and didactic
portions of Scripture tell us otherwise. Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not
man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.”
Here we have a text that tells us directly that God does not do what certain
passages seem to suggest. We conclude, then, that descriptions of God’s
changing His mind are anthropomorphic. God relents, but He knew He
would do so all along. He does not change His mind like we change ours.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 4:15–24; Proverbs 8:33; Mark 4:1–20; James 3:1

APPLICATION

Cults typically base their doctrine on obscure passages of Scripture and on

conclusions they draw from implicit teaching that contradict the explicit
teaching of Scripture. We must be careful never to do that. If our belief
contradicts an explicit teaching of Scripture, we can be sure that we are
believing something in error.
 DAY 15

READING THE BIBLE HOLISTICALLY

MATTHEW 19:1–9 “HAVE YOU NOT READ THAT HE WHO CREATED THEM FROM THE
BEGINNING MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, AND SAID, ‘THEREFORE A MAN
SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER AND HOLD FAST TO HIS WIFE,
AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’? SO THEY ARE NO LONGER TWO BUT
ONE FLESH. WHAT THEREFORE GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NOT MAN
SEPARATE” (VV. 4–6).

Having seen that we should be careful to let the explicit teaching or

didactic portions of Scripture control how we understand passages in which
the teaching is more implicit, we are now ready to apply that principle more
broadly. If the explicit teachings of Scripture are to guide our interpretation
of the Bible, then what we are saying is that the surest guide to the right
understanding of Scripture is Scripture itself. There is a famous Latin
phrase that encapsulates this idea: Scriptura sacra sui ipsius interpres,
which means “sacred Scripture is its own interpreter.”
That the best guide for interpreting the Bible is the Bible itself is a
logical consequence of our doctrine of biblical inspiration. The author of a
particular work can best tell us what he meant when he wrote that work. If
God inspired the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16–17), God is the author of all of
Scripture. So, since God is the author of all of Scripture, He is the One who
can give us the definitive meaning of His Word, and since the only word we
have from the Lord is His Word, the chief way we determine whether our
interpretation of a specific passage is right is to compare it to the rest of the
Bible’s instruction.
Dr. R.C. Sproul puts it this way in his message on historical narrative in
his Ligonier Ministries teaching series Knowing Scripture: “We must be
careful to read the Bible holistically. We ought not to draw interpretations
from the text that are against interpretations that the Bible elsewhere draws
itself. The Bible interprets the Bible; the Holy Spirit is His own interpreter.”
If our interpretation of one text contradicts our interpretation of another
text, one or both interpretations must be wrong. They cannot both be correct
because “God is not a God of confusion” (1 Cor. 14:33), and He would not
teach one thing in one passage and the opposite in another.
In today’s passage, we see how Jesus used Scripture to interpret
Scripture. In the first century, Jewish rabbis who followed the famous rabbi
Hillel had taken the allowance for divorce in the Mosaic law (Deut. 24:1–4)
and stretched it far beyond its original intent. Instead of seeing the divorce
laws as a gracious accommodation meant only for select circumstances,
these rabbis who followed Hillel embraced divorce as a positive good that
could be used to get out of any marriage relationship for whatever reason.
But as Jesus shows, this was not the intent of the divorce laws. And how
does He do it? By appealing to Scripture and showing that His opponents’
understanding of the law of Moses was incompatible with Genesis 2 (Matt.
19:1–9).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Daniel 9; Luke 24:27; 1 Corinthians 9:1–12; Hebrews 10:1–18

APPLICATION

Understanding any one portion of Scripture correctly demands that we read

it in the context of all of Scripture. That is why it is so important for us to
be whole-Bible Christians. We must diligently study all that God has
revealed, not limiting ourselves only to select books and passages of the
Bible. Let us endeavor to study the whole counsel of God, growing in our
knowledge of all of Scripture over the course of our lives.
 DAY 16

INTERPRETING SCRIPTURE WITH THE

CHURCH
ACTS 15:1–35 “THE APOSTLES AND THE ELDERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER TO
CONSIDER THIS MATTER” (V. 6).

Today we return to our study of the doctrines recovered in the Protestant

Reformation. We are focusing on the doctrine of sola Scriptura and those
aspects related to it, and as we have seen, sola Scriptura tells us that
Scripture is the only infallible authority for the church, but not that it is the
only authority. There is a place for other authorities over us in the church
that are under the authority of God’s speaking in His Word.
Protestant leaders did not reject authorities such as councils and creeds
altogether; all they did was set aside those authorities and conciliar
teachings that did not find their origin in God’s inscripturated Word. They
retained the use of ecumenical creeds such as the Nicene Creed and the
Definition of Chalcedon. They continued to read the early church fathers
and even many medieval Christian thinkers to learn from their insights into
Scripture.
Moreover, they held councils of their own and wrote new creeds and
confessions. In doing so, Protestants followed the long-standing tradition of
the church: gathering in council to settle disputes and address heresy. This
practice went back to the Apostolic era, as we see in today’s passage. When
there was a controversy regarding whether to require circumcision for
gentiles to be admitted to the church, the Apostles and elders of the church
met at a first-century council in Jerusalem to discuss the matter. After a
time of deliberation, the council decided that gentiles did not have to be
circumcised to be Christians, and the conciliar decision was sent to the
churches via letter (Acts 15:1–35).
The presence of Apostles at the Jerusalem Council gives it an authority
that no later council can possess. What is notable, however, is that a
decision of such significance was not settled upon by one Apostle, even
though it could have been via divine revelation. Instead, the church as a
whole considered the matter. This is instructive. If even the Apostles
believed they should read and interpret Scripture in concert with the entire
church, how can we do otherwise? We are not to be Lone Ranger Christians
who go off by ourselves with our Bibles to figure out what God said,
although personal Bible study is certainly a good thing. No, we read God’s
Word with the church, looking to one another and to appointed teachers and
ministers to help us interpret Scripture correctly. We need God’s people to
help us know God’s Word.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 16:18; Matthew 18:15–20; Galatians 2:1–10; 1 Timothy

4:14

APPLICATION

Many of the greatest errors in church history arose when an individual was
unwilling to read Scripture with the rest of the church. We cannot be
unchurched Christians or Christians who are unwilling to submit to one
another in the local body of Christ. If we are not seeking to read Scripture
with the church and to learn from others both past and present, we will
surely make many errors in understanding God’s Word.
 DAY 17

ILLUMINING SCRIPTURE
1 CORINTHIANS 2:10B–16 “THE NATURAL PERSON DOES NOT ACCEPT THE
THINGS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, FOR THEY ARE FOLLY TO HIM, AND HE IS
NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED”
(V. 14).

Scholars of the Reformation regularly point out that in asserting the final
authority of Scripture, the Reformers did not believe that unaided human
reason was sufficient for the Bible to function as the last court of appeal in
the church. The Reformers believed there was a place for reason, to be sure,
but even the soundest rules of interpretation would be insufficient for
appropriating the teaching of Scripture without the work of the Bible’s
divine author. In other words, the Reformers held to a view of sola
Scriptura that embraced the work of the Holy Spirit in illumining His Word
in the hearts and minds of His people. Word and Spirit must go together for
people to know, believe, and be transformed by divine revelation.
In noting that the illumining work of the Holy Spirit is necessary when
we read Scripture, we are not saying that unbelievers are wholly unable to
gain an understanding of the meaning of the biblical text. Non-Christians
often are able to comprehend at least part of what a particular passage of
Scripture means. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, however, a non-
Christian cannot truly understand the significance of a particular text for
salvation or come to saving faith. There is an understanding of Scripture
that unbelievers can gain, but it is limited in its scope, and its efficacy will
be only to harden the heart of the reader unless the Spirit does His work of
changing the reader’s heart and mind. John Calvin comments on today’s
passage: “It is not owing simply to the obstinacy of the human will, but to
the impotency, also, of the understanding, that man does not attain to the
things of the Spirit. Had he said that men are not willing to be wise, that
indeed would have been true, but he states farther that they are not able.
Hence we infer, that faith is not in one’s own power, but is divinely
conferred.”
We require divine assistance to understand the full import of Scripture
and to apply it rightly to our lives. The Holy Spirit must do His work of
illumination, for as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:10b–16, only spiritual men
and women can discern the things of God. And while the Holy Spirit
certainly does this on an individual level, we must remember that the Spirit
is given to all of God’s people (12:13). We need one another to enjoy the
full benefit of the Spirit’s work of illumination, for the Spirit is often
pleased to speak, as it were, through others, giving them insights to help us
all know His Word.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 119:18, 73; Isaiah 58:11; John 16:12–15; Ephesians 1:15–23

APPLICATION

In all our study of Scripture, we must never forget our need of the Holy
Spirit’s assistance. As we read God’s Word, let us pray that the Spirit would
illumine it so that we would understand and apply it rightly. And let us pray
for this illumination when we read Scripture together so that we will be led
in paths of righteousness through the Scriptures.
 DAY 18

PREACHING SCRIPTURE
1 TIMOTHY 4:13 “UNTIL I COME, DEVOTE YOURSELF . . . TO EXHORTATION,
TO TEACHING.”

Scholars of religion often note the importance of words for the Christian
religion. We define orthodox theology with words, and the words of our
prayers and songs express our piety. But the importance of words for
biblical religion is most evident in our reliance on the written Word of God.
Ever since the days of Moses, the reading of the Scriptures has been
definitional for the religion of God’s people, and as 1 Timothy 4:13
indicates, the public reading of Scripture must be a part of our worship
services.
Yet, 1 Timothy 4:13 says more about the Scriptures in worship than that
we are to read them aloud. Paul also tells Timothy and, by extension, all
Christian pastors to be devoted to exhortation and to teaching. There is, in
fact, a careful sequence laid out in today’s passage. First the Word of God is
to be read, and then it is to be explained. John Calvin comments, “[Paul]
places reading before doctrine and exhortation; for, undoubtedly, the
Scripture is the fountain of all wisdom, from which pastors must draw all
that they place before their flock.”
Pastors and teachers have nothing to give to God’s people besides what
the Lord has given—namely, His inspired Word. So, essential to worship is
exhortation and teaching based on that Word. The word “teaching,” or in
some translations “doctrine,” has in view the systematic exposition and
explanation of Scripture for the purpose of establishing what we are to
believe. “Exhortation” refers more to the practical application of the text to
God’s people. Those who teach God’s Word in the worship service are to
explain and apply it, helping us learn how to love our Creator more truly
and follow Him more rightly.
Scripture is clear enough that anyone can read it and discern the basic
message of salvation. But some portions of the Bible are harder to
understand than others, and so God has given the church teachers to help us
learn His Word and grow in grace and truth (Eph. 4:11–14). Because the
Word is essential to our lives as Christians and because God has given us
pastors, elders, and teachers to assist us in bringing this Word to bear on our
lives, Christian worship conducted according to the Bible will always
involve the teaching of the Bible.
Pastors, elders, and teachers must place a high priority on studying the
Bible so that they may rightly proclaim it to their congregations. But
laypeople are responsible as well to call on their leaders to teach them
God’s Word. Let us encourage our pastors, elders, and teachers to give us
the Word of God in our worship.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Nehemiah 8:1–8; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16–17;

4:1–2

APPLICATION

If God’s people do not call for their pastors, elders, and teachers to bring
them the Word, their leaders may be tempted to give them something
different. We are all responsible to make sure that God’s Word is faithfully
proclaimed. If we are teachers, then we must take care to exposit the Word
carefully. If we are laity, we must ask for the Word to be preached in our
congregations and listen when it is.
SECTION II: SOLUS CHRISTUS

God has told us in His Word that He is the only Savior, and He saves us
through the person and work of Christ, who is the only way to God.
Because of who Christ is as both truly human and truly God, only He can
bridge the gap that separates us from a blessed relationship with our
Creator. He is the only mediator between God and humanity, and apart from
Him we are without hope in this world.
Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who took on a
human nature in the incarnation and lived a perfect life, flawlessly obeying
God in all things. This perfectly righteous Savior died in the place of His
people, bearing the punishment they deserve for their sin and securing for
them the righteousness that they need to be declared righteous by God and
adopted as His children. Solus Christus—Christ alone—means that only the
person and work of Christ can save us. To add anything to Him as necessary
for salvation means that the Lord God is not our only Savior.
 DAY 19

THE DIVINE NATURE OF CHRIST

MARK 5:21–43 “TAKING [THE GIRL] BY THE HAND [JESUS] SAID TO HER,
‘TALITHA CUMI,’ WHICH MEANS, ‘LITTLE GIRL, I SAY TO YOU, ARISE.’
AND IMMEDIATELY THE GIRL GOT UP AND BEGAN WALKING” (VV. 41–42A).

If you have been a Christian for a number of years, you have likely heard a
sermon on Peter’s walking on water (Matt. 14:22–33) that included this
point: As long as Peter kept His eyes on Jesus, he was all right. Only when
he took his eyes off the Lord did he start to sink.
That lesson applies not only to individuals but also to the church. When
the church loses its focus on the person and work of Christ, it will quickly
fall into darkness. Christianity is all about Christ—who He is and what He
has done. Thus, if we make the focus of the church a particular political
program, a sociocultural ideology, or even the church itself, we ultimately
end up with no Christianity at all.
One of the great accomplishments of the Reformation was its returning
the church’s focus to Christ. We could, in fact, say that the driving force of
the Reformation was bringing the church back to its historic confession of
Christ alone (solus Christus)—Christ alone is head of the church; Christ
alone is worthy of adoration; Christ alone saves.
In seeking to recover the person and work of Christ, Protestants,
particularly the Reformed, were not seeking to break new ground with
respect to our Lord’s person. They only wanted to see historic Christian
orthodoxy as represented in such statements as the Definition of Chalcedon
taught clearly and without compromise. Protestants asserted with
Chalcedon that Jesus is one person who possesses two natures, a divine
nature and a human nature.
A nature is that which makes something what it is, those attributes that
define it. For example, the divine nature is marked by divine attributes such
as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, self-existence, eternity, and so
on. To have a divine nature is to possess all the attributes that make God
who He is. Thus, when we say that Jesus has a divine nature, we are saying
that He possesses every attribute that God possesses in His divine nature.
He is truly God.
Christ’s possession of the divine nature is taught directly in passages
such as John 1:1–18. We can also look to episodes in our Lord’s life that
reveal His divine nature to us. In today’s passage, for example, Jesus creates
life, raising a young girl from the dead, simply by commanding her to live
(Mark 5:21–43). That is something only God can do, for He created life by
speaking it into existence (Gen. 1). Another passage that reveals Jesus’
possession of the divine nature is John 1:43–51. Here we see evidence of
omniscience, as Jesus tells Nathanael that he was sitting under a fig tree
before our Lord encountered him.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Micah 5:2; Mark 2:1–12; John 20:24–29; Jude 5

APPLICATION

Other religions might say they respect Christ for being a good prophet or
moral teacher, but Scripture will not allow us to stop there. Jesus is also
truly God and worthy of our worship. To be a servant of Christ is to
worship Christ as the incarnate Creator. Let us share the truth of His deity
with those who claim to respect our Savior.
 DAY 20

THE HUMAN NATURE OF CHRIST

MATTHEW 21:18 “IN THE MORNING, AS HE WAS RETURNING TO THE CITY, HE
BECAME HUNGRY.”

During the earliest centuries of church history, much of the theological

debate centered around the identity of Jesus. Was He merely human? Was
He God? Was He both? Was He neither? Over time, sustained reflection on
the Apostolic testimony of the New Testament led the church to affirm
Christ’s true deity. But the church fathers also confessed Christ’s true
humanity. The essentials of this teaching on the person of Christ were
codified at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, and the confession
produced by this council was adopted by the Protestant Reformers.
The Definition of Chalcedon says that in the one person of Christ are
united a true human nature and a true divine nature without confusion,
mixture, division, or separation. In other words, when the Son of God, who
from all eternity possessed the divine nature, added to Himself a human
nature, each nature retained its own attributes. The divine nature did not
become human and the human nature did not become divine. Neither were
the natures mixed together such that Christ was a strange human-divine
hybrid, neither truly human nor truly divine. No, Christ was and remains the
God-man. This is a mystery we cannot fully comprehend, but we must
affirm it. If Christ is not truly human, He cannot atone for our sin, for only a
human being can atone for the sin of other human beings. If Christ is not
truly God, the atonement He offers does not have sufficient value to be
applied to all the elect. If Christ is not the God-man, there is no salvation.
 Many passages of Scripture teach the true humanity of Jesus. For
example, today’s passage describes the hunger of Jesus (Matt. 21:18). The
ability to get hungry is an attribute of Christ’s human nature, for God has no
need of anything, even food. Similarly, Christ’s growing weary and sleeping
also reveal His human nature, for God neither slumbers nor sleeps (Mark
4:38; see Ps. 121:4). At a few points in His ministry, Christ also expressed
ignorance of certain things (Matt. 24:36). Again, that is a revelation of
Christ’s humanity, for God is omniscient, and in His divine nature Christ is
omniscient as well.
Importantly, Christ’s humanity enabled Him to be tempted. Because He
became like us in all respects except for sin, our Lord could be tempted as a
man, and so He can help us when we are tempted (Heb. 2:17–18). He is not
far removed from what we face, but having walked through it Himself, He
can give us what we need to fight against sin.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Luke 24:36–43; John 11:35; Philippians 2:5–11; 2 John 7

APPLICATION

Christ is our Lord, but He is not a master who is unapproachable or who

does not understand us. Having taken on our flesh, He is able to sympathize
with us and He knows what we need for strength in our weakness. Let us
not be afraid to run to Him when we are being tempted or to rest in His
strength. He can sustain us in all things no matter how difficult they
become.
 DAY 21

JESUS THE LAST ADAM

1 CORINTHIANS 15:45 “IT IS WRITTEN, ‘THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A
LIVING BEING’; THE LAST ADAM BECAME A LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT.”

When we describe human beings, we can separate people into different

categories. We can categorize people according to sex: male or female. We
can separate them by country of origin: Russian, Chinese, Indian, Kenyan,
British, American, Colombian, and so on. We can divide them by age:
children, teenagers, adults. There are seemingly countless ways that we
have devised to group individuals.
Yet with respect to our standing before God, the Apostle Paul knows of
only two groupings: people who are in Adam and people who are in Christ.
These groups are represented by different federal heads: Adam and Christ,
respectively. To put it simply, that means that whatever the federal head
does, the people who are in him share the consequences.
Those who are in Adam are reckoned guilty of his sin. Moreover, they
also receive a corrupted moral and spiritual nature that inclines them to hide
from God and His ways, as Adam did after his fall (Rom. 5:12–21; see Gen.
3). Those who are in Adam also receive a corrupted physical nature; their
bodies decay and eventually die. “In Adam all die,” Paul explains (1 Cor.
15:22).
All who are ordinary descendants of Adam are in Adam until by
regeneration, faith, and repentance they move from being in Adam to being
in Christ (Rom. 5:12–21; 1 Cor. 1:28–30). If we are in Christ by faith alone,
we receive forgiveness of sin and our Lord’s perfect righteousness, by
which we are accepted by God (Rom. 3:21–26). We also receive a new
heart—our moral nature is being renewed such that we more and more die
to sin and live to righteousness (Rom. 6:11). But in Christ we will even
receive a renewed physical nature. At the resurrection our bodies “will be
raised imperishable” (1 Cor. 15:52).
In sum, those who are in Christ will get back what they lost in Adam,
but more accurately, what we will get back will be better than what we lost.
As John Calvin comments, “[Adam] by his fall ruined himself and those
that were his, because he drew them all, along with himself, into the same
ruin: Christ came to restore our nature from ruin, and raise it up to a better
condition than ever.” Christ can do this because He is the last Adam, the
federal head whom God appointed in His mercy to stand in for us so that we
will become the glorified saints God intends us to be (1 Cor. 15:45).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 3:15; Matthew 4:1–11; Luke 3:23–38; Romans 8:31–39

APPLICATION

Christ came not merely to restore us to what we were before Adam’s fall
but to give us something better. As the last Adam, Christ restores what was
lost and guarantees that we will never lose it again. He gives us His perfect
righteousness and is now conforming us into His image. If we are in Christ,
we should be thankful daily for all that Christ has brought back to us as the
last Adam.
 DAY 22

JESUS THE TRUE ISRAEL

HOSEA 11:1 “WHEN ISRAEL WAS A CHILD, I LOVED HIM, AND OUT OF EGYPT
I CALLED MY SON.”

Hosea the prophet ministered during the eighth century BC and focused
his attention primarily on the northern kingdom of Israel. During the early
part of Hosea’s ministry, Jeroboam II ruled over Israel and the northern
kingdom enjoyed a good deal of prosperity. But spiritually and morally, the
Israelites were bankrupt, having fallen into idolatry that would ultimately
cause God to drive them out of their land in 722 BC.
The people were in a sad condition indeed, and part of what made it so
tragic was that the people had failed to be what God called them to be—a
royal priesthood and a light for the nations (Ex. 19:5–6; Isa. 42:6). This
failure occurred despite God’s having graciously adopted Israel as His son,
as Hosea 11:1 indicates. Israel was not true to its filial identity and was
finally cast out of the land. But Hosea also saw that God’s anger against His
people would not last forever; He would provide a renewed Israel who
would serve the Lord faithfully (vv. 2–12; see 2:14–23).
That hope for a new Israel—a true Israel that would embody all that
God called Israel to be—persisted across the centuries into the New
Testament era. This hope was finally fulfilled in the incarnation of God’s
true Son by nature, Jesus Christ. Matthew tells us that Jesus fulfills Hosea
11 (Matt. 2:13–15). He is the true Israel, the faithful Israel who succeeds
where old covenant Israel failed. Like ancient Israel, He came up out of
Egypt, passed through the waters, and was tested in the wilderness (2:13–
15; 3:13–4:11; see Ex. 12:40–42; 14:1–31; 16:4). Unlike old covenant
Israel, however, Jesus passed the test. He is therefore worthy to be called
God’s Son because of who He is in His deity and because of what He
accomplished in His humanity.
The good news of the gospel tells us that we can be the true Israel of
God as well. If we are in Christ, we share in the privileges and relationship
He enjoys as God’s true Son. We are not sons of God by nature; rather, we
are sons of God by adoption, His beloved children in Christ. As such, we
inherit all the promises given to old covenant Israel. Those promises of God
that Israel would rule over her enemies and enjoy abundant covenant
blessings (for example, Isa. 14:1–2)—those promises are for all of God’s
people, the true Israel of God consisting of Jews and gentiles who are
united to Christ by faith alone. In Him we are the true Israel of God, heirs
of the glorious destiny promised to God’s old covenant people (Zeph. 3:14–
20).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 44:21–23; Jeremiah 30; Nahum 2:2; Romans 11

APPLICATION

Ultimately, the Israel of God is not an ethnic designation but a spiritual one.
God’s covenant people includes all those who put their faith in the true
fulfillment of Israel, Jesus our Lord. Together, Jews and gentiles united to
Christ have a common and exalted end. Let us rejoice in our status as the
Israel of God and work to break down needless divisions in the body of
Christ. God’s people are one Israel in the Savior.
 DAY 23

JESUS THE MESSIAH

ISAIAH 45:1–13 “THUS SAYS THE LORD TO HIS ANOINTED, TO CYRUS, WHOSE
RIGHT HAND I HAVE GRASPED, TO SUBDUE NATIONS BEFORE HIM AND TO
LOOSE THE BELTS OF KINGS, TO OPEN DOORS BEFORE HIM THAT GATES MAY
NOT BE CLOSED” (V. 1).

Biblical Christianity emphasizes the principle of solus Christus, that

Christ alone saves His people for the sake of His glory, which is the glory
of the triune Godhead. Thus, people who are truly Christian never tire of
hearing about who Christ is and what He has done in salvation. And one of
the best ways to understand the person and work of Christ is to consider one
of His chief titles, Messiah.
“Messiah” is the English translation of the Hebrew word mashiach,
which means “anointed one.” The Hebrew word for Messiah comes into the
Greek as christos, from which we get the English word Christ. So, when we
speak of Jesus Christ, we are actually speaking of Jesus the Anointed One
or Jesus the Messiah.
We will see in coming days that the title Messiah points to the threefold
office of Jesus as our Prophet, Priest, and King. Today we will consider one
of the most important appearances of the title in Scripture. Interestingly, the
title “messiah” in Scripture is applied to the Persian King Cyrus, for Isaiah
45:1 refers to Cyrus as God’s “anointed,” as God’s messiah.
Cyrus is celebrated in Scripture because he conquered the Babylonian
Empire and issued the decree that allowed the Jews to leave exile and go
back to the promised land in 538 BC (2 Chron. 36:22–23). For that reason,
the concept of the messianic office includes the work of deliverance as a
primary focus. God, through Cyrus, delivered His people from captivity in
Babylon and by that deliverance announced to the world that He—Yahweh,
the Lord of Israel—is the only God and the only source of salvation (Isa.
45:22–23). Cyrus, though he did not know the Lord, was God’s instrument
for rescuing His people and revealing to the world that He alone is God, the
Sovereign over all creation (vv. 5–7).
If this was true for Cyrus, how much more is it true for Jesus? Jesus is
the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, and like Cyrus, He was
commissioned to deliver God’s people. Unlike Cyrus, however, Jesus knew
the one true God; in fact, Jesus is the incarnation of the one true God. The
deliverance Jesus brings, therefore, is far greater. It is a deliverance that
rescues us from estrangement from God. It is a deliverance that frees us
from the root cause of all discord—namely, sin. Jesus is the Christ, the One
in whom God directly acts to save us from our wickedness (Matt. 1:21;
Luke 2:11).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 3:7–8; Psalm 2; Matthew 26:6–13; Acts 18:24–28

APPLICATION

In his lecture on Isaiah 45, Martin Luther draws another parallel between
Jesus and Cyrus: “Just as Cyrus would by his power and his expense set
them free, so Christ would redeem us by His Word and grace, without cost.”
Luther affirms that there is no cost that we pay for our salvation, for Jesus
paid it all. Because God’s deliverance through Christ is perfect, there is no
price we pay for eternal life. All we must do is believe in Jesus and we will
be saved.
 DAY 24

JESUS THE ONLY SAVIOR

JOHN 1:43–51 “JESUS SAW NATHANAEL COMING TOWARD HIM AND SAID OF
HIM, ‘BEHOLD, AN ISRAELITE INDEED, IN WHOM THERE IS NO DECEIT!’
NATHANAEL SAID TO HIM, ‘HOW DO YOU KNOW ME?’ JESUS ANSWERED HIM,
‘BEFORE PHILIP CALLED YOU, WHEN YOU WERE UNDER THE FIG TREE, I SAW
YOU.’ NATHANAEL ANSWERED HIM, ‘RABBI, YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD! YOU
ARE THE KING OF ISRAEL!’ ” (VV. 47–49).

We have been covering the person and work of Christ in our focus on the
biblical, Reformation principle of solus Christus—Christ alone. Studying
the encounters Jesus had with people also helps us understand who our
Lord is and what He has done.
Among the most striking realities of the modern West is the deep
feeling of alienation that people experience. Because of technology, we are
more connected to one another than ever before. Yet at the same time, we
seem more disconnected from one another than we ever have been. Many of
us do not know our neighbors. We experience an emotional separation
between each other as individuals but also between us and our society, our
occupations, and our purpose.
Scripture explains why this sense of alienation exists, telling us that it is
rooted in our separation and estrangement from our Creator. Having broken
God’s law in Adam, sinners find themselves hiding from God and blaming
one another for their predicament (Gen. 3:1–13). Our alienation on the
human level can be remedied only by reconciliation between us and God, so
it is understandable that the Old Testament contains many accounts of joy
and celebration when people found access to the presence of God. For
example, several psalms extol the beauty and joy that people found when
they went up to worship God in the Jerusalem temple (Pss. 26:8; 27:4).
Consider also the joy that Jacob expressed when he met the Lord in the
wilderness and had his vision of a ladder (Gen. 28:10–22). This ladder, on
which angels ascended and descended, connected the earth to heaven,
providing a means of access to God’s presence.
Jesus references this story in His meeting with Nathanael, as recorded in
John 1:43–51. Nathanael is certainly correct that Jesus’ knowledge of his
location before meeting him was amazing, but Jesus says that the greater
sign will be when Nathanael sees angels ascending and descending on the
Son of Man (vv. 48–51). Our Lord’s message is clear—He alone is the
means of access to God’s presence. He is Jacob’s ladder.
That Jesus is the only way to heaven is not popular in our pluralistic and
relativistic society, but we profess that He alone can reconcile us to our
Creator not on our authority but on the authority of Christ. We must never
compromise on the fact that Jesus alone is the way, the truth, and the life
(14:6).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Leviticus 16; Ezekiel 43:1–9; Mark 15:33–39; Hebrews 10:19–22

APPLICATION

Human beings try to ascend to heaven in various ways, always relying on

their own merit for entry into eternal life. But there is no other way to God
than through Jesus. We cannot enter heaven on our own merit; neither will
Muhammad, Buddha, Krishna, or any other figure take us there. If we do
not tell other people that Jesus is the only way to God, we are not truly
loving them.
 DAY 25

OBEDIENCE IN CHILDHOOD
LUKE 2:52 “AND JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND IN STATURE AND IN
FAVOR WITH GOD AND MAN.”

As we continue to focus on the person and work of Christ, it is time to

consider the obedience of Christ and its role in our salvation. As the
Protestant Reformers noted again and again, there is no salvation for God’s
people apart from Christ’s obedience during His earthly ministry. In fact, as
we will see when we cover the doctrine of justification, the obedience of
Christ is the only ground of our being declared righteous in God’s sight.
Only His perfect obedience grants us citizenship in the kingdom of God.
As a helpful summary of biblical, Reformation doctrine, the
Westminster Confession of Faith in several places emphasizes the role of
Christ’s obedience in salvation. In 8.5, for instance, the confession states,
“The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which
He, through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied
the justice of His Father; and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an
everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the
Father hath given unto Him.” This statement refers to what theologians
have traditionally identified as the active and passive obedience of Christ.
The active obedience of Christ refers to His keeping the law of God in our
behalf, obeying every statute the Lord gave to humanity. Christ’s passive
obedience, on the other hand, refers to the suffering and death by which He
paid the penalty for the sins of His people. His active and passive obedience
are equally necessary—Christ’s passive obedience discharges the debt our
transgressions have incurred, and His active obedience gives us the positive
status of covenant keepers so we can inherit eternal life.
Our Savior’s active obedience can give us this positive status before
God because it is perfect. Jesus never failed to do what His Father
commanded Him to do, and He never did anything contrary to the will of
His Father. No one could convict Him of sin (John 8:46). Consequently,
Christ’s obedience encompasses His entire life. From birth until death,
Jesus always followed the Lord’s will.
Today’s passage points us to the obedience Christ rendered as a child
and teenager as He grew to maturity. Though as the Son of God He was
always pleasing to His Father, as the incarnate Lord He grew in favor with
God as a man. The Father’s favor for His Son as the Messiah who does
what we should have done in keeping the law never declined or reached a
standstill (Luke 2:52). Even as a young man, He was doing what was
necessary for our salvation.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Proverbs 13:1; John 4:34

APPLICATION

From His first breath to His last, our Savior was committed to doing what
was necessary for our salvation. He resolved always to obey His Father and
never failed. Such commitment encourages us to trust Him with all that we
have and are. If He is so committed to our salvation, we know that we are
safe in His hands no matter what may come our way.
 DAY 26

OBEDIENCE IN BAPTISM
MATTHEW 3:13–15 “JESUS CAME FROM GALILEE TO THE JORDAN TO JOHN, TO
BE BAPTIZED BY HIM. JOHN WOULD HAVE PREVENTED HIM, SAYING, ‘I NEED
TO BE BAPTIZED BY YOU, AND DO YOU COME TO ME?’ BUT JESUS ANSWERED
HIM, ‘LET IT BE SO NOW, FOR THUS IT IS FITTING FOR US TO FULFILL
ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS.’ ”

Jesus, if He was to save His people from their sin, had to render perfect
obedience to God. We find this truth in passages such as Hebrews 5:8–9,
where the author says that Christ was made perfect and the source of eternal
salvation because He learned obedience. In other words, Jesus qualified
Himself to be the Savior by flawlessly obeying all of God’s commands. He
had to render perfect obedience as a man in order for men and women to be
righteous in Him before the Father.
Christ rendered obedience to His Father by keeping every statute given
to Israel. This included more than just the Mosaic law, for later in the
history of the Jews, God sent John the Baptist to command His people to
repent and be baptized (Luke 1:5–17; 3:1–6). Thus we have the context for
understanding the words of Jesus in Matthew 3:15 that He had to be
baptized by John “to fulfill all righteousness.” As Dr. R.C. Sproul has often
said, by submitting to John’s baptism, Jesus kept that additional command
given to the Jews and thus could stand before God having done all that God
had commanded His people to do. Of course, Jesus’ baptism, while a
fulfillment of God’s command, was not precisely the same as the baptism
that the other Jews received. John pointed out that Jesus had no inherent
need for baptism, and Jesus did not correct him (vv. 13–14). In other words,
John knew that Jesus did not need to repent because He had no sin.
Nevertheless, it was necessary for Jesus to be baptized, so Jesus went
through the rite in preparation for His ministry though not as part of
repentance, for He had no transgressions for which to repent.
Additionally, Christ’s obedience to God in being baptized is one of the
earliest examples we have of Jesus’ identifying Himself with His people.
Many commentators over the years have pointed out that by being baptized
with His people, Jesus showed His solidarity with them. In His baptism,
Jesus became like those He came to save, taking on their duties. There are
echoes of substitution here, of Jesus’ placing Himself in the stead of those
He came to save. This motif of substitution, of course, becomes more
prominent throughout Christ’s ministry, and it reaches its ultimate
fulfillment on the cross where He dies as a ransom for many, as the atoning
sacrifice who takes the place of His people under divine judgment (Matt.
20:28; Mark 15:34; John 11:49–52). But at His baptism, Jesus began His
journey as our substitute in earnest.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Leviticus 18:5; Matthew 5:17–18; Mark 1:9–11; Galatians 4:4–5

APPLICATION

We are called to obey every command God has given us, but our obedience
does not secure our salvation. Only the obedience of Christ can do that. Our
obedience is a reflection of whether we are grateful for our Lord’s obeying
God perfectly in our place. When we fail to obey, we are not showing
gratitude for what Christ has done, so let us seek to obey God so that we
may properly express thankfulness to our Savior.
 DAY 27

OBEDIENCE IN TEMPTATION
LUKE 4:1–13 “JESUS, FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, RETURNED FROM THE
JORDAN AND WAS LED BY THE SPIRIT IN THE WILDERNESS FOR FORTY DAYS,
BEING TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL” (VV. 1–2A).

From the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly life, He never failed to obey His
Father and thus He qualified Himself to be our High Priest (Heb. 5:8–10).
All His days, Jesus kept the commandments of God, yet there are particular
episodes of obedience in His life that are especially instructive for us. One
of the most important of these is the temptation of our Lord by Satan.
Paul tells us explicitly that Christ is the new Adam (Rom. 5:12–21), the
progenitor of a new humanity that will love and serve the Creator. He tells
us directly that to be in Christ is to be in the last Adam and to be part of His
redeemed people who will be all that God intended humanity to be. But
other New Testament authors teach us this concept as well, though they do
so indirectly. By focusing much attention on the temptation of Jesus in the
wilderness, the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—teach us
that Jesus is the last Adam. By telling the temptation story, they make this
point more implicitly than Paul does, but they make it just the same.
Just consider this: What was the fundamental temptation that Adam
faced in the garden of Eden? It was whether he was going to trust God and
live by His Word even when the alternative offered by Satan—to become as
God—might seem better on the surface. The devil tempted Jesus in a
similar way. After forty days of no food and living in a harsh wilderness,
the temptations Satan offered to turn stones to bread and to rule in comfort
over all the world’s kingdoms certainly would have looked appealing to
most people. But Jesus chose to trust God and live by His Word, and so He
resisted Satan successfully (Luke 4:1–13).
Satan tempted Adam by twisting what God had said, not correcting Eve
when she added to what the Lord had told her (Gen. 3:1–6). In a similar
way, the devil tempted Jesus, quoting Scripture selectively and not
balancing it with the rest of the Old Testament’s teachings on subjects such
as putting God to the test, true worship, and how the Lord sustains His
people. And how did Jesus defeat Satan? By knowing God’s Word in all its
fullness and not setting one portion against another (Luke 4:1–13). He
interpreted Scripture by Scripture, thus knowing and using Scripture’s true
meaning against the enemy.
By overcoming Satan’s temptation, Jesus succeeded where Adam failed
in Eden, and our salvation was made possible. (It was actualized in Christ’s
death and resurrection.) He also gave an example for us. To resist
temptation, we must know and live by God’s Word.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Proverbs 1:10; Matthew 4:1–11; Hebrews 4:15; James 1:13

APPLICATION

As we grow in our knowledge of and love for God’s Word, we grow in our
ability to recognize the sin in our own hearts and to identify temptation
when it confronts us. Growing in God’s Word also shows us God’s glory,
convincing us that He is better than anything sin has to offer. If we want to
grow stronger against sin, we must grow in our understanding of God’s
Word.
 DAY 28

OBEDIENCE UNDER THE LAW

GALATIANS 4:4–5 “WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME HAD COME, GOD SENT FORTH
HIS SON, BORN OF WOMAN, BORN UNDER THE LAW, TO REDEEM THOSE WHO
WERE UNDER THE LAW, SO THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE ADOPTION AS SONS.”

Dr. J. Gresham Machen, the renowned defender of biblical orthodoxy in

early twentieth-century Presbyterianism, sent a telegram just before his
death that read: “I’m so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No
hope without it.” Machen’s message indicates that we need both the death
of Christ and His life of obedience to save us. It is not enough for our sins
to be removed by the atonement; we also need a positive record of
righteousness, obedience that fulfills the demands that God gave mankind
to take dominion over the world for His glory (Gen. 1:26–28).
The recognition of our need for Christ’s active obedience to God goes
back through the Protestant Reformation to the Apostles. As we see in
today’s passage, Christ was born “under the law” to redeem those who are
“under the law” (Gal. 4:4–5). But what does it mean to be under the law? In
effect, it means to be obligated to keep the law perfectly in order to enjoy a
right standing before God. By being born under the law, our Savior
consented to fulfill its demands so that we can be released from its death
sentence against those who do not obey it perfectly. John Calvin comments,
“Christ chose to become liable to keep the law, that exemption from it
might be obtained for us.”
We must be careful here. Paul is thinking primarily of the Mosaic law in
Galatians 4:4–5, but we are not to understand the Mosaic covenant as a
covenant of works given to sinners wherein they were expected to earn their
righteousness before God. Remember that God gave the Mosaic law after
redeeming His people. For sinners, grace precedes law, and seeking to be
faithful to the law is how sinners thank God for His grace. Nevertheless, the
law promises life to those who keep it perfectly (Lev. 18:5). Those who do
it perfectly will be justified (Rom. 2:13). But sinners cannot keep the law
with the perfection God demands, and recognizing this, God included in the
law the gracious provision of sacrifices to atone for sin.
Yet none of this means that God could simply set aside His demands. In
Adam we failed to please the Lord, and a just God cannot simply set His
commands aside. His justice demands that His law be kept. In substance,
the moral commands given to Adam are found in the Mosaic law, and by
keeping these commands, our Savior did what we never could. By coming
under the law and living a perfect life, He kept God’s demands on our
behalf. His record of perfect law keeping is now ours by faith alone in Him
(1 Cor. 1:30–31).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 53:9; Romans 10:4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:2–11

APPLICATION

If we are in Christ, we are redeemed from the law and are “not under the
law, as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified, or condemned”
(Westminster Confession of Faith 19.6). We are now liberated to use the
law according to the purpose for which God gave it to redeemed people—as
a guide to holiness. We seek to obey the law not to save ourselves but to
manifest the holy character that God seeks from His redeemed children.
 DAY 29

OBEDIENCE IN SUFFERING
HEBREWS 5:8–10 “ALTHOUGH HE WAS A SON, HE LEARNED OBEDIENCE THROUGH
WHAT HE SUFFERED” (V. 8).

Reformed Protestantism has for centuries taught that Christ’s obedience

throughout the entire course of His earthly life was necessary for our
salvation. Our Lord’s active keeping of God’s commandments was
necessary so that Christ could be our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). But in
addition to Jesus’ active obedience, we also need His passive obedience,
His suffering the curse of God so that we could be cleansed of our sin
(Rom. 3:21–26).
As we consider the passive obedience of Christ, we must remember that
it does not mean that our Lord was merely a passive recipient of suffering in
His death. Yes, He suffered because other men beat Him and crucified Him,
but Christ was active even in this. He gave Himself over to sinful men so
that He could die in our place (Mark 15:16–20). He willingly laid down His
life; no one took it from Him (John 10:18).
All the suffering Christ endured from birth until death falls under the
category of passive obedience, but in particular we are talking about the
suffering Jesus endured in His crucifixion when we are considering His
passive obedience. Today’s passage refers to this suffering, noting that by
this suffering Christ learned obedience (Heb. 5:8).
The phrase “learned obedience” is interesting and might strike us as
odd. After all, Jesus is God incarnate (John 1:1–18), and certainly God does
not grow in His knowledge. But remember that Jesus is also truly man and
can grow in knowledge according to His human nature though not
according to His divine nature. The seventeenth-century Reformed
theologian John Owen comments that by “learned obedience,” the author of
Hebrews means that Jesus came to understand suffering by experiencing it
Himself. By walking through suffering as a man, Jesus has shared the
human condition of suffering and can now help us when we suffer.
Yet in His suffering, Christ also experienced something that we will
never know. Owen notes that there is something “peculiar in that obedience
which the Son of God is said to learn from his own sufferings, namely, what
it is for a sinless person to suffer for sinners.” In some ways, the sufferings
of Christ are analogous to ours, but in other ways, they are unique to Him in
His role as our Mediator. In fact, it was through obeying God and
experiencing the curse of suffering that our sin deserves that Jesus was
made perfect as our High Priest. By offering Himself as our atonement,
Christ fulfilled His appointed task and became “the source of eternal
salvation” (Heb. 5:9–10).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 39; Isaiah 53; Mark 8:31; 1 Peter 2:18–25

APPLICATION

The suffering that Christ endured at the hands of other men was unjust, and
yet He endured it. Although there are times when we are called to fight
back against unjust suffering, there are times when we are to endure it for
the sake of gospel witness. Discerning what we should do in a given
situation is difficult, so let us be in constant prayer that God would give us
discernment for when and when not to submit to suffering.
 DAY 30

CHRIST OUR PROPHET

JOHN 4:19 “THE WOMAN SAID TO [JESUS], ‘SIR, I PERCEIVE THAT YOU ARE
A PROPHET.’”

With the affirmation of solus Christus—Christ alone—the Protestant

Reformers were calling for the church to return to the bedrock Christian
conviction that Jesus is sufficient for salvation. The church, the sacraments,
and other things are important, even essential, for Christian living, but in
themselves they do not save. It is Christ who saves, and His work of
salvation is sufficient for us because of the perfection of His person and
work.
One of the common ways that the Reformers conceptualized the person
and work of our Savior was under the rubric of Christ’s threefold office as
our Prophet, Priest, and King. Today we will consider Christ as our Prophet.
Any study of the Gospels will show us that Jesus was considered a prophet
during His lifetime. For example, the woman to whom Christ talked at the
well in Samaria confessed that Jesus was a prophet, and Jesus did not
correct her (John 4:19). He accepted the designation because He fulfills the
prophetic office.
Question and answer 24 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism fleshes
this out by explaining that Christ is our Prophet because He reveals “to us,
by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.” Jesus reveals to
us the way to the Father, pointing to Himself as the only avenue through
whom we can be reconciled to God (John 14:6). In fact, Jesus not only
gives us the words of God but is the very Word of God, the incarnation of
God’s salvation (1:1–18).
 When we refer to Christ as our Prophet, we are not referring only to
what He taught during His earthly ministry. All of God’s Word, from
Genesis to Revelation, is the result of Christ’s executing His office of
Prophet. Yes, the Holy Spirit comes to the fore particularly when we are
discussing the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures (see 2 Peter 1:21), but the
Spirit was not working by Himself in revealing God’s will to God’s people.
As the Father, Spirit, and Son are perfectly united and share one essence
(Matt. 28:18–20), the words that the Spirit gave are no less the words of the
Father and the Son. Jesus, therefore, speaks to us in every word of the
Bible.
That Christ is the Prophet sent by God points to the perfection of His
teaching. John Calvin writes, “The purpose of this prophetical dignity in
Christ is to teach us, that in the doctrine which he delivered is substantially
included a wisdom which is perfect in all its parts” (Institutes 2.15.2). His
Word never fails to save those whom He wants it to save (Isa. 55:10–11).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 18:15–22; Amos 3:7; Matthew 21:11; Hebrews 1:1–4

APPLICATION

History is filled with false prophets who deceived many people but were
ultimately proven not to have a word from God. Christ, however, is the true
Prophet whose Word is absolutely trustworthy and whose Word never fails
to accomplish His purposes for it. He executes His prophetic ministry today
through His inscripturated Word, and if we want to know God’s will for us,
we must be committed to studying the Scriptures.
 DAY 31

CHRIST OUR PRIEST

HEBREWS 2:17 “[CHRIST] HAD TO BE MADE LIKE HIS BROTHERS IN EVERY
RESPECT, SO THAT HE MIGHT BECOME A MERCIFUL AND FAITHFUL HIGH
PRIEST IN THE SERVICE OF GOD, TO MAKE PROPITIATION FOR THE SINS OF
THE PEOPLE.”

Under the old covenant, the priests represented the people before God,
bringing sacrifices on their behalf to cover their sin and cleanse the temple
and tabernacle. The most important work of the priesthood occurred on the
annual Day of Atonement, when Israel’s high priest took the blood of the
sacrifice into the Holy of Holies to atone for the nation’s sins (Lev. 16).
That annual cleansing by the intermediary who represented the people was
necessary to maintain the covenant relationship between the Lord and the
Israelites.
By the time of the Reformation, there was much focus on the church’s
priests as intermediaries between the people and God who offered up a
sacrifice of atonement in the Eucharist (the Lord’s Supper) at each Mass.
The Reformers objected strongly, for they rightly saw that a continuing
priesthood that propitiated (turned away) the wrath of God through the
ongoing sacrifice of the Mass was a repudiation of Christ’s office as our
High Priest. As we see in today’s passage and many other texts in the book
of Hebrews, there is only one priest and intermediary between the people
and God—Christ Jesus our Lord (Heb. 2:17).
The Westminster Shorter Catechism explains that “Christ executeth the
office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy
divine justice, and reconcile us to God; and in making continual
intercession for us” (WSC 25). Here we see that our Lord’s priestly work
includes both His effectual never-to-be-repeated sacrifice for our sin and
His effectual intercession on our behalf.
When we speak of Jesus as our Priest or High Priest, we are referring
first to the perfection of His sacrifice. Old covenant priests repeated their
sacrifices again and again because the blood of bulls and goats cannot truly
atone for the sin of human beings. Only a human being can atone for other
human beings, so a man had to die if true atonement was ever to be made.
Christ Jesus offered this perfect atonement, suffering and dying as a man to
cover our sin. The perfection of His atonement means it cannot and need
not be repeated, and any attempt to do so calls into question the sufficiency
of His work (Heb. 9–10).
Christ is our all-sufficient Savior because He is our Priest. Not only
does He offer the true atonement for our sin, but He also ever lives to
intercede for us (7:25). It is good news indeed that Christ prays for His
people, for it means that He cannot fail to save His elect. Being the Son of
God, He knows how to intercede for us before His Father perfectly such
that none of His own will ever be lost.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Numbers 11:1–3; 1 Samuel 12:19–25; Mark 14:22–25; John 17

APPLICATION

We find it difficult to know how to pray for ourselves, but Christ does not
have that problem. He prays for us perfectly before His Father such that if
we trust in Him, we cannot fail to persevere in faith. Our perseverance
ultimately depends on Christ’s faithful prayers for us. If you are
discouraged this day, know that if you trust in Jesus Christ, He is praying
perfectly for you right at this very moment.
 DAY 32

CHRIST OUR KING

REVELATION 17:14 “THEY WILL MAKE WAR ON THE LAMB, AND THE LAMB WILL
CONQUER THEM, FOR HE IS LORD OF LORDS AND KING OF KINGS, AND THOSE
WITH HIM ARE CALLED AND CHOSEN AND FAITHFUL.”

News of war in foreign lands appears on our television screens every

night. Online, we are informed of the latest political scandal and the
opposition’s jockeying to take advantage of it. In the newspapers, the
headlines warn of impending economic doom or the spread of some deadly
disease. Our fallen world can be a scary place, and there seems to be no end
to the bad news headed our way.
Such problems make us long for a wise king, do they not? They make
us hope for one who can address the root causes of these issues, defeat our
enemies, and protect us from every danger. The Bible tells us of such a king
—Jesus the Messiah.
In revealing to us the person and work of Christ, Scripture tells us that
Jesus is not only our Prophet and High Priest but also our King. As we see
in today’s passage, Christ is “Lord of lords and King of kings,” and He will
defeat all His foes (Rev. 17:14). This is such an important truth for us to
remember as we live in this fallen world. So often, we experience seeming
defeat in our battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. But the good
news of the gospel tells us that these defeats are only temporary, for Christ
has ascended to the right hand of God the Father and has been given the
name above all names (Acts 2:33; Phil. 2:5–11). He is the omnipotent ruler
of His people, and He cannot fail to bring us the final victory. Hope for the
Christian is never lost, for we serve One who “must reign until he has put
all his enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25), and He will not fail to
conquer them all.
Christ, indeed, is King of His people. But His authority is not only over
His servants in the church. Because He is “King of kings” (Rev. 17:14), He
also sits enthroned over all rulers, which means that their subjects must
ultimately bow to Him. As those who have been commissioned to preach
the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 24:14), our job is to announce the reality
of Christ’s present reign and to call people to bow down to Jesus as the
sovereign over all. And all people will bow down—some willingly, because
He has given them new hearts, and some by force as He compels them to
bend the knee before sending them to eternal judgment (Ps. 2).
“Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in
ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our
enemies” (WSC 26). He subdues our stony hearts and makes us willing
subjects of His kingdom—a kingdom that will never end because He is
conquering all its enemies.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 10:16; Zechariah 9:9; John 12:12–16; Revelation 11:15

APPLICATION

God’s kingdom is a monarchy ruled over by the perfect King who will not
fail to execute justice. Knowing this will sustain us as we face the many
injustices this world has to offer. Christ sees them and He will set them all
right in the end. He calls us to be ambassadors of His kingdom, to proclaim
His reign of justice, warning people that they can enjoy the peace of His
kingdom only if they bow the knee to Him today.
 DAY 33

PENAL SUBSTITUTION
ISAIAH 53 “HE WAS PIERCED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS; HE WAS CRUSHED
FOR OUR INIQUITIES; UPON HIM WAS THE CHASTISEMENT THAT BROUGHT US
PEACE, AND WITH HIS WOUNDS WE ARE HEALED. ALL WE LIKE SHEEP HAVE
GONE ASTRAY; WE HAVE TURNED—EVERY ONE—TO HIS OWN WAY; AND THE LORD
HAS LAID ON HIM THE INIQUITY OF US ALL” (VV. 5–6).

In our consideration of Jesus as our High Priest, we saw that His death is
one of the key aspects of His priestly work. Christ’s death, Hebrews 9:11–
28 explains, was a sacrifice offered “to put away sin.” We cannot
understand the work of Christ unless we understand what happened in our
Lord’s crucifixion.
As we consider the issue of our Lord’s atonement, let us note that
Scripture describes what the crucifixion accomplished in a variety of ways.
For example, the death of Jesus is described as the ransom paid to God to
free us from our bondage to sin and also as the defeat of Satan (Mark 10:45;
Col. 2:13–15). Christ even describes His death as the supreme illustration of
His love for His friends (John 15:13). However, while we should not forget
how the atonement is these things, we must emphasize that the chief reality
of the atonement is that it was a penal substitution.
In penal substitution, the penalty that is due to us for our transgression
is paid by a substitute—namely, Jesus Christ. The principle of penal
substitution undergirds the old covenant sacrificial system. God told Adam
that the penalty for sin was death (Gen. 2:16–17). In the old covenant
sacrifices, the people placed their hands on the sacrificial animals, thereby
identifying with them, and then the animals were put to death (see Lev. 4).
This depicted the transfer of sin and guilt from the sinner to the substitute.
The sinner could live because the animal died in the sinner’s place, bearing
the punishment the sinner deserved.
But since “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away
sins” (Heb. 10:4), the animal sacrifices of the old covenant did not effect
true atonement. They were types and shadows that pointed to the only true
atoning sacrifice, which was offered once for all on Calvary by our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ (vv. 5–18). This final and only effective act of penal
substitution was foreshadowed by the entire old covenant sacrificial system
and explicitly predicted in Isaiah 53. The prophet tells us that God laid on
the Suffering Servant (Christ) our iniquity (Isa. 53:6)—our sin was
transferred to Him in the atonement. He was “pierced” and “crushed for our
iniquities. . . cut off out of the land of the living. . . for the transgression of
[God’s] people” (vv. 5, 8). In other words, Christ endured the punishment
His people deserve in their place. If we trust in Him alone for salvation, we
need not fear eternal death, for Jesus bore our sin on the cross so that we
will not receive everlasting judgment (v. 10; John 3:16).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Leviticus 5:14–19; Jeremiah 33:8; 1 Corinthians 1:4–9; 1 John 4:10

APPLICATION

All people have a sense of guilt for their transgressions no matter how hard
they try to suppress it. The only way to lose the weight of guilt is to have it
removed through atonement. If you have trusted in Christ alone for
salvation, you need not feel guilty before God this day, for He has paid for
your sin. If you have not trusted Christ, your guilt will be removed when
you rest in Him alone.
 DAY 34

PARTICULAR ATONEMENT
JOHN 10:11 “I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD. THE GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN HIS
LIFE FOR THE SHEEP.”

By dying on the cross under the wrath of God that we deserve, Christ
atoned for the sins of His people (Isa. 53). Note the qualifier “His people”
in that sentence. When we discuss the atonement, it is insufficient to talk
about it in general terms. Since penal substitution involves the one person,
Jesus Christ, dying in place of others, we need to understand who those
others are. Christ died intending to save people, but whom did He intend to
save?
Most professing Christians would probably say that Jesus died for
everyone in the world without exception. Yet, a careful reading of Scripture
shows us otherwise. Christ, in fact, atoned only for the sins of His people,
not the sins of every person who has ever lived.
John 10 is a key passage on this subject. Jesus says in verse 11 that He
lays down His life for His sheep. If our Savior did atone for the sins of all
people without exception, then everyone who has ever lived would have to
be His sheep. Yet just a few verses later, Jesus makes reference to those
who are “not among [His] sheep” (v. 26). It turns out that there is a
difference between two groups of people that is significant to our
discussion. Some people are the sheep of Jesus and some are not His sheep.
But our Lord does not claim that He died for those who are not His sheep;
rather, He died for His sheep alone.
In addition to the biblical evidence for Christ’s dying only for His elect,
there are also important logical considerations. Christ in the atonement
bears the punishment for sinners, so God would be unjust to punish in hell
anyone for whom Christ died. If Christ bore the punishment for all sinners
without exception, then either everyone who has ever lived must be in
heaven or those who are in hell are being unjustly punished. (Their crime is
being punished twice—once in Christ and once in them.) Yet we know that
God is perfectly just and that some people go to hell (Deut. 32:4; Rev.
21:8). Christ, therefore, must have died only for those who are actually
saved in the end.
Some have said that Christ died to save all people but that unbelief
keeps some from receiving salvation. Yet, while we must believe in Jesus to
be saved (Mark 16:16; Acts 16:31), unbelief is sin and is therefore also
covered by the atonement. If Christ died for all unbelievers, we are back
either to universalism or to God’s unjustly punishing sin twice. Thus, the
only unbelief for which Jesus atoned is the unbelief of those who finally, by
the work of the Spirit, abandon their unbelief and trust in Him alone for
salvation.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 40:1–2; Ezekiel 16:62–63; Matthew 1:21; 1 John 3:16

APPLICATION

Christ died for all kinds of people; that is what passages telling us that He
made propitiation for the world mean (1 John 2:2). But Jesus did not die for
everyone without exception. God chose a particular people, including men
and women from every tribe and tongue, and Christ died for them
specifically to atone only for their sin. If you believe in Jesus, He had you
particularly in mind when He made atonement for your sin. He loves you in
particular that much.
 DAY 35

CHRIST RESURRECTED
1 CORINTHIANS 15:20–22 “IN FACT CHRIST HAS BEEN RAISED FROM THE
DEAD, THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP. FOR AS BY A
MAN CAME DEATH, BY A MAN HAS COME ALSO THE RESURRECTION OF THE
DEAD. FOR AS IN ADAM ALL DIE, SO ALSO IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE
ALIVE.”

Christ alone saves His people, and we have focused much attention on
how His obedience during His life and atoning death on the cross are
essential for our salvation. One aspect of His work, however, that is easy to
overlook when we are considering how Jesus saves us is His resurrection.
Without our Lord’s resurrection, there would be no salvation.
First, Romans 4:25 tells us that Jesus was “raised for our justification.”
To understand what this means, we have to remember that death was not a
part of God’s original creation but was introduced as part of the punishment
for sin (Gen. 2–3). Jesus could die on the cross only because the sins of
others were imputed to Him, placed on Him so that He could bear the
punishment we deserve (Isa. 53). If Jesus had actually been a sinner
Himself, there could be no salvation, for one sinner cannot atone for
another sinner; an atoning sacrifice must be without blemish (Heb. 7:23–
28). Christ’s resurrection proves that He Himself was not a sinner—in fact,
God’s raising Christ from the dead is His declaration that His Son is
perfectly righteous. Death could not hold Jesus forever because Jesus was
not a sinner Himself, and God’s wrath on our sin was exhausted on the
cross. The Father had to raise His Son from the dead because perfect justice
demands that death cannot hold on to a person when there is no sin present.
Christ had no sin of His own, and there was no sin left to be punished once
Christ’s work on the cross was over. So, Jesus’ resurrection was a necessity.
We know that God accepted Christ’s payment for sin and that Christ is
perfectly righteous because Jesus rose from the dead. Thus, we know that
trusting in Jesus alone will save us. We know that He has a perfect
righteousness with which to clothe us, as is promised in the gospel (2 Cor.
5:21). And because we have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us
through our union with Him by faith alone, we will likewise be resurrected
unto everlasting life (Rom. 6:1–11). So, the second truth about Christ’s
resurrection is that it guarantees our resurrection. That is what Paul tells us
in today’s passage when he refers to Jesus as “the firstfruits of those who
have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20–22). Firstfruits are the initial harvest of a
crop that proves the entire crop will come to maturity and be harvested.
Christ is the firstfruits of the dead—His resurrection with a glorified body
proves that all those who are in Him by faith will be resurrected unto glory
as well.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Job 19:25–27; Daniel 12:1–3; Matthew 27:45–53; John 11:25–26

APPLICATION

We understandably think readily of the cross when we consider the saving

work of Christ because the atonement pays for our transgressions and
cleanses us from sin. But Christ’s resurrection is equally important. Without
His resurrection, Christ’s death would have been no more significant than
the death of any other person. Meditate on the resurrection today and thank
God for how it guarantees your salvation.
 DAY 36

CHRIST ASCENDED
EPHESIANS 4:9–10 “IN SAYING, ‘HE ASCENDED,’ WHAT DOES IT MEAN BUT
THAT HE HAD ALSO DESCENDED INTO THE LOWER REGIONS, THE EARTH? HE
WHO DESCENDED IS THE ONE WHO ALSO ASCENDED FAR ABOVE ALL THE
HEAVENS, THAT HE MIGHT FILL ALL THINGS.”

Jesus lived a perfect life, died an atoning death, and rose from the dead to
save us. But we cannot fully understand the person and work of Christ in
relation to our redemption unless we also consider our Lord’s ascension. As
Peter said at Pentecost, Jesus was “exalted at the right hand of God” after
His resurrection (Acts 2:14–36).
Christ’s ascension benefits us in many ways. First, it marks His formal
assumption of His kingly office. Because the Son humbled Himself, took on
our flesh, and fulfilled His mission, the Father “highly exalted” Him (Phil.
2:5–11). Having eternally enjoyed an authority equal to the Father’s with
respect to His deity, Christ ascended to heaven to execute authority over all
in His humanity as well. The God-man now reigns over all, putting all His
and our enemies under His feet (1 Cor. 15:25).
Paul in today’s passage describes a second way that Christ’s ascension
furthers the good of His people. The Apostle tells us that Jesus ascended
above all the heavens “that he might fill all things” (Eph. 4:9–10). John
Calvin comments on this filling, explaining that “while [Jesus] is removed
from us in bodily presence, he fills all things by the power of his Spirit.”
According to His human nature, Christ is in heaven, for that is where His
human body and soul are present. But through the Holy Spirit, Christ is
present with His people here on earth.
 Calvin continues: “Did [Christ] not fill them before? In his divine
nature, I own, he did; but the power of his Spirit was not so exerted, nor his
presence so manifested, as after he had entered into the possession of his
kingdom.” It is better for us that Jesus is not presently among us in the
flesh. Jesus Himself said, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do
not go away, the Helper will not come to you” (John 16:7). For the Holy
Spirit (the Helper) to fully exercise His ministry among God’s people, Jesus
had to ascend to heaven. His ascension and His sending the Spirit mean we
are in the last days before the renewal of creation (Joel 2:28–32; Acts 2).
Moreover, by His Spirit, we can now fellowship with the whole Christ, in
His deity and in His humanity, for by the Spirit Christ bridges the distance
between us and His physical body in heaven. Christ is omnipresent
according to His divine nature, so He has always been at hand everywhere.
But until Jesus ascended to heaven and sent His Spirit, only the people who
came into direct contact with Him as He ministered in Galilee and in Judea
encountered Him in His humanity. Since His ascension, we can commune
with Christ in His humanity no matter where we live.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 68; Proverbs 30:4; John 3:13; Acts 2:29–36

APPLICATION

The ascension of Christ makes it possible for people all over the world to
commune with Him both in His deity and His humanity. The whole Christ
is present to us so that we can benefit from His humanity even though His
physical body is localized in heaven. Let us fellowship with Him in prayer
today, asking God to conform us to the image of His Son.
SECTION III: SOLA GRATIA

Sola gratia—grace alone—preserves the truth that the Lord God is the only
Savior by stressing that only the favor and actions of God will save His
people. Grace alone tells us not merely that grace is necessary for salvation
but that saving grace never fails to save those to whom it is given. Unlike
the common grace, or God’s general benevolence, that is shown to all
people, salvation by grace alone means that the saving grace of the Lord
comes only to those whom He has chosen to redeem and that it always
brings about the conversion and perseverance in faith of God’s elect.
God’s saving grace is effectual unto salvation. If the Lord wants to save
somebody, that person will not fail to be saved. Though the recipient of
saving grace may resist the Lord for a time, ultimately he will receive
Christ as Savior and Lord, for God gives him a new heart that freely but
inevitably chooses to trust in Jesus.
 DAY 37

GOD’S FIRST COVENANT WITH MANKIND

GENESIS 2:15–17 “THE LORD GOD COMMANDED THE MAN, SAYING, ‘YOU MAY
SURELY EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN, BUT OF THE TREE OF THE
KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL YOU SHALL NOT EAT, FOR IN THE DAY THAT
YOU EAT OF IT YOU SHALL SURELY DIE’ ” (VV. 16–17).

Biblical Christianity stresses the grace of God, the unmerited favor that
He shows to His elect and His initiative to save people from their sin. Yet
we cannot understand His grace apart from His dealings with people in
history. We have to go back to the time before salvation was necessary in
order to know the grace of God.
Today’s passage describes the prohibition found in the first covenant
our Creator made with human beings. In this covenant of works, sometimes
called the covenant of creation or covenant of life, God forbade Adam and
Eve from eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:15–
17). Perfect obedience to this covenant would have confirmed Adam and
Eve in life; they would have been reckoned as righteous before the Lord
and would have inherited eternal life. We know this from the warning of
death attached to breaking this covenant as well as from Romans 5:12–21.
In the Romans passage, Paul draws a parallel between the first Adam and
the last Adam, who is Jesus Christ. He tells us that Christ’s obedience
brings justification (the declaration of righteousness) and eternal life for
those who are in Him (those who believe in Jesus). Given the parallel, we
know that Adam would have secured the same blessings for those who are
in him (all his descendants) if he had been obedient.
That we call the first covenant with Adam the covenant of works does
not mean there is nothing gracious about it. We could say that it was by
grace that the Lord created anything and entered into a relationship with our
first parents. However, the grace that leads to salvation was not a part of the
pre-fall state. We refer to the covenant with Adam as the covenant of works
because human effort was the means by which the blessing was to be
secured. The good deeds of obedience in being fruitful, taking dominion of
the earth, and abstaining from the forbidden tree would have merited eternal
life for Adam and his descendants (Gen. 1:28; 2:15–17). This is unlike the
covenant of grace that is instituted after Adam’s sin, for in that covenant, it
is God’s grace and not our works through which we receive eternal life.
As we know, Adam and Eve broke the covenant of works, plunging
them and all their descendants—save one, Jesus—into sin (ch. 3). Human
nature became corrupted such that all our faculties—mind, body, heart, and
soul—are tainted by sin (Rom. 3:9–18). No sinner can render the kind of
obedience God requires in the covenant of works, so salvation must come
another way—namely, by grace alone.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Hosea 6:7; Romans 5:12–21; 1 Corinthians 15:47–49; 1 Timothy 2:8–15

APPLICATION

Because of Adam’s sin, we are born corrupt and cannot please God apart
from grace. We are wholly dependent on the Lord’s unmerited favor for our
salvation and for any of the good works that we do in gratitude for
salvation. Let us remember our dependence on God’s grace that we would
be moved to great humility and thankfulness.
 DAY 38

COVENANTAL INTERVENTION
GENESIS 3:15 “I WILL PUT ENMITY BETWEEN YOU AND THE WOMAN, AND
BETWEEN YOUR OFFSPRING AND HER OFFSPRING; HE SHALL BRUISE YOUR
HEAD, AND YOU SHALL BRUISE HIS HEEL.”

When Adam and Eve broke the covenant of works, creation was thrown
into upheaval. Pain and futility were introduced into the created order such
that now men and women face great sorrow and hardship as they seek to
fulfill the creational mandates of work and child-rearing (Gen. 3:16–19).
Moreover, human nature was radically corrupted. From our youth, our bent
is not toward fellowship with the Lord as it was before the fall but away
from Him into disobedience (8:21).
The introduction of sin means that without God’s intervention, we
cannot obey our Creator as He commanded. It also means that without the
Lord’s actions, we will not even want to obey our Maker. Thankfully, God
did intervene so that the death He promised Adam for eating the forbidden
fruit would not be eternal for those whom He loves (see 2:15–17).
Furthermore, He engaged in a covenantal intervention, as we see in today’s
passage.
Genesis 3:15 gives us what is traditionally known as the
protoevangelion, the “first gospel.” It is the first revelation of the covenant
of grace. Under the covenant of works, a works principle was instituted
whereby the blessings of the covenant would come about through the
efforts of human beings—by obeying God perfectly, we could gain eternal
life. However, under the covenant of grace, blessings are obtained by a
grace principle that says someone else inherits the blessing of eternal life,
and we share in it not through our good works but through faith alone.
God’s grace to His people under the covenant of grace will produce
obedience in them, but our obedience does not merit eternal life for us (see
Rom. 4; James 2:14–26).
Sin and Satan conspire against human beings to keep us in bondage to
wickedness and not in a right relationship with the Lord. Thus, the first
revelation of the covenant of grace promises the final defeat of our enemies.
In Genesis 3:15, God graciously ordains a war between the offspring of the
woman and the offspring of Satan. The word “offspring” is a collective
singular, meaning that it can refer both to a plurality and to an individual.
Christ is ultimately the seed of the woman, and we see grace in that it is He,
not us, who does the work necessary to defeat the devil. He bruises the
serpent’s head, striking the fatal blow in the war. In Christ, we become the
seed of the woman who share in His victory. God crushes Satan under our
feet because Christ vanquished him on the cross (Rom. 16:20a).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Zechariah 3:1–5; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8b; Revelation 12

APPLICATION

God could have abandoned all people when Adam fell, leaving us totally
under the devil’s domain with no desire to resist him. But the Lord
graciously intervened to give His people the will to resist Satan, and even
better, God pledged to send the Savior to do all the work needed to save us.
Let us thank God for our salvation this day and pray that He would
strengthen us against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
 DAY 39

THE COVENANT OF PRESERVATION

GENESIS 8:20–22 “THE LORD SAID IN HIS HEART, ‘I WILL NEVER AGAIN
CURSE THE GROUND BECAUSE OF MAN, FOR THE INTENTION OF MAN’S HEART
IS EVIL FROM HIS YOUTH. NEITHER WILL I EVER AGAIN STRIKE DOWN EVERY
LIVING CREATURE AS I HAVE DONE. WHILE THE EARTH REMAINS, SEEDTIME
AND HARVEST, COLD AND HEAT, SUMMER AND WINTER, DAY AND NIGHT, SHALL
NOT CEASE’ ” (VV. 21–22).

God’s saving grace was first revealed in history after Adam and Eve
broke the covenant of works. He gave a promise, recorded in Genesis 3:15,
that the offspring or seed of the woman would defeat the devil. Throughout
Christian history, theologians and pastors have seen in this promise a
prediction of Christ, who would vanquish Satan and pay the price to
reconcile sinners to our Creator. Reformation leaders agreed with this
assessment. Martin Luther, for example, commented that Genesis 3:15 tells
us the Son of God “will bruise Satan, utterly.”
Genesis 3:15 is the first revelation of the covenant of grace, and from
that moment in history until the consummation, the covenant of grace and
the covenant of works have continued side by side. God still demands that
people keep the covenant of works, as seen in that He repeats many of the
same commands given to Adam before the fall, giving them to successive
generations who live after the fall (compare, for example, Gen. 1:28 and
9:7). But now, after the fall, we cannot keep God’s law. We are born guilty
and morally unable to obey the Lord perfectly as He demands. What the
covenant of grace actually does is provide a way for someone else—Christ
our Lord—to keep the covenant of works in our place and give us a right
standing before God that leads to eternal life (Rom. 5:12–21; 2 Cor. 5:21).
 It is a covenant of grace because we do not do what is necessary to
merit redemption and because Christ’s righteousness is given freely to all
who believe only in Him for salvation (Eph. 2:8–10). But the fullness of the
covenant of grace was not revealed in total when God cursed Satan (Gen.
3:15). Instead, over time, God elaborated on the promise to defeat the devil.
He entered into several successive covenants, all of which are part of the
covenant of grace, each of which unfolds redemption more clearly. The first
of these is His covenant with Noah after the flood.
God’s covenant with Noah helps us understand that our salvation
happens in and through human history. After all, God promised Noah that
He would never again destroy the earth by a flood. He would preserve a
stable order wherein He would eventually send Christ for our salvation
(8:20–22). The covenant with Noah also underscores that redemption does
not come through the efforts of even the most righteous sinner. Righteous
Noah manifested his sin right after the flood, indicating that someone else
must save us (9:20–21).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 1:14–19; Psalm 104:19; Jeremiah 33:20; Acts 14:17

APPLICATION

How often do we think about the good gift of a stable and predictable
natural order? The consistent rhythm of the seasons, the sun and moon, and
even the weather enables us to make plans, grow crops, and do a host of
other things. Let us thank God for the natural order He has established, and
may we use the stability it offers for the sake of His glory.
 DAY 40

THE COVENANT OF FAITH-

RIGHTEOUSNESS
GENESIS 15 “[ABRAHAM] BELIEVED THE LORD, AND HE COUNTED IT TO HIM AS
RIGHTEOUSNESS” (V. 6).

Every covenant that is a subset of the covenant of grace unfolds for us key
aspects of God’s plan of salvation, which redeems us not through our merit
but through God’s free gift. With Noah we see that the world into which the
Lord finally sent the Savior continues only by gracious preservation. It is
only by grace that the natural order continues, for “the intention of man’s
heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21) and God must be patient, delaying
His final judgment, if the world is to continue and His elect are to be saved.
With Moses we are given the law to show us our failure and drive us to
God’s grace, and we see that obedience follows redemption as the means by
which we show gratitude to the Lord, not as the means to merit redemption.
With David we see that salvation ultimately restores God’s people to their
rule over the earth and that redemption is purchased by the King of kings
who bears their deserved curse.
With Abraham we get the clearest revelation of the means through
which we appropriate the blessings of grace. Today’s passage records the
formal ratification of God’s covenant with Abraham. The patriarch, having
heard that the Lord will give him and Sarah a son even though their
advanced age should make it impossible, believes God’s promise. And we
read that because Abraham believed the Lord, God counted him righteous
(Gen. 15:1–6). The Apostle Paul uses this episode to show us that our
justification—our being declared righteous before God and heirs of eternal
life—comes through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, which we
receive only by faith (Rom. 4). Our faith is not meritorious; it merely
receives the gracious provision of Christ’s perfect righteousness, which is
imputed or placed on our record when we trust in Jesus alone for salvation.
John Calvin writes, “Faith does not justify us for any other reason, than that
it reconciles us unto God; and that it does so, not by its own merit; but
because we receive the grace offered to us in the promises, and have no
doubt of eternal life, being fully persuaded that we are loved by God as
sons.”
Besides revealing the faith-righteousness scheme of justification, the
covenant with Abraham shows that God’s promises to His people cannot
fail. By walking through the pieces of animals as “a smoking fire pot and a
flaming torch,” the Lord tells us that if the covenant is broken, He will be
made like the dead animals (Gen. 15:7–20). But since God cannot change,
He will never be subject to such a fate. And if He will never be subject to
destruction, the promise must be fulfilled.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Chronicles 20:20; Habakkuk 2:4; Luke 18:9–14; Galatians 3

APPLICATION

What is to be our response to the Abrahamic covenant? It is to forsake any

claim to merit that we might think we have and to rest on Christ alone for
salvation. We must continually turn to Jesus in faith, repenting of our sin
and admitting that we have no merit of our own. Let us trust in Christ this
day and exhort others to do so as well.
 DAY 41

THE LAW COVENANT

DEUTERONOMY 5:6 “I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE
LAND OF EGYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF SLAVERY.”

Even God’s covenant with Israel through Moses is part of the covenant of
grace, that overarching covenant between the Lord and His people first
announced in Genesis 3:15 wherein He pledged to defeat sin and Satan,
redeeming us from those enemies. It may seem surprising at first, however,
that the Mosaic covenant is part of the covenant of grace. After all, the New
Testament frequently places grace in opposition to law, and the Mosaic law
is a defining feature of God’s covenant with national Israel through Moses
(Rom. 6:14; Gal. 5:4). In fact, the law is so prominent in the Mosaic
covenant that it would not be inappropriate to call it the law covenant.
Yet when we consider the giving of the law and the task of the law, it
becomes clear that the Mosaic covenant is indeed an essential part of the
covenant of grace. First, let us consider today’s passage, which appears
immediately before the Ten Commandments, which are the heart of the
Mosaic law. In Deuteronomy 5:6, God reminds the people of Israel that He
brought them out of the land of Egypt and the house of slavery. And this
happened before He revealed His covenant law to them. Thus we have an
important pattern that defines God’s relationship to His people even under
the new covenant: salvation precedes obedience. In other words, God does
not first give the law and tell us that our obedience to it will save us.
Instead, He saves us and then gives us the law as the means by which we
show our gratitude for our redemption. Note also that the Lord’s redemption
of Israel was His work alone, which is entirely in keeping with the covenant
of grace. Only God sent the plagues and performed the miracles that
persuaded Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, and only God intervened at the
Red Sea to destroy the Egyptian army (Ex. 4:1–15:21).
The task of the law also shows us that the Mosaic covenant is part of the
covenant of grace. Here we are thinking primarily of the second use of the
law, wherein the law reveals our sin and drives us to Christ. Although God
never intended for sinners to save themselves by doing the law, the law
does promise that those who keep it perfectly will enjoy everlasting life
(Lev. 18:5; see Gal. 3:12; 5:3). But it does not take honest sinners long to
realize how far short they fall of God’s perfect standard. In trying to keep
the law, we see the inadequacy of our obedience. This drives us to look for
another to keep the law in our place, even Jesus Christ, who “is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 24; Deuteronomy 31:16–18; Romans 10:5; Galatians 3:15–29

APPLICATION

Even after we have trusted in Christ, the law continues to show us our need
for Him. If we meditate on God’s commandments, we soon see that we
have not kept any of them with our whole heart, mind, soul, or strength. We
are driven to our knees in repentance before God. Meditate on one of the
Ten Commandments and consider how you have failed to keep it. Then, go
before the Lord in repentance.
 DAY 42

THE KINGLY COVENANT

2 SAMUEL 7:1–17 “MY STEADFAST LOVE WILL NOT DEPART FROM HIM, AS I
TOOK IT FROM SAUL, WHOM I PUT AWAY FROM BEFORE YOU. AND YOUR HOUSE
AND YOUR KINGDOM SHALL BE MADE SURE FOREVER BEFORE ME. YOUR THRONE
SHALL BE ESTABLISHED FOREVER” (VV. 15–16).

God’s covenant of grace, the solution to our having violated His covenant
of works with Adam, is progressively unfolded in Scripture through a
number of subcovenants that reveal different aspects of the Lord’s gracious
dealings with His people. The final subcovenant before the consummation
of the covenant of grace in the new covenant is the Davidic covenant,
which is first described in 2 Samuel 7:1–17.
Divine grace is revealed in God’s covenant with David both in His
establishment and in His maintenance of David’s kingly line. First, 2
Samuel 7:8 refers to how our Creator chose David to be king, taking him
from being a simple shepherd and making him the ruler over Israel. The
reference here is to the history recounted in 1 Samuel 16:1–13, wherein we
read of Samuel’s anointing David to succeed Saul as Israel’s king. We see
God’s grace operating in this account, for David was chosen not for any
outward kingly qualities or political expertise, but because his heart was
devoted to the Lord (v. 7). Of course, in the final analysis, that David had a
heart for God was the Lord’s doing. No less than any other sinner, David
was born with a deceitful heart and had a heart to serve the Creator only
because God gave David a new heart to love Him (Jer. 17:9; Ezek. 36:25–
27).
We also see divine grace in operation in God’s kingly covenant with
David in the Lord’s pledge to maintain the Davidic throne. God did not
persist in loving Saul in a manner that would have kept Israel’s throne in
Saul’s family, but the Lord pledged in the Davidic covenant never to
remove His love from David’s line (2 Sam. 7:15–16). This is an act of
grace, for no ordinary descendant of David could merit the continuation of
kingship. After all, in making a kingly covenant with David, the Lord told
David that He would discipline David’s sons for their sin (v. 14). David’s
line would suffer the consequences for its failures, but God would preserve
the throne in David’s family nonetheless.
In ancient Israel, the king represented his people before God in a special
way. When the king was obedient, Israel was blessed, but when he was
disobedient, the nation suffered (Isa. 36–39). Ultimately, this paved the way
for a unique son of David to bear the consequences of His people’s sins so
that they could enjoy the blessings associated with His perfect obedience.
This final Son of David is also the Son of God—Jesus Christ—who atoned
for the sins of His people so that they could become the righteousness of
God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

1 Chronicles 17; Psalm 89; Luke 1:26–38; Revelation 22:16

APPLICATION

In addition to making His people righteous before God, Jesus, Son of David
and Son of God, also restores to humanity the rule over creation originally
given to us in creation (Gen. 1:26–28). Those who are in Christ by faith will
reign with Him over the universe (2 Tim. 2:12). No matter our present
vocation, we who are in Christ have a glorious destiny as corulers with Him
over creation. Let us praise Him for showing us such grace.
 DAY 43

THE COVENANT OF GRACE FULFILLED

JEREMIAH 31:31–34 “THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE
HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, DECLARES THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY
LAW WITHIN THEM, AND I WILL WRITE IT ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE
THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE” (V. 33).

In our consideration of the Mosaic covenant as part of the overall covenant

of grace, we were careful to note that one of the reasons God gave the law
of Moses was to show His people beyond a shadow of a doubt their need
for grace. If even those whom the Lord redeemed by grace from Egypt
could not keep God’s law perfectly, then what hope does the rest of
humanity have of rendering the perfect obedience God requires to be
righteous before Him? By latching on to the law and using it to increase
their sin, fallen people are shown their absolute need of the Lord’s gracious
intervention to set things right (Rom. 7:7–25; Gal. 3:15–29). Sinners cannot
in themselves be the seed of the woman who the Lord said would destroy
sin and Satan (Gen. 3:15); their only hope is for a singular Seed to fulfill the
covenant of grace. United to Him, they can share in His victory.
Christ is the fulfillment of the covenant of grace. He upholds the
universe by the word of His power, fulfilling God’s promise to Noah to
maintain the world as the arena for salvation (Gen. 8:22; Heb. 1:3). He
takes on the curse for our breaking covenant with the Lord, fulfilling God’s
promise to Abraham that He would deal with the consequences of our sin
(Gen. 15; Mark 10:45). He obeys God’s law perfectly in our stead, doing
what Adam should have done, so that we can be reckoned as righteous in
Him, men and women who have fulfilled God’s will where both Adam and
the collective nation of Israel failed (Gen. 3; Lev. 18:5; Matt. 4:1–11; Rom.
5:12–21). He is the Davidic king for whom God builds an everlasting house
—the church triumphant, which inherits eternal life (2 Sam. 7:11; 1 Peter
2:4–5).
Today’s passage, one of the most important passages on the new
covenant in Christ, which fulfills the covenant of grace, shows us what life
under the fulfilled covenant looks like. Here we see clearly that the final
aim of grace is not to set aside God’s law in every way. God’s saving grace
is opposed to the law in the matter of justification—we are declared
righteous by grace through the faith-imputation of Christ’s righteousness.
But grace is not opposed to law in our sanctification. For by grace, God
writes His law on our hearts, giving us the will to obey Him in order to
thank Him for our great salvation, not to merit eternal life (Jer. 31:33). John
Calvin comments, “The Gospel brings with it the grace of regeneration: its
doctrine. . . penetrates into the heart and reforms all the inward faculties, so
that obedience is rendered to the righteousness of God.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 11:14–20; Romans 6:14; Titus 2:11–14

APPLICATION

The process of God’s writing His law on our hearts begins in this life but is
not completed until our glorification. Christians grow slowly but surely in
their willingness to obey and to repent for even the smallest sins, and at
Christ’s return, the covenant of grace will be consummated in a new heaven
and earth where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). Until then we pursue
holiness, anticipating that great day to come.
 DAY 44

THE GRACE OF PREDESTINATION

EPHESIANS 1:3–4A “BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST, WHO HAS BLESSED US IN CHRIST WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING
IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES, EVEN AS HE CHOSE US IN HIM BEFORE THE
FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND BLAMELESS
BEFORE HIM.”

Grace alone—the doctrine that we are saved only by God and not on
account of anything we do—was a guiding principle of the Reformation. In
opposition to medieval theologians who taught that God’s grace was
necessary but insufficient for salvation, the Reformers emphasized the
Bible’s stress on the necessity and sufficiency of grace for salvation. Many
medieval theologians taught that we must contribute our own merit to
achieve final salvation, but Reformation theologians stressed that even our
grace-fueled obedience to God cannot be added to grace as a meritorious
basis for eternal life. From first to last, salvation is the work only of God’s
grace.
Having considered the outworking of this principle in history through
our study of God’s covenant of grace, it is now time to look at the
outworking of salvation by grace alone in the manner by which we are
redeemed individually. First, today’s passage shows us that the Lord’s
saving grace begins operating for our salvation long before we are even
born. Ephesians 1:3–4a tells us that even “before the foundation of the
world,” God chose those whom He would save from their sin and His
wrath. In eternity past, the Lord numbered His people, choosing to set His
saving love not on every human being but only on His elect.
 Some people have taught that this election was based on God’s
foreseeing our obedience or on His knowing who would respond to the
offer of salvation in Christ. Scripture denies these ideas forcefully. Paul tells
us that we are chosen “in him”—namely, Christ (v. 4a). We were chosen not
on account of what we have done but on account of what Christ has done.
We were chosen not apart from Christ and His work for the salvation of His
people but in Him as the recipients of the benefits of His work. And Paul
also explains that we were chosen not because God knew we would be
blameless and holy but in order that we would be blameless and holy. Our
faith and growth in Christ are the result of our election to salvation, not the
basis of it.
Lest we miss the point that we were chosen for redemption only by
grace and not on account of anything we have done or because of our
family history, Paul in Romans 9:6–13 uses Jacob and Esau as paradigms of
God’s electing grace. Jacob was chosen for salvation long before he could
do anything good or bad. Esau, from the same family, was passed over for
salvation before he could do anything good or bad. None of our actions, not
even our good choice to believe in Jesus, moved the Lord to choose us for
salvation.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 25:19–28; Isaiah 65:9; Matthew 22:14; Ephesians 1:11–12

APPLICATION

That nothing in us moved God to choose us for salvation is hard for many
people to accept. But Scripture is clear that God chose us only on account
of His good pleasure. We cannot take credit in any way for our salvation.
We believe only because God first chose us. This should lead us to great
humility and to never consider ourselves more highly than we ought.
 DAY 45

GRACE AND REPROBATION

ROMANS 9:14–24 “WHAT IF GOD, DESIRING TO SHOW HIS WRATH AND TO MAKE
KNOWN HIS POWER, HAS ENDURED WITH MUCH PATIENCE VESSELS OF WRATH
PREPARED FOR DESTRUCTION, IN ORDER TO MAKE KNOWN THE RICHES OF HIS
GLORY FOR VESSELS OF MERCY, WHICH HE HAS PREPARED BEFOREHAND FOR
GLORY—EVEN US WHOM HE HAS CALLED, NOT FROM THE JEWS ONLY BUT ALSO
FROM THE GENTILES?” (VV. 22–24).

Saving grace, God’s unmerited favor toward those He has chosen to love
unto salvation, cannot accurately be understood apart from our knowing
what we deserve. So, when the Apostle Paul explains the sheer graciousness
of the Lord’s grace and mercy, He sets it against the backdrop of what we
have actually earned from His hand. Romans 9:14–24 is the key text here as
the Apostle considers humanity as a whole in God’s predestination of some
people to redemption.
Paul emphasizes that those whom the Lord chooses to save and those
whom He does not choose to save both come from the same lump of clay
(vv. 21–24). What must be stressed here is that God, the potter, in choosing
whom to save, has only one humanity to choose from and this humanity is a
fallen humanity. No ordinary human being has a right to eternal life, for all
people (except Christ) are sinners in Adam (5:12–21). If God deals with one
lump of humanity and this lump is not neutral (for it is impossible to be
neutral with respect to God; see Matt. 12:30), then the lump is either
righteous or fallen. If the lump were righteous, there would be no need for
grace. No, the lump in view must be a fallen lump, for only in that context
is grace necessary.
 Since we deserve only eternal death apart from God’s intervention, we
cannot complain if the Lord shows grace and mercy only to some of us. By
definition, grace and mercy are undeserved, so if the Lord chooses not to
give them to someone, He is not depriving that person of what he has
earned. God chooses some for salvation and chooses to pass by—to not
elect for eternal life—others, in order to reveal Himself as both Savior and
Judge (Rom. 9:14–21). The grace shown in predestination unto salvation
has a flip side in reprobation, God’s leaving some in their sins and to the
just consequences of those sins.
Because election to salvation is by grace, it is not based on anything in
us. It is unconditional. That is, God’s purpose in choosing Joe for salvation
instead of James is not because Joe is more righteous or smarter or for any
other reason besides His choice to love Joe for the sake of His glory. But in
an important respect, reprobation is unconditional as well. True, the
reprobate do deserve punishment, but God does not pass over James and
choose Joe because James is more evil than Joe is. In fact, many who end
up in heaven committed worse sins than many of those who go to hell. That
is because God’s election is based not on the degree of our sin or our
personal righteousness. It is based only on His free choice to forgive those
whom He chooses to forgive.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Malachi 1:1–5; Matthew 11:25–27; John 10:22–30; 1 Peter 2:8b

APPLICATION

The elect get what they do not deserve—salvation; the reprobate get what
they deserve—condemnation. The doctrine of election should not lead us to
pride or to consider ourselves inherently holier than others. It should be a
continual reminder to us that we are among the worst of sinners and that we
are in Christ only because God chooses to love undeserving sinners. May
the doctrine of election make us more aware of our sin and the grace of the
Lord.
 DAY 46

THE GRACE OF REGENERATION

EPHESIANS 2:1–9 “GOD, BEING RICH IN MERCY, BECAUSE OF THE GREAT
LOVE WITH WHICH HE LOVED US, EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN OUR
TRESPASSES, MADE US ALIVE TOGETHER WITH CHRIST—BY GRACE YOU HAVE
BEEN SAVED” (VV. 4–5).

John Calvin, commenting on today’s passage, makes the point that

“everything connected with our salvation ought to be ascribed to God as its
author.” This statement is quite radical in light of common beliefs about
salvation that we find in the Christian community. Most professing
Christians are happy to attribute their salvation to divine grace. Few would
say that they deserve heaven. Yet when questions are asked about the
reasons why people choose faith in Christ, many believers are unwilling to
say that God chooses some for salvation or authors their decision to believe.
In the name of a particular view of free will that says we must, at every
point, have the equal ability to choose between right and wrong, many
Christians end up denying—perhaps without meaning to—God’s sovereign,
effectual grace.
Calvin takes from Scripture his view that every part of salvation is
authored by God. This includes even our decision to believe. We believe
only because the Lord makes us willing to believe. Apart from grace, we
are fully unwilling to believe. Our hearts are dead in sin, and dead hearts—
just like dead bodies—cannot move of their own accord (Eph. 2:1–3). We
must not stretch the metaphor too far; Paul is not saying that human beings
are unable to make choices without God’s grace. Unredeemed sinners, after
all, make choices every day. What the Apostle means is that unless God’s
grace resurrects our dead hearts, we cannot make decisions that are pleasing
to the Lord. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8),
and to be dead in trespasses and sin is to be in or controlled by the flesh.
If we are dead with respect to the things of God, unable to choose what
the Lord finds pleasing—and He certainly approves of the choice to repent
and believe in Christ alone for salvation—then our Creator must intervene
drastically if we are to be redeemed. He changes our hearts without our
asking Him to do so, making us willing to believe. This work is referred to
in theological categories as God’s work of regeneration, and it is described
in Ephesians 2:4–7. Even while we were dead in our trespasses, the Lord
brought us to new spiritual life and, as a consequence, we believed. Faith
does not precede regeneration. It is not that we believe and then our hearts
are changed; rather, we believe after God first changes our hearts.
Regeneration precedes faith, which is a gift, part of what is “not [our] own
doing” (vv. 8–10). Having been given new hearts, we cannot help but
believe.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Ezekiel 36:22–38; John 3:1–8; James 1:18

APPLICATION

God’s saving grace is not weak but powerful and effectual to save. It can
bring dead souls to life, and since the life that God gives is far more
powerful than death, no one to whom saving grace is shown will fail to be
regenerated. If God wants to save someone, that person will be saved. No
resistance to divine grace can endure. We therefore pray for God to change
hearts, knowing that salvation is His powerful work alone.
 DAY 47

THE GRACE OF JUSTIFICATION

TITUS 3:4–7 “BEING JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE WE MIGHT BECOME HEIRS
ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE” (V. 7).

From first to last, God saves His people by grace alone. In divine election,
He chooses men and women in Christ for redemption based on nothing in
them but only on account of His gracious choice to set His love on them
(Rom. 9:1–29; Eph. 1:3–6). Furthermore, in regeneration, God acts alone
and wholly by His grace. He takes hearts dead in sin and makes them alive
unto Him, giving them the gifts of faith and repentance (Eph. 2:1–9).
Through the reading and especially the preaching of His Word, God by His
Holy Spirit makes us born again of imperishable seed (1 Peter 1:22–25).
His saving grace finally overcomes the resistance of all those whom He has
chosen to redeem, and they are brought to new spiritual life that cannot be
lost.
Today’s passage explains that as the Lord applies the salvation
purchased by Christ to His people, our justification—being declared
righteous and forgiven of sin—is also a work of grace (v. 7). It is impossible
to overstate this point, for justification by grace alone through faith alone,
apart from our works, is central to the gospel. This is the doctrine that the
Protestant Reformers proclaimed against the medieval system of salvation,
which said grace is necessary for justification but that our final justification
also requires our good works.
When we study texts such as Titus 3:4–7, it is easy to understand why
the Reformers were so insistent on the gracious character of justification.
As verse 5 tells us, God “saved us, not because of works done by us in
righteousness.” Paul sets up in this verse the antithesis to justification by
grace alone. If justification is by grace, it cannot involve any of our own
deeds of obedience, no matter how pleasing to the Lord they may be. To
look to the works done by us in righteousness as the root of justification and
not the fruit of justification is to take grace off the table. Our righteousness
before God is wholly a gift. The righteousness of Christ is a perfect
righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21), so not even our best works can be added to it.
To try to add any works to the righteousness of Christ is, in fact, to take
away from the righteousness of Christ. It is to say that what our perfect
Savior has done is not perfect after all.
Our new hearts are a gift. Our faith is a gift. And our righteous status
before God is a gift as well. Only by grace do we stand before God
unafraid.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 53:11; Luke 18:9–14; Romans 3:21–26; Galatians 5:4

APPLICATION

It is critical that we know our good works do not and cannot justify us. The
very honor of Christ is at stake in this. If we suggest our works are
necessary for justification, we are saying what Christ gives us is
insufficient, which denigrates His work. By upholding justification by grace
alone, we are honoring the Lord Jesus Christ.
 DAY 48

THE GRACE OF SANCTIFICATION

PHILIPPIANS 2:12–13 “THEREFORE, MY BELOVED, AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS
OBEYED, SO NOW, NOT ONLY AS IN MY PRESENCE BUT MUCH MORE IN MY
ABSENCE, WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING, FOR
IT IS GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU, BOTH TO WILL AND TO WORK FOR HIS GOOD
PLEASURE.”

Reformation theologians set various concepts in opposition when

explaining how God’s gracious salvation is applied to human beings. They
did so because the Bible sets various concepts in opposition. Therefore, we
must do so as well if we are to be faithful to Scripture and to the Reformers’
example.
With respect to salvation, it is important to see that we oppose grace and
merit, not grace and human activity. What do we mean by this? At no point
in salvation does our merit enter into the equation. We do not and cannot
merit or earn election, regeneration, faith, justification, sanctification, or
glorification. There are points in salvation, however, where we do act,
though not in a meritorious way. For example, we act in the exercise of
faith. We do something because we put our trust in Christ. Though faith is
God’s gracious gift, God does not believe for us. We believe. But—and this
is essential—our believing is not meritorious. The Lord does not take our
faith as a payment for eternal life. He does not reward faith; faith merely
lays hold of Christ and His righteousness, and that is what merits eternal
life.
Another place in salvation where grace and human activity are not
opposed is in our sanctification, our growth in Christ and progress in
holiness over our lifetimes. Just consider Philippians 2:12–13, wherein Paul
tells us to work out our own salvation “with fear and trembling.” Clearly,
Paul has some human activity in mind. But Paul stresses God’s initiative.
We work because God works in us. The Lord’s grace is operative in
sanctification. He works in us to give us the will to obey Him, and He
works in us to produce good works of obedience. These good works are the
result of grace, but they are not meritorious of salvation. God looks upon
and is pleased with our sanctification, but it is not because we keep His
commandments that we receive eternal life. We receive eternal life because
Christ kept God’s commandments perfectly.
Grace and our own merit are opposed at every point in salvation. We
can make no claim on God. But grace does not mean we are passive in the
outworking of the Lord’s redemption. At key points—such as sanctification
—we act, not to earn our place in heaven but because Christ has earned our
place in heaven and because He is working in us to prepare us for heaven.
God initiates, sustains, and completes our holiness. We act in a non-
meritorious way to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we produce good works because God’s sanctifying grace alone
guarantees them.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 28:9; Romans 8:13; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 13:20–21

APPLICATION

Until we are glorified, the presence of sin remains in us, affecting all
that we do. Thus, our obedience cannot merit salvation because none of our
obedience is perfect. But God is pleased to accept good works done in
Christ and by grace, using them to conform us ever more to the Lord. So,
we act and obey, not to earn heaven but because heaven has been earned
and secured for us by Jesus.
 DAY 49

THE GRACE OF PERSEVERANCE AND

GLORIFICATION
PHILIPPIANS 1:6 “I AM SURE OF THIS, THAT HE WHO BEGAN A GOOD WORK
IN YOU WILL BRING IT TO COMPLETION AT THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST.”

During the Protestant Reformation, the debate was never over the
necessity of grace. To this day, both Roman Catholics and Protestants agree
that divine grace is necessary for salvation. Neither group advocates a
Pelagian view that would say that grace is helpful but not strictly necessary
to be saved.
There was no real debate regarding the necessity of grace during the
Reformation, but there was disagreement on the sufficiency of grace. To put
the disagreement most simply, Rome said then and continues to say now
that grace enables but does not compel salvation. Not everyone who
receives the grace of God ends up in heaven. That is because grace in itself
cannot initiate, sustain, or complete salvation without free human assent
and cooperation. And since human assent and cooperation are not
guaranteed by grace, many receive grace but do not persevere in faith. This
understanding puts the final decision with respect to salvation in our hands.
Though Roman Catholicism would not state it so crassly, its official
teaching makes the human will decisive in redemption.
Magisterial Protestantism and its heirs in the Reformed tradition,
however, argued for the necessity and sufficiency of grace in salvation.
Grace enables and compels. Everyone to whom saving grace is shown
perseveres to the end and dies in faith. Human beings act at various points
in salvation, particularly in sanctification, but their salvation is not
sustained by their cooperation. Rather, they continue to believe because
God’s grace is effectual and guarantees perseverance. As today’s passage
tells us, when the Lord initiates salvation, He always finishes what He starts
(Phil. 1:6). He sustains and completes the redemption of all to whom
redemption is given.
God keeps in salvation all those whom He saves. Everyone who is
justified is also glorified; there is no such thing as a person who experiences
conversion and justification but then falls away finally and fully from grace
(Rom. 8:29–30). Many people make a false profession of faith and fall
away because they were never truly saved to begin with (1 John 2:19).
True, believers may succumb to significant sin. As Dr. R.C. Sproul says in
his book Can I Lose My Salvation?, “Each and every Christian is subject to
the possibility of a serious fall.” But he also notes that no true Christian will
experience a total fall from grace. God’s grace will not let His people fall
away finally. He loves us enough to guarantee our final redemption.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalms 37:28; 97:10; 145:20; Mark 4:1–20; Philippians 2:12–13;

Hebrews 10:39

APPLICATION

Knowing that God will keep us in grace inspires us to work out our
salvation, obeying Him as evidence that He is indeed preserving us. And
when we see someone apparently fall from grace, that is our cue to pray for
that person. We do not know whether God may yet restore that person, and
we know that the Lord works through our prayers to accomplish His will.
 DAY 50

ORDINARY MEANS OF GRACE

ACTS 2:42 “THEY DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO THE APOSTLES’ TEACHING AND
THE FELLOWSHIP, TO THE BREAKING OF BREAD AND THE PRAYERS.”

God saves and preserves us by grace alone, according to His sovereign

will. At the same time, the Lord has established several means by which He
ordinarily meets us with His grace. We call these “ordinary means of
grace,” or those places where Christ normally gives Himself to us.
Today’s passage shows us how the three ordinary means of grace—
Word, prayers, and sacraments—functioned in the Apostolic church. First,
note that the earliest Christians devoted themselves “to the apostles’
teaching.” This practice confirms what we have said about the importance
of reading and teaching the Word of God, for the Apostles’ teaching comes
to us today only in the canonical Scriptures.
Second, during the Apostolic period, the early church was devoted to
“the prayers.” The early church was a praying church, and prayers were an
integral part of early Christian worship. This is not surprising. After all, the
first Christians were mostly of a Jewish background, and prayers were an
important part of synagogue worship. Moreover, prayers were also offered
to God during worship conducted at the temple in Jerusalem. Notably,
Solomon prayed at the temple’s dedication (1 Kings 8), but prayer was also
a regular part of daily temple worship. For example, the people confessed
their sins when they brought their sacrifices (Lev. 5:1–6). Of course, the
book of Psalms is itself a prayer book, and many of the psalms were written
specifically for use in public worship. Several of them were for “the
choirmaster” (for example, Ps. 61), and public worship was the occasion for
the choir to sing (2 Chron. 29:25–30). In fact, it is under the category of
prayer that singing finds its place in Christian worship. The various psalms
were sung prayers, and it is right to sing unto the Lord under the new
covenant as well. Singing also has an instructional purpose, as biblically
faithful songs enable us to teach and admonish “one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in [our]
hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).
Finally, Acts 2:42 says the early Christians devoted themselves to “the
breaking of bread.” This is almost certainly a reference to the Lord’s
Supper, perhaps with an accompanying fellowship meal. In the Lord’s
Supper and in baptism, we encounter our Savior.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Chronicles 29:25–30; Psalm 5; Romans 12:12; 1 Timothy 2:1–2

APPLICATION

We often think of prayer as a spiritual discipline for private worship and

devotion, and so it is. But prayer is also a public devotion that is to be a part
of corporate worship. When we sing hymns or pray in unison, let us do so
with our hearts and minds fully engaged. And during the pastoral prayer, let
us think carefully on the pastor’s words and ask the Lord for the prayer to
be answered.
 DAY 51

THE SIGN AND THE THING SIGNIFIED

1 PETER 3:18–22 “BAPTISM, WHICH CORRESPONDS TO THIS, NOW SAVES YOU,
NOT AS A REMOVAL OF DIRT FROM THE BODY BUT AS AN APPEAL TO GOD FOR
A GOOD CONSCIENCE, THROUGH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST, WHO
HAS GONE INTO HEAVEN AND IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WITH ANGELS,
AUTHORITIES, AND POWERS HAVING BEEN SUBJECTED TO HIM” (VV. 21–22).

John Calvin, in his commentary on Romans 4, writes that “by themselves

[sacraments] profit nothing, yet God has designed them to be the
instruments of his grace; and he effects by the secret grace of his Spirit, that
they should not be without benefit in the elect.” This encapsulates what the
Reformed tradition has called the sacramental union between the
sacrament’s outward sign and its spiritual reality. Essentially, this concept
tells us that when the sacraments are received in faith, God’s grace works
through them to accomplish His purposes in those who trust in the Lord.
Sacraments are not bare testimonials of our faith, though they do testify to
faith when we are baptized and partake of the supper. Instead, the
sacraments are primarily about God and what He does. They reveal His
promises visibly and convey His benefits when we receive them in faith.
Passages such as 1 Peter 3:18–22 show us this sacramental union
between the sign and the thing signified. Note how Peter states very
explicitly in verse 21 that baptism “saves you.” We know from the rest of
Scripture and even from this text itself that Peter cannot mean that baptism
is the instrumental means of salvation or that it automatically redeems
everyone who receives it. In context, Peter connects the salvation conferred
in baptism with the salvation conferred to Noah’s family in the flood. Of
course, not all of Noah’s family experienced eternal salvation through the
protection of the ark in the flood. After all, Ham was later cursed by the
Lord even though he had been protected from the floodwaters (Gen. 9:18–
25). So, contrary to those traditions that affirm baptismal regeneration, we
cannot speak of baptism as somehow automatically conferring what it
signifies every time it is administered. It is possible to participate in the
sacraments and not receive the grace exhibited therein.
Nevertheless, Peter does say that baptism “saves you,” so there is more
going on in the sacrament than simply a visible testimony of faith. Although
the bestowal of grace in the sacraments is according to God’s sovereignty,
His granting of such grace is so closely connected to the sacraments that we
can speak of the sacraments as producing certain effects. Westminster
Confession of Faith 27.2 states, “There is in every sacrament a spiritual
relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified:
whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed
to the other.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 10:12–22; John 6:51; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3–4

APPLICATION

Scripture frequently describes the sacraments as accomplishing certain

things without telling us how they do so. Thus, we must take care in
describing how baptism and the Lord’s Supper are used by God to
accomplish the promises conveyed therein. As with many spiritual truths,
God gives us certain parameters and boundaries, and to go beyond what
God says is to risk falling into great error.
 DAY 52

WORD AND SACRAMENT TOGETHER

1 CORINTHIANS 11:23–25 “THE LORD JESUS ON THE NIGHT WHEN HE WAS
BETRAYED TOOK BREAD, AND WHEN HE HAD GIVEN THANKS, HE BROKE IT, AND
SAID, ‘THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH IS FOR YOU. DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF
ME.’ IN THE SAME WAY ALSO HE TOOK THE CUP, AFTER SUPPER, SAYING,
‘THIS CUP IS THE NEW COVENANT IN MY BLOOD. DO THIS, AS OFTEN AS YOU
DRINK IT, IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.’ ”

Sacraments sign and seal the covenant of grace, tangibly representing the
promises of God and confirming our faith. They make the spiritual truths of
the gospel alive to our senses, providing us as embodied creatures with
helps for knowing and continuing in the Lord’s grace. We are so connected
to the physical world that we often have trouble grasping unseen spiritual
realities. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are God’s gifts to us to assist us in
understanding and believing spiritual truths.
As helpful as the sacraments are for conveying truth about the world we
cannot see with our physical senses, we must be clear that the mere actions
involved in administering water, bread, and wine do not in themselves
explain or depict anything. That is to say, without the Word of God, the
sacraments are empty signs. We need to hear words from our Creator—the
words of institution given for the sacraments and the preaching of His
special revelation—so that the sacraments have something to sign and seal.
First and foremost, the sacraments are about what God does, and God
works salvation in His people through the preaching and teaching of His
Word. The Apostle Paul writes, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing
through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). Along the same lines, the
Apostle Peter asserts, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but
of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter
1:23). The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts not primarily through the
sacraments but through the faithful preaching of His Word. Without the
Word, the sacraments do not have anything to sign and have no promises to
seal on our hearts.
God’s promises always accompany His institution of sacraments. In
Genesis 17, for example, the Lord’s pledge to be God to Abraham and His
descendants is given alongside the command to circumcise. Paul in today’s
passage gives us the words of Christ in the institution of the Lord’s Supper.
In telling us to eat of the bread and drink of the cup, Jesus affirmed His
giving of His life for our salvation. Sacraments are important, even vital, for
the spiritual health and nurture of God’s people, but the preaching of God’s
Word has a certain priority. The Word of God gives us something for our
faith to latch on to, and the sacraments confirm tangibly that which is
promised in the Word, encouraging us to keep clinging to God’s promises.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 2:15–17; Exodus 12:1–28; Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 12:13

APPLICATION

Many of us come from a background in which the sacraments were mere

afterthoughts, so we are thankful when we find churches that take these
ordinances of God seriously. Yet we must never prioritize the sacraments
over the preaching of God’s Word. Instead, the preaching of God’s Word
and the administration of the sacraments must go together. Let us not let
eagerness to meet Christ in His sacraments cause us to neglect meeting Him
in His Word.
 DAY 53

BAPTISM AND UNION WITH CHRIST

ROMANS 6:3–4 “DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT ALL OF US WHO HAVE BEEN BAPTIZED
INTO CHRIST JESUS WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH? WE WERE BURIED
THEREFORE WITH HIM BY BAPTISM INTO DEATH, IN ORDER THAT, JUST AS
CHRIST WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD BY THE GLORY OF THE FATHER, WE TOO
MIGHT WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.”

Christian baptism includes a testimony of our belief in Christ, but it refers

chiefly to God and to what He does for believers. Baptism, Westminster
Confession of Faith 28.6 tells us, actually confers divine grace, albeit only
to those to whom the grace belongs—the elect. We know this to be the case
since only the elect of God receive His saving, regenerating grace (Rom.
9:1–29) and since the New Testament speaks of baptism in ways that make
it more than a visible depiction of spiritual realities. Something actually
happens in baptism—grace is conferred—but only to the elect, who
invariably respond to that grace with repentance and faith, though the time
of response does not necessarily coincide with the time of baptism.
Today we will look at how Scripture speaks of baptism as
accomplishing what it signifies with respect to uniting us to Christ. Using
today’s passage as a proof text, Westminster Confession 28.1 speaks of
baptism as the sign and seal of “ingrafting into Christ,” or union with
Christ. According to Romans 6, our baptism buries us with Christ in His
death. Paul does not say we are buried with Christ because we are baptized.
No, we are joined to Christ in His burial because God elects us, regenerates
us, and grants us faith (Eph. 1:3–6; 2:8–9). Still, as union with Christ is
dependent on the grace of God exhibited and conferred to the elect in
baptism, Paul can say our baptism buries us with Christ.
 Admittedly, we cannot describe exactly how this happens. We cannot be
united to Christ apart from personally trusting in Jesus (John 3:16; Rom. 4),
so baptism in itself cannot unite us to Christ. Yet we cannot have faith
without the gift of God’s saving grace, which is somehow conferred to the
elect in baptism since baptism is a sign of that salvation. Ultimately, there is
mystery here that must be preserved. We tend to err by collapsing the sign
and the thing signified together such that baptism regenerates all who
receive it, or by so divorcing the sign and the thing signified that baptism
confers no spiritual benefit even to the elect.
Whether we are immersed, sprinkled, dipped, or receive a pouring, we
come under water—are buried—in baptism. Thus, our union with Christ is
signed and sealed. And if we are truly baptized into the death of Christ, we
are also united to Him in His resurrection. Baptism is God’s promise to
believers that our old Adamic selves have been crucified and that we are
new, resurrected creations in Christ.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 54:5–8; 1 Corinthians 10; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3

APPLICATION

Scripture tells us that we are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), but we
often feel as if we are still old creations in Adam who are enslaved to sin.
But if we have faith, we have been baptized into the death of Christ and
have died to sin. In your struggle against sin, look to the waters of baptism
as proof that you have died to sin and have been raised with Christ such that
you need not give in to temptation.
 DAY 54

THE LORD’S SUPPER AND FEEDING ON

CHRIST
JOHN 6:22–59 “WHOEVER FEEDS ON MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD HAS
ETERNAL LIFE, AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP ON THE LAST DAY. FOR MY FLESH
IS TRUE FOOD, AND MY BLOOD IS TRUE DRINK. WHOEVER FEEDS ON MY FLESH
AND DRINKS MY BLOOD ABIDES IN ME, AND I IN HIM” (VV. 54–56).

Today’s passage has been at the heart of the debates between different
churches over the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. In John 6:22–59, we read
that we must feed on the flesh of Christ and drink the blood of Christ to
have eternal life. Considering that Jesus says the bread and wine of the
supper are His body and blood (Luke 22:14–20), most interpreters have
seen some kind of connection between today’s passage and the Lord’s
Supper.
Both Roman Catholics and Lutherans read this text as referring to some
kind of physical presence of our Savior’s body in the sacrament. According
to Roman Catholicism, the essence of the bread and wine becomes the
actual body and blood of Jesus without ceasing to look, smell, taste, and
feel like bread and wine. Lutheranism teaches that the physical body and
blood of Jesus are present mysteriously in, with, and under the elements.
Reformed theology rejects both of these views as compromising biblical
Christology. Christ possesses a true human nature with a true human body
(John 1:14), and a true human body cannot be present in more than one
place at a time. Both the Roman Catholic and the Lutheran views of the
supper end up making the physical body of Jesus present in many places
simultaneously.
 Leading Reformed figures such as John Calvin and the Westminster
divines have affirmed Christ’s spiritual presence in the supper. Our Savior’s
human body is localized in heaven, but Christ is a divine person who also
possesses the true divine nature, which is omnipresent. In His deity, Christ
is present everywhere. Since His deity is united to His humanity without
confusion, change, division, or separation, we commune with the whole
Christ in His humanity and deity when we commune spiritually with the
omnipresent Son of God. His human body remains in heaven, but in His
deity He can close the gap between us and His human nature in heaven. We
cannot say much more about this mystery that we cannot fully comprehend.
The context of today’s passage shows us that to eat and drink Christ’s
flesh and blood is not a carnal act but rather a spiritual act of trusting in
Jesus. John 6:22–59 parallels the eating that leads to eternal life with belief,
making the two things identical. The Lord’s Supper signs and seals this
belief, showing that the One in whom we believe is both God and man,
having a true human body. We need the humanity of Christ no less than we
need His deity, and the physical elements of the supper impress this on our
hearts and minds.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 12:1–28; Deuteronomy 31:8; Matthew 18:2; 1 Corinthians

10:16–17

APPLICATION

John Calvin comments, “There is no other way in which he can become

ours, than by our faith being directed to his flesh.” The bread and wine of
the supper are God’s seal that those who believe that the God-man suffered
as a man and was raised from the dead will live forever. When we take the
supper in faith, we are communing with Christ and marked as those who
will inherit eternal life.
SECTION IV: SOLA FIDE

In sola fide—faith alone—we are stressing that faith is the only instrument
by which we lay hold of Christ and all His benefits. Although we exercise
faith, it is not a work by which we merit salvation, nor is salvation given as
a reward for our having faith. Salvation comes though Christ alone, and
faith is simply the way by which we access the Savior. Faith is primarily a
resting on Christ and receiving Him as Lord, though saving faith inevitably
bears fruit in a life of repentance and obedience. This fruit in no way gives
us salvation; rather, it is the outward proof of that inner trust in Jesus Christ,
who alone saves His people from sin, death, and Satan.
Faith alone preserves the truth that the Lord is our only Savior. First,
faith looks outside of ourselves and only to Jesus as the Redeemer. Second,
faith itself is a gift of God, granted by the Holy Spirit to His people. We
must believe, but we believe only because the Lord has given us new hearts
that will believe. To add anything to faith as necessary for receiving
salvation is a grave error.
 DAY 55

THE SINS OF THE GENTILES

ROMANS 1:18–32 “THOUGH THEY KNOW GOD’S RIGHTEOUS DECREE THAT THOSE
WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS DESERVE TO DIE, THEY NOT ONLY DO THEM BUT
GIVE APPROVAL TO THOSE WHO PRACTICE THEM” (V. 32).

The doctrine of justification sola fide—justification by faith alone—finds

its most in-depth explanation in Scripture in the book of Romans, and so we
begin our study of this precious doctrine in Romans 1. But Romans 1 does
not give us the full-orbed doctrine; rather, this chapter is part of an
argument that stretches some eight chapters before the Apostle is finished.
He starts His explanation of the doctrine of justification in Romans 1 by
explaining why justification is necessary in the first place. As we will see,
the reason we need to be declared righteous before God in the gospel is
because we are unrighteous before Him without it.
For a first-century Jew such as Paul, there were really only two ethnic
groups—Jews and gentiles. Romans 1:18–32 establishes that the gentiles
are sinners. Paul explains that even now the wrath of God is being revealed
against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of human beings who by
this unrighteousness suppress the truth (v. 18). We read that people are
guilty before our Creator because they have failed to honor God as God—
they have failed to worship Him alone—and because they have not given
Him the thanks He is owed (v. 21).
How does God reveal His wrath? We are accustomed to thinking of
God’s wrath as the pouring out of His anger in judgment against sin. The
Bible does speak of God’s wrath in this way, predicting a final day of the
Lord on which the Almighty will bring great destruction on impenitent
sinners (Isa. 13:9). However, we should see such descriptions of God’s
wrath as the ultimate fulfillment of our Creator’s judgment against sin and
sinners. That is because God is now showing His wrath in the lead-up to
that final day. He does so by handing sinners over to their sin, allowing
them to store up greater judgment for the day of the Lord. This is what Paul
says in Romans 1. The wrath of God is revealed as God hands people over
to further idolatry, homosexuality, debased minds, slander, covetousness,
disobedience to parents, and a host of other sins (Rom. 1:19–31).
It is important to note that God does not give people who are unwilling
to sin over to sin. His judgment, at least on this side of eternity, is to give
sinners exactly what they want in preparation for the final day of judgment.
And this is manifestly just, for sinners not only sin, but they take the extra
step of justifying their sin and the sin of others. They approve of sin—
calling evil good and good evil—and they encourage others to do so as well
(v. 32).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 8:15; Psalm 90:9; Romans 3:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:13–16

APPLICATION

In our day, we see people agitating in the streets for the freedom to sin how
they want without any consequences. This evidences God’s giving them
over to their sin in His wrath. But all hope is not lost. God still rescues
people who have been handed over to sin, and we should pray that He
would do so for people who are reveling in their transgressions, no matter
what their transgressions may be.
 DAY 56

THE SINS OF THE JEWS

ROMANS 3:9–18 “WHAT THEN? ARE WE JEWS ANY BETTER OFF? NO, NOT AT
ALL. FOR WE HAVE ALREADY CHARGED THAT ALL, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS,
ARE UNDER SIN” (V. 9).

Many first-century Jews believed that their status as the physical

descendants of Abraham gave them an automatic advantage before God
with respect to their righteousness. In other words, while these Jews would
have acknowledged their sin verbally, in reality they did not believe they
were actually sinners, or at least they did not think that their sins would
exclude them from God’s kingdom. After Paul’s conversion to Christ, he
did not believe that Jews were inherently more righteous than the gentiles,
but we see him make reference to this common Jewish assumption at
different points in his writings. For example, in Galatians 2:15 the Apostle
says, “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.” Paul is not
denying the sinfulness of Jews in this text; rather, he is appealing to
common knowledge as he writes to the gentiles in Galatia. Even they knew
that many Jews regarded only gentiles as true sinners.
Given that common belief, Paul’s argument in Romans 2:1–3:20 had to
have been particularly jarring for many first-century Jews. Having
established the sinfulness of the gentiles in 1:18–32, Paul spends most of
chapters 2–3 explaining that the Jews are just as guilty before God as the
pagan gentiles are. It is not that there are no advantages to being a Jew, for
the Jews possess the oracles of God. The Lord revealed Himself to the Jews
under the old covenant in a way that He did not reveal Himself to the
gentiles. But with respect to righteousness, Jews have no better claim than
non-Jews. “All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin” (3:9).
In 3:9–18, Paul collects several Old Testament texts from books
including Psalms, Proverbs, and Jeremiah to show that Jews are not any less
sinful or less guilty before our Creator than the gentiles are. Sin is a
universal condition. Every naturally conceived descendant of Adam, Jew or
gentile, has broken God’s law and is worthy only of death. But that the Jews
are also sinners is particularly important for understanding how the problem
of sin and unrighteousness is finally solved. The Jews possess the law of
God, and yet they are no more righteous than the gentiles are before the
Almighty. This shows us that however God saves sinners, it cannot be
through their own keeping of the law. That is because no sinner can keep
the law perfectly, and perfection is what God demands if one is to be
justified or declared righteous by keeping the law (2:13). If one is to be
justified by the law, mere possession of it is not enough.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 24:5; Jeremiah 7:1–29; Acts 7:51–53

APPLICATION

Apart from Christ, all people are under sin (Rom. 3:9). Without Christ,
people may still be good citizens. They may be nice neighbors. But they are
under sin and not reconciled to God. We can appreciate them for their
virtues, but we cannot assume that they are going to heaven because they
are nice people. Everyone needs Christ to be reconciled to God, so let us
share the gospel, as we are able, even with unbelievers who are nice and
kind.
 DAY 57

THE LAW AND ACCOUNTABILITY

ROMANS 3:19–20 “NOW WE KNOW THAT WHATEVER THE LAW SAYS IT SPEAKS TO
THOSE WHO ARE UNDER THE LAW, SO THAT EVERY MOUTH MAY BE STOPPED,
AND THE WHOLE WORLD MAY BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD. FOR BY WORKS OF
THE LAW NO HUMAN BEING WILL BE JUSTIFIED IN HIS SIGHT, SINCE
THROUGH THE LAW COMES KNOWLEDGE OF SIN.”

Paul’s epistle to the Romans “is purest gospel,” Martin Luther wrote in his
preface to Romans in his translation of the New Testament. It is not hard to
understand why Luther said that. Within the first few verses of Romans,
Paul refers to himself as “set apart” to proclaim “the gospel of God” and
then focuses on the gospel as the source of the righteousness of God for
believers in Christ (1:1, 16–17).
But as we have seen, Paul does not begin his exposition of the gospel
with a definition of the gospel; rather, he spends several chapters setting the
stage for that explanation by explaining why human beings need the gospel.
Sin and the estrangement it creates between people and their Creator mean
that sinners need reconciliation with God. And sin is a universal condition,
afflicting Jew and gentile alike. Every man, woman, and child—except
Jesus—has broken the law of God (Rom. 1:18–3:18). “All have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God” (3:23).
Facing this predicament, fallen people have the natural propensity to try
to do better, to endeavor to build up a record of goodness and righteous
works that will outweigh their transgressions. This is a futile endeavor. We
know what is good from the law of God, but sinners who are under the law
—sinners who try to obtain their righteousness before God by keeping the
law—have their mouths stopped when they try to plead their own
righteousness before God. If we seek to keep the law in order to be justified
—in order to be declared righteous by God and no longer under His wrath
—we will fail, for the law of God does not give us what we need to be
reckoned as righteous. Instead, it gives us the knowledge of sin, telling us
that we are sinners (vv. 19–20).
Note that in today’s passage, Paul is not giving the full doctrine of the
law of God. The law does more than give us knowledge of sin and convict
us of our sin. It also tells us what pleases God, and it restrains sin, keeping
people from being as bad as they possibly could be (Rom. 7:12; 1 Tim. 1:8–
11). But with respect to the justification of sinners, Luther says, “The law
was given only that sin might be known.”
Today’s passage has the Mosaic law primarily in view but not to the
exclusion of the law on the conscience. God’s eternal moral law is
contained within the Mosaic law (alongside the ceremonial and civil law),
but not everyone has access to Scripture. However, the moral law is found
also on our consciences, where it testifies that we have broken it (Rom.
2:14–16). Thus, God’s moral law, however we possess it, only condemns us
with respect to justification.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Kings 22:8–20; Nehemiah 8:1–9; 9:1–3; Acts 15:1–11; 2 Corinthians

3

APPLICATION

When you read the law of God, are you convicted by your own failure to
keep it? Although we do grow in our obedience over the course of our
Christian lives, we should nevertheless be convicted of how far short we
fall of God’s standard when we read His law. Then, we realize that we must
continue looking to Christ alone for salvation. As you read God’s law,
consider where you have fallen short and look again to Jesus for your
redemption.
 DAY 58

RIGHTEOUSNESS ACCORDING TO THE LAW

ROMANS 2:13 “IT IS NOT THE HEARERS OF THE LAW WHO ARE RIGHTEOUS
BEFORE GOD, BUT THE DOERS OF THE LAW WHO WILL BE JUSTIFIED.”

Human beings from every time and place almost universally believe that
they are saved through doing of good works. In fact, only biblical
Christianity teaches that the salvation of sinners is not based on the merit
that accrues to their good deeds.
From a biblical perspective, it is understandable that people would
believe their own good works will earn them a place in heaven. After all,
God’s first covenant with human beings, the covenant of works, granted
eternal life based on perfect obedience to its demands. Adam would have
received everlasting life for himself and his descendants if he had not
sinned (Gen. 2:15–17; Rom. 5:12–21). As children of Adam, all people
have at least a vague memory of that covenant that informs their beliefs.
Furthermore, all people, no matter how strenuously they claim otherwise,
know that there is a God who makes demands and holds us accountable
(Rom. 1:18–3:20).
As we will see, our salvation is actually dependent on good works, but
not the good works of sinners. Instead, only the good works of Christ are
the basis of our being found righteous in the sight of God (2 Cor. 5:21). The
point is that God demands perfect obedience to His law, and that is why
Christ’s obedience can justify us. Our obedience cannot make us righteous
in His sight because we cannot obey Him perfectly.
Two strands of biblical teaching come together to tell us this. First, the
law that God gave to Israel holds out to us a theoretical possibility of
salvation. Keeping the law will bring life, and the keepers of the law will be
justified, as Paul says in today’s passage (Rom. 2:13; see Lev. 18:5). But
Paul also says that Jews cannot be justified by keeping the law, even those
Jews who in the main conform to its requirements (Rom. 3:19–20; Phil.
3:2–11). How can it be that keeping the law will make us righteous in God’s
sight and that Jews who keep the law cannot stand on their obedience to
make them righteous before God? The only answer is that when it comes to
our justification—God’s legal declaration that we are righteous in His sight
—keeping the law can make us righteous only if we never fail to obey it.
Second, Paul tells us that the reason we cannot be justified by keeping
the law has nothing to do with the law in itself. The problem is our
fallenness (Rom. 7:7–25). Our sin makes us unable to obey the law
perfectly, and that is why the law cannot justify us.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 32:45–47; Proverbs 7:1–2; Galatians 3:21; 5:3; 6:13;

James 2:10

APPLICATION

John Calvin, commenting on Romans 3:20, writes, “[The law] is indeed by

itself, as it teaches us what righteousness is, the way to salvation: but our
depravity and corruption prevent it from being in this respect of any
advantage to us.” It is futile for us to try to claim righteousness before God
based on our obedience. If we do that, we must have perfection, and since
we do not have perfection, trying to use the law to justify ourselves brings
only condemnation.
 DAY 59

HUMAN INABILITY
ROMANS 5:17 “IF, BECAUSE OF ONE MAN’S TRESPASS, DEATH REIGNED
THROUGH THAT ONE MAN, MUCH MORE WILL THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE
ABUNDANCE OF GRACE AND THE FREE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS REIGN IN LIFE
THROUGH THE ONE MAN JESUS CHRIST.”

Galatians 3 features one of Paul’s most extended treatments of the law of

God, and it includes this remarkable statement: “If a law had been given
that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law” (v. 21).
If any law could bestow salvation, then it would be the law revealed
through Moses, which contains, in written form, the eternal, moral law of
God that is written on the consciences of all people (Rom. 2:14–16). But
even God’s perfect law cannot save sinners, prompting us to ask several
questions: Why can’t God’s law save us? Why is it unable to give us the
righteousness we need to stand before the Lord unafraid? Is the law
inherently defective?
The answer to these questions is that the law’s inability to provide for us
the righteousness that avails before God’s judgment has nothing to do with
the law itself. In reality, the law cannot give us the righteousness we need
because of who we are. Romans 7:8–12 asserts the inherent goodness of the
law and tells us that the law brings death, not life, because of what sin does
with it. When sinners receive the law of God, they are provoked to greater
sin. Our fallenness responds to divine law by stirring up the desire to
transgress this law within us. This desire is something we have possessed
since the fall, but the law gives it more power apart from our regeneration.
Today’s passage describes the origin of these sinful desires. When
Adam sinned, we who are his descendants died (5:12–15). Paul is referring
not only to physical corruption and death in this text, although those things
are part of the fall. He is also talking about spiritual death. Death entered
the world through Adam’s sin, and people die even when they do not have
God’s law in its inscripturated form. That people die apart from the giving
of God’s law shows that they are sinners who continue to sin. Death reigns
even over those whose sinning is not like Adam’s, over those whose sinning
is not in response to a direct command from God such as the written law
that some possess (v. 14). People die physically because they sin, and their
sin is a form of spiritual death that leads finally to physical death.
When in Adam we chose to break God’s law, we inherited not only his
guilt and condemnation (vv. 16–17) but also a corrupt nature that makes us
unable to keep God’s law. We ourselves are the problem, and our corruption
means we can never use the law as a means to justify ourselves even if we
wanted to. We simply cannot meet God’s perfect standard.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:14–23; Ephesians 2:1–3

APPLICATION

With Augustine before them, the Protestant Reformers insisted that we are
not born neutral but rather are born guilty and corrupted. This is what the
Apostles taught, and it is what we must remember lest we give unbelievers
hope that they can be good enough to merit salvation. All people need the
renewal of the Holy Spirit if they are to look to Christ for salvation and do
what is pleasing to Him.
 DAY 60

THE OBEDIENCE OF ONE

ROMANS 5:18–21 “FOR AS BY THE ONE MAN’S DISOBEDIENCE THE MANY WERE
MADE SINNERS, SO BY THE ONE MAN’S OBEDIENCE THE MANY WILL BE MADE
RIGHTEOUS” (V. 19).

Justification by faith alone (sola fide), apart from our works, was a guiding
principle of the Reformation. Ultimately, however, the Reformers
emphasized justification by faith alone because they wanted to guard the
truth that we are declared righteous before God because of Christ alone
(solus Christus). Faith, we will see, is the means by which we receive the
righteousness of Christ and not, properly speaking, what actually secures
our justification. We must have faith in Christ to be justified, but faith is not
the righteousness that avails before God’s judgment. Only the obedience of
Christ can do that.
We have seen that the law of God, though it was not given to sinners as
a covenant of works or as a means by which to secure one’s own
righteousness, nevertheless holds out the promise of justification for all who
keep it perfectly (Rom. 2:13). We have also seen that God’s original
covenant with humanity was one wherein Adam would have earned eternal
life for himself and his progeny if he had perfectly obeyed God (Gen. 2:15–
17; Rom. 5:12–21). These truths tell us something very important: God
demands complete obedience. Keeping His commandments halfway or
even most of the way is not enough to meet His judicial standard. And since
our Creator is fully just, He cannot simply change His demands when they
are not met. After the fall, God gave sacrifices to His people so that they
could maintain fellowship with Him as they continued to fall short of His
perfect standard. But the Lord never relaxed His demand for perfection.
From a legal standpoint, God still demands that we be perfect (Matt. 5:48).
But we have also seen that because of sin, not because of any flaw in
God’s law, this standard is impossible for us to meet. So, in His grace, God
chose a different way to give us the perfect obedience we need to stand
before Him. He chose to accept the obedience of another in place of our
own. This is what Paul tells us in today’s passage. “By the one man’s
obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). Paul is looking at
all of Christ’s obedience from birth to death as a whole, and he is speaking
of righteousness in a forensic or legal sense. The flawless obedience of our
Savior is what constitutes us as righteous or what provides the basis for
God’s declaring His people righteous. Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his
commentary on Romans: “The question is not whether we are going to be
saved through works; the question is whose works. We are saved through
the works of the one who alone fulfilled the terms of the covenant of
works.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Zechariah 3:1–5; Matthew 27:22–23; Hebrews 5:8; 1 Peter 2:22

APPLICATION

The good news of the gospel is that Christ obeyed for us. He took upon
Himself the yoke of the law, fulfilling it perfectly on our behalf. There is no
righteousness of any creature that can be added to the righteousness of
Christ, for it is perfect. Let us rejoice in His righteousness and tell others
that they can stand before God unafraid if they are clothed with Christ’s
righteousness by faith alone.
 DAY 61

GOD’S INITIATIVE IN JUSTIFICATION

TITUS 3:4–6 “WHEN THE GOODNESS AND LOVING KINDNESS OF GOD OUR
SAVIOR APPEARED, HE SAVED US, NOT BECAUSE OF WORKS DONE BY US IN
RIGHTEOUSNESS, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS OWN MERCY, BY THE WASHING OF
REGENERATION AND RENEWAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT” (VV. 4–5).

In Scripture, the word salvation and related terms are used in various ways.
Sometimes, an author such as Paul uses these words to describe the whole
process of salvation, which begins in our election by God and is completed
in our glorification. Romans 10:1 uses “saved” this way when Paul
expresses his desire for his Jewish kinsmen to be “saved.” Paul is thinking
of the entire scope of salvation: he wants the Jews to be redeemed by Christ
and enjoy all the benefits of salvation—justification, adoption,
sanctification, and glorification.
At other times, Paul uses such words to refer only to one aspect of
salvation. For example, in 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul speaks of those who are
“being saved,” a clear reference to the ongoing purification from sin that
believers experience in their sanctification. In today’s passage, Paul speaks
of how Christ has “saved us,” and he is plainly thinking of justification—
being declared righteous—since he also says that we have been “justified
by [God’s] grace” (Titus 3:4–7).
This text stresses the divine initiative in justification. God did not justify
us based on the works we have done in righteousness. Justification is by
grace alone, apart from any works that we have done and apart from any
works other sinners have done for us. God achieves justification for us, and
as we have seen in Romans 5:12–21, He does this through the works of
Christ alone. As we continue our study of the doctrine of justification, it
will be important for us to remember this fact, for several other theological
systems say that God justifies us through His work but also on account of
the good works that we do.
Today’s passage also says that God saved us “by the washing of
regeneration” (Titus 3:5). Roman Catholicism takes texts such as this one
and argues that we are justified initially through the instrument of water
baptism. This interpretation cannot be correct, for Paul’s most systematic
treatments of justification make it clear that faith is the only instrument
through which we receive the righteousness that justifies us (Rom. 4:5; Gal.
2:15–16). Paul refers to baptism in Titus 3 because baptism is a picture of
something that occurs in our justification. Washing with water removes dirt
from the body, and in justification, our sins are removed from us and put on
Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Baptism itself does not justify us, but in baptism God
promises to remove the sins of all who believe the gospel. John Calvin
comments that salvation “is [not] contained in the outward symbol of water,
but. . . baptism tells to us the salvation obtained by Christ.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 20:2; Romans 4:16; 1 Corinthians 1:4; Ephesians 2:8–9

APPLICATION

God uses Word and sacrament, according to His good pleasure, to create
and sustain faith in His elect. We will benefit from God’s promises only by
faith, so merely hearing God’s Word preached and receiving baptism and
the Lord’s Supper guarantee nothing. But these things necessarily reveal the
promises of God, and our faith cannot be sustained without them.
 DAY 62

FAITH AND JUSTIFICATION

HABAKKUK 2:4 “BEHOLD, HIS SOUL IS PUFFED UP; IT IS NOT UPRIGHT
WITHIN HIM, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH.”

Scripture tells us again and again that none of us has kept God’s law
sufficiently enough to be declared righteous based on our own obedience.
The Preacher, who authored Ecclesiastes, tells us, “Surely there is not a
righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Eccl. 7:20).
Genesis 8:21 asserts, “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”
And Paul, after surveying Scripture and the evidence in the world around
him, concludes, “All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God’
” (Rom. 3:9–11).
Consequently, the only way we will stand in the day of judgment is if
God gives us a perfect righteousness that another has achieved for us. This
righteousness is the righteousness of Christ, by which many are reckoned or
declared righteous (Rom.5:19).At the final judgment, only Christ’s
righteousness will preserve us unto eternal life.
Our Creator will accept the righteousness of Christ in place of our own,
but a key question remains: How do we appropriate His righteousness?
Only by faith. The sacraments and our good works of true but imperfect
obedience are important, but they are not the means by which we receive
the righteousness of Christ. Scripture is clear: justification is based only on
the righteousness of Christ, which is received only when we renounce all
claims to having met God’s standard and trust only in Christ for salvation
(Luke 18:9–14; Rom. 4). Faith is the only instrument by which we receive
the righteousness of Christ.
The Apostles were not the first to teach that we can survive God’s
judgment and inherit eternal life only through faith. Paul, in fact, turns to
the Old Testament for this teaching, arguing his point from Habakkuk 2:4:
“The righteous shall live by his faith” (see Rom. 1:17). Habakkuk lived in
the late seventh century BC and despaired that God had not brought
judgment on the people of Judah, who were guilty of flagrant sin (Hab. 1:1–
4). The Lord responded to Habakkuk, telling the prophet that He was going
to judge Judah by sending Babylon against His people, but this confused
Habakkuk because Babylon was terribly wicked and needed to be judged
herself (1:5–2:1). In light of this, it would have been tempting to believe
that one would survive the judgment on Judah and on Babylon by one’s
own righteousness. But God told Habakkuk that life would be found only
through faith (Hab. 2:4). Those who are righteous in the day of judgment
are righteous not through their own works but only through faith.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:5; 9:30–33; 10:5–10; Galatians 3:10–14;

Hebrews 10:32–39

APPLICATION

It is easy to look at the wickedness in the world and believe that since we
are comparatively more righteous, God approves of us based on our works.
In reality, however, none of us has met the perfect standard, so trying to
stand on our own works is foolish. We must rest in Christ alone, continually
rejecting any claim to a righteousness of our own that will avail before our
Creator.
 DAY 63

FAITH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

ROMANS 4:1–5 “TO THE ONE WHO WORKS, HIS WAGES ARE NOT COUNTED AS A
GIFT BUT AS HIS DUE. AND TO THE ONE WHO DOES NOT WORK BUT BELIEVES
IN HIM WHO JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY, HIS FAITH IS COUNTED AS
RIGHTEOUSNESS” (VV. 4–5).

The doctrine of justification is at the heart of the gospel, for justification

explains how we are found acceptable to God. To understand this doctrine,
then, is to understand the gospel itself.
Like the other doctrines explained in the New Testament, justification
can be understood only against its Old Testament background. First, we
must understand what happens in justification. In justification, God solves
the legal or judicial problem that we have on account of our being
lawbreakers who have violated His commandments, and He does so by
means of a legal declaration of our status, not by inward transformation. In
Deuteronomy 25:1, judges are commanded to be in the business of
“acquitting the innocent.” Clearly, when a judge acquits an innocent person,
he is not changing that person but merely making a declaration about that
person’s status before the law. Having considered the evidence, the judge
declares legally that the defendant is not a lawbreaker based on the
evidence. Notably, the word “acquitting” translates the Greek verb dikaiĿ,
which is the same verb used in Romans 4:5 when Paul says that God
justifies the ungodly. In justification, God does not change a person,
although all who are justified have been given a new heart to believe in
Christ. In a manner similar to that of an old covenant judge, God, the great
Judge, considers the facts of the case and pronounces sinners righteous in
His sight.
 But what are the facts upon which the Lord justifies us? As we have
seen, the righteousness of Christ is the basis for our justification. We must
have faith, but faith itself is not the righteousness that justifies us. If it were,
then our justification would be based on something we do, since we believe
in Christ, and Paul is adamant that justification is not based on any human
action or effort (Rom. 4:1–2). Saving faith is pleasing to God, but as even
our faith is imperfect, it cannot serve as the meritorious basis for our
justification. This is alluded to in today’s passage, where it would be more
accurate to translate “his faith is counted as righteousness” in Romans 4:5
as “his faith is counted unto/for the end of righteousness.” Our faith is the
instrument of justification because through it God counts or imputes the
perfect righteousness of Christ to our account. Our faith is unto
righteousness—it is the means through which we receive the obedience of
Christ, which is the righteousness that justifies us.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Proverbs 17:15; Matthew 5:6; Romans 8:33–34a; 1 Corinthians 1:30

APPLICATION

On an earthly level, we consider it unjust for a person to be tried for the

same crime twice. So it is in our justification by God. It would be unjust for
Him to declare us righteous and then go back and pronounce us
unrighteous. Once God declares us righteous in His sight, we enjoy that
verdict forever. We no longer have to fear the judicial sentence of
condemnation if we are in Christ.
 DAY 64

JUSTIFICATION AND SIN

ROMANS 4:6–8 “DAVID ALSO SPEAKS OF THE BLESSING OF THE ONE TO WHOM
GOD COUNTS RIGHTEOUSNESS APART FROM WORKS: ‘BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE
LAWLESS DEEDS ARE FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS ARE COVERED; BLESSED IS
THE MAN AGAINST WHOM THE LORD WILL NOT COUNT HIS SIN.’”

Sola fide—faith alone—is sometimes called the “material cause” of the

Reformation because the substance or material of the debate between the
Protestant Reformers and the Roman church concerned the instrumental
means of justification. The Reformers and their opponents both understood
that we must be declared righteous to endure God’s judgment and enter into
eternal life. But they disagreed on the instrumental means of justification
and the basis upon which the declaration is made. The Roman Catholics
held that the basis of God’s declaration is the righteousness of Christ and
the righteous works that we produce in cooperation with grace. They also
said that the instrumental means of justification are the sacraments of
baptism, which initiates people into the state of justification, and penance,
which restores people to the state of justification after mortal sin. The
Protestants argued that the basis for the declaration of justification is only
the righteousness of Christ and that faith alone is the instrument by which
this righteousness is imputed to us, or put on our record.
Romans 4:1–5; 5:12–21; 1 Corinthians 1:30; and several other passages,
we have seen, together teach us that justification is based on the imputation
of Christ’s righteousness through faith alone. That imputation is one side of
the double exchange that happens in justification. Positively, the perfect
obedience of Christ is credited to us. Negatively, sin is taken away from us.
In justification, God credits us with a righteousness that is not our own but
is Christ’s, and He takes our sin and puts it on Christ, who bore the divine
judgment against it on the cross. “For our sake he made him to be sin who
knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2
Cor. 5:21).
Romans 4:6–8 proclaims this removal of sin and guilt, sometimes called
the non-imputation of sin because sin and guilt are not imputed to us but to
Christ. Paul tells us that Psalm 32:1–2 includes David’s teaching about
justification that God does not count sin against the person whom He
declares righteous. It is not that justification means we are not sinners;
rather, it means that the Lord no longer holds our sin against us. And this is
good news indeed. Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his book Faith Alone: “In our
redemptive forgiveness God does not charge us with what we owe. He does
not count our sins against us. If he did, no one (except Jesus) would ever
escape his just wrath. No one but Christ would be able to stand before
God’s judgment.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 130:3–4; Isaiah 55:6–7; Micah 7:18–20; 1 John 2:12

APPLICATION

Nothing can change the fact that we have sinned. But what can change is
our status before God’s judgment seat. In justification, our sin and guilt are
removed and we are covered by Christ’s obedience, enabling God to declare
us righteous in His sight. If we are in Christ, our sins will never be held
against us on the day of judgment. In Christ, we are truly free of
condemnation. That is a cause for great rejoicing.
 DAY 65

NOT BY ANY OF OUR WORKS

ROMANS 4:9–12 “IS THIS BLESSING THEN ONLY FOR THE CIRCUMCISED, OR
ALSO FOR THE UNCIRCUMCISED? FOR WE SAY THAT FAITH WAS COUNTED TO
ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. HOW THEN WAS IT COUNTED TO HIM? WAS IT
BEFORE OR AFTER HE HAD BEEN CIRCUMCISED? IT WAS NOT AFTER, BUT
BEFORE HE WAS CIRCUMCISED” (VV. 9–10).

Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his book Faith Alone: “For Rome the declaration
of justice [justification] follows the making inwardly just of the regenerate
sinner. For the Reformation, the declaration of justice follows the
imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the regenerated sinner.” When it
comes to justification, the difference between Reformation theology and
Roman Catholic theology is not over the necessity of grace, faith, and the
obedience of Christ. Rome has always taught that no one can be justified
apart from these things. The difference between Rome and the Reformation
is that in Roman Catholicism, justification is based on an inherent
righteousness, a righteousness that God infuses into us and with which we
cooperate in order to increase our justification. For biblical, Reformation
theology, justification is based only on the righteousness of Christ, which is
an alien righteousness, a righteousness that is not inherently ours because it
consists only of Jesus’ good works.
So, the real dividing line between Roman Catholicism and the
Reformation is one word—alone. Justification is not only by faith; it is by
faith alone. Justification is not only by grace; it is by grace alone.
Justification is not only by the work of Christ; it is by the work of Christ
alone. If we add even one work of ours as part of the basis for justification,
we have missed the gospel. Paul stresses that we are not justified by our
works, and he illustrates it by showing that Abraham was justified before he
obeyed the law. He was justified by faith alone apart from circumcision
(Rom. 4:9–12). The only way to preserve that teaching is to insist that the
only meritorious basis for our justification is the obedience of Christ
imputed to us. Once we make our justification dependent on an inherent
righteousness that combines Christ’s merit and our merit, we have lost the
gospel of grace.
The teaching that none of our good works are part of the basis for
justification is so clear that many have tried to get around it by saying that
since Paul mentions circumcision in Romans 4, he means only that works of
the ceremonial law cannot justify us but obedience to the moral law can.
This fails to understand that Paul is using circumcision in this text as a
preeminent example of the law’s commandments that represents the entire
law. John Calvin comments that under circumcision “is included every
work of the law; that is, every work to which reward can be due.” Indeed,
justification is not by any works wrought by us in righteousness (Titus 3:4–
7).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 73:25–26; Isaiah 64:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 1:9–11

APPLICATION

Justification is by faith alone. We must be clear on that word alone, for

without it we do not have the gospel. If we try to add one work of ours to
Christ, then we are accountable to do all the law and to do it perfectly for
our justification (Gal. 5:3). And of course, we cannot do this. We must
stand firm on the doctrine of justification by faith alone and never
compromise it lest we be cut off from Christ and His perfect righteousness.
 DAY 66

WHY FAITH?
EPHESIANS 2:8–10 “FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH.
AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT
OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST. FOR WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP,
CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS FOR GOOD WORKS, WHICH GOD PREPARED
BEFOREHAND, THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM.”

Faith—and only faith—is the instrumental means of justification. In other

words, it is through faith alone that we lay hold of or appropriate the sole
basis for our justification—namely, Christ’s righteousness (Rom. 4). Faith
itself is not the righteousness upon which God declares us righteous in His
sight; only the obedience of Christ is the evidence, as it were, upon which
our Creator pronounces His verdict that we are just and heirs of eternal life
(5:12–21). Yet, the righteousness of Christ cannot be ours apart from our
receiving and resting in Christ alone—it will not be imputed to us apart
from faith.
But why is faith and not something else the instrumental means of
justification? To answer this question, we must understand something of the
character of saving faith. First, in keeping with the truth that our salvation is
due to God’s mercy alone, faith is the only instrumental means of
justification because faith is the gift of God. When Paul speaks of the “gift
of God” in Ephesians 2:8, he is not referring merely to the grace of God
described earlier in the same verse. It would be redundant to refer to grace
as a gift because by definition grace is a gift, and furthermore, the grammar
of the verse demands that “gift of God” refer to the entire grouping of
grace, salvation, and faith in verse 8. The perfect righteousness of Christ is
God’s gift to us, and even the means by which we receive it is the Lord’s
gift given to us in regeneration. Our election unto salvation that bears fruit
in justifying faith “depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who
has mercy” (Rom. 9:16), and no one whom our Creator mercifully draws to
Himself fails to trust in Christ (John 6:37–40). Even though we exercise
faith, we have it because God gives it to us through the work of His Son,
Jesus Christ, who is the “founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).
Of course, today’s passage says that the good works we do after we are
justified are also gifts of God (Eph. 2:10), but they are not the means by
which we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness. Why? Because although faith
is something we do—we trust in Christ—the character of saving or
justifying faith is to rest and receive, not to offer something meritorious to
God. Abraham’s faith is the paradigm of justifying faith—he received the
promise of God and trusted in it, not offering anything else to conceive the
promised son Isaac, for he had nothing to give (Gen. 15:1–6; Rom. 4:16–
25). Saving faith can be likened to an open hand that simply receives what
is offered, admitting that we have nothing in ourselves.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 142; Jeremiah 31:9; Luke 18:9–14; Philippians 3:2–11

APPLICATION

In our justification, we are like beggars before God. All we present is an

open hand, asking the Lord for His mercy and grace. Justifying faith is
conscious that we deserve nothing but condemnation and does not try to
make any excuse for sin or offer any merit in exchange for Christ’s
righteousness. Do you have that kind of utterly dependent trust in the Lord?
 DAY 67

WHAT IS SAVING FAITH?

JAMES 2:14–19 “YOU BELIEVE THAT GOD IS ONE; YOU DO WELL” (V. 19A).

Because faith is the only instrumental means by which we receive the

righteousness of Christ and so are declared righteous heirs of eternal life
(Rom. 3:21–4:25), it is critical that we understand what saving or justifying
faith is. After all, our Lord Himself warns that on the last day, some will
believe that they have been servants of Christ but in fact will be cast out of
the kingdom because they never actually believed in Him and hence never
did His will (Matt. 7:21–23). We do not want to be numbered among that
self-deceived group, and knowing what saving or justifying faith looks like
will help keep us from making a false profession of trust in the Savior.
When the Protestant Reformers considered the question of saving faith,
they found in Scripture three aspects that are essential for true faith. The
first of these is notitia, which is the intellectual content of what we believe.
Saving faith is faith in the person and work of Christ, so we must know
something about Jesus and what He has done if we are to have actual faith
in Him. This is evident from the very existence of the Christian gospel—we
tell people about Jesus, giving them biblical content for them to believe.
The second component of saving faith is assensus, or belief that the
content of the Christian gospel is true. It is possible to know something and
not believe it is true, and in fact we know many things that we do not
believe are true, such as the content of other religions. But as the Christian
faith is dependent on the historical reality of things such as the resurrection
of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:17), we must not only know that Christianity proclaims
the content of Christ’s historical resurrection, but we must also believe that
the resurrection happened (Rom. 10:9).
Finally, saving faith includes fiducia, which is placing trust in the One
revealed in the content that is believed to be true. Knowing what God has
revealed and believing it to be true is a good thing, as we read in today’s
passage, but it is not enough (James 2:14–19). Even demons know and
assent to the truth of God’s revelation, so merely knowing and believing
necessary truths for salvation such as the oneness of God are insufficient for
redemption (v. 19b). Mere knowledge and belief, as John Calvin comments,
“can no more connect man with God, than the sight of the sun carry him up
to heaven.” We also need to place our trust in Christ personally to save us.
We must believe that Jesus came to save us personally. We must place our
lives in His hands, pledging ourselves to follow Him no matter the cost.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 31:6; Proverbs 16:20; Isaiah 50:10; Mark 9:14–24

APPLICATION

By placing ourselves in Christ’s hands for salvation, we are not denying that
saving faith is essentially something that one receives. That is because
when we trust in Christ, we are not saying: “Here we are, and You are lucky
to have us. Look what we can do.” Rather, we are saying, “Lord, we have
nothing and are owed nothing; please take us and use us as You will.” In
giving ourselves to Christ, we are still asking for Him to give us everything,
for we have nothing.
 DAY 68

JUSTIFICATION AND OUR GOOD WORKS

JAMES 2:20–26 “FOR AS THE BODY APART FROM THE SPIRIT IS DEAD, SO
ALSO FAITH APART FROM WORKS IS DEAD” (V. 26).

One word—alone—separates the biblical doctrine of justification by faith

from the doctrine of justification by faith as defined by Roman Catholicism
and several other theological traditions. It is not enough to say that we are
justified by faith, for everyone who professes a belief in sacred Scripture
confesses that we are justified by faith. The division is between those who
believe, with the prophets and Apostles, that justification is by faith alone
(Gen. 15:1–6; Rom. 3:21–4:25; Gal. 3:10–14) and those who believe that
justification results from a combination of our faith and our good works.
However, to deny that our good works are in any sense part of the basis
of God’s declaration that we are righteous in His sight is not to deny that
Christians should—indeed must—do good works. Our good works are
related to our justification, but we must understand how they are properly
related to God’s justifying verdict. Simply put, good works follow God’s
decree of righteousness as the fruit of saving faith.
James 2:12–26 is one of the clearest passages in Scripture on this
subject. In this chapter, the Apostle is concerned to distinguish authentic
faith from the mere profession of faith. James critiques the person who
“says he has faith” in verse 14 and then says in verse 18 that you cannot
demonstrate faith without good works. Why are good works the necessary
proof that faith is real? The answer is because everyone who has actually
trusted in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). God declares us righteous
not based on His transformation of us but only on the basis of the perfect
righteousness of Christ (v. 21; see Rom. 5:12–21). Nevertheless, all who
have trusted in Jesus alone for salvation have also been transformed by Him
and are being renewed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). They cannot help
but do what is right, though imperfectly to be sure. And if there are no good
works in the life of a professing believer, that person has not been changed
and so has not been given the gift of faith, which requires the change God
the Holy Spirit works in our regeneration (John 3:5; Eph. 2:8–9).
In Scripture, the word translated as “justify” sometimes means “prove”
or “demonstrate” (Matt. 11:19). That is how James uses it in today’s
passage. Our works, James teaches, demonstrate our faith. That is, our faith
is justified or proven by our works. As John Calvin comments, we are not
justified “by a bare and empty knowledge of God,” but true, justifying faith
is outwardly revealed in our desire and efforts to obey the Lord.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 5:1–7; Matthew 3:8; John 15:8; Romans 7:4

APPLICATION

John Calvin also comments that the doctrine of justification by faith alone
does not make good works superfluous, but it only takes “away from them
the power of conferring righteousness, because they cannot stand before the
tribunal of God.” Our good works do not justify us, but if we do not have
them, we do not have the faith through which we lay hold of the justifying
righteousness of Christ.
 DAY 69

KEEPING GRACE GRACIOUS

ROMANS 11:6 “IF IT IS BY GRACE, IT IS NO LONGER ON THE BASIS OF
WORKS; OTHERWISE GRACE WOULD NO LONGER BE GRACE.”

Good works are an essential part of the Christian life. We see in Romans
1:5, for example, that Paul was called to preach so that the “obedience of
faith” might occur in “all the nations.” The Apostle preached the gospel in
order that people would believe and bear the fruit of obedience that flows
from true saving faith. Furthermore, those who profess faith show that they
are not just all talk but actually possess faith when they do not deny God by
doing evil works (Titus 1:16). In other words, when we do good and not
evil, we reveal that we have actually placed trust in Christ for salvation.
We must insist that works prove our faith. The Apostles know nothing
of people who can make Jesus their Savior without also submitting to Him
as Lord. To tell people that they can be carnal Christians, that they are
secure in Christ simply because they make a verbal profession of faith but
have nothing to show in the way of love for others and service to God, is to
give them a false assurance. Without any works whatsoever, we do not have
the faith that justifies (James 2:14–26).
But in insisting that works are necessary to prove faith, we must be on
guard lest we make our works part of the righteousness that we think moves
God to declare us righteous in His heavenly courtroom. It is a careful line to
walk indeed to insist that works are necessary to prove our faith but that our
works do not in any way justify us, but we must be committed to this lest
we deny the graciousness of grace. As Paul says in Romans 11:6, if our
election unto salvation and our justification are in any way based on our
works, grace will “no longer be grace.” Justification depends on the empty
hand of faith “in order that the promise may rest on grace” (4:16), which
thereby allows us to give God the glory alone for salvation. If justifying
faith merely rests in Christ and receives His righteousness, we make our
redemption entirely the work of the Lord, which not only redounds to His
glory but also gives us assurance. If our judicial standing before God is
based not on what we do but only on what Christ has done, then we can do
nothing to take ourselves out of His hands (John 10:27–29; Rom. 8:31–39).
To come before God with the empty hand of faith that receives Christ
requires that we first release any claim of righteousness. We must relax our
grip on our good works, confess our utter reliance on divine mercy, and not
bring our achievements before God as if He owes us His righteous
declaration for our obedience (Luke 18:9–14).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Micah 6:4; John 1:17; Romans 5:1–2; 2 Peter 3:18

APPLICATION

All true Christians have a desire to obey God, but how do we separate that
from our trusting in our own works? We know that we are trusting in our
righteousness when we begin to think that our standing before God is based
on our obedience. When we find ourselves thinking this way, we must
return to the gospel and remember that we stand before God unafraid only
when we are covered by the obedience of Christ.
 DAY 70

FAITH AND SANCTIFICATION

ACTS 26:12–18 “THAT THEY MAY TURN FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT AND FROM
THE POWER OF SATAN TO GOD, THAT THEY MAY RECEIVE FORGIVENESS OF
SINS AND A PLACE AMONG THOSE WHO ARE SANCTIFIED BY FAITH IN ME” (V.
18).

Martin Luther could hardly be accused of teaching that we are justified

by our good works, and this makes quite remarkable what he says about
saving, justifying faith in his introduction to Romans from his translation of
the Bible. He says that because of faith, we “freely, willingly and joyfully
do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and
praise the God who has shown [us] such grace. Thus, it is just as impossible
to separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire!”
Luther’s statement reminds us that faith not only leads us to be declared
righteous in God’s sight but also results in our sanctification, which is the
inward transformation we experience from the point of our conversion on.
When we consider sanctification, note that Scripture speaks of it in two
ways. First, the Bible describes the reality of positional or declarative
sanctification. When we trust in Christ alone for salvation, we are
definitively set apart as God’s holy people, our Creator’s special possession
(1 Peter 2:9–10). We are holy in God’s sight and are forever marked as His.
And yet, Scripture also tells us that until we are glorified, we are often
unholy in practice. So, God’s Word calls us to engage with the Lord in the
process of sanctification wherein we more and more die to self and live
unto Christ, seeking to obey Him in all things. Because we have been
marked out as holy, we are commanded to be holy, to become in our
experience what we are already in God’s sight (vv. 11–12).
 How does this process of sanctification advance? Since today’s passage
says we are “sanctified by faith” in Christ (Acts 26:18), the answer is that
faith is no less essential for our sanctification than it is for our justification.
We must believe God in order to bear fruit for God. Our Creator calls us to
do many things that seem strange from a this-worldly perspective. We are
exhorted not to trust in princes, our bank accounts, or anything else in this
world but to believe Christ and do what He says even when we know it will
come at a great cost to us personally (Ps. 146:3; Luke 14:25–33). We will
not place Him first and suffer for His name’s sake by obeying Him even
when it is difficult unless we believe that He will reward us with more than
we can ever imagine (Mark 10:29–31). In other words, without faith, we
cannot pay the cost of discipleship that is required to conform us to Christ’s
image. We are justified by faith, but even the sanctification and good works
that follow our justification are based on faith.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Romans 6:15–23; Galatians 3:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Jude 20–21

APPLICATION

Even our progressive sanctification—our life of growing in holiness that is

the necessary fruit of justification—depends on faith. By faith, we grow in
Christ, trusting in the promises of God so completely that we end up
following His commandments. When we feed our faith with the truths of
God’s Word, we are equipping ourselves to grow in holiness.
 DAY 71

LIVING ACCORDING TO FAITH

GENESIS 22:1–14 “THE ANGEL OF THE LORD CALLED TO HIM FROM HEAVEN AND
SAID, ‘ABRAHAM, ABRAHAM!’ AND HE SAID, ‘HERE I AM.’ HE SAID, ‘DO
NOT LAY YOUR HAND ON THE BOY OR DO ANYTHING TO HIM, FOR NOW I KNOW
THAT YOU FEAR GOD, SEEING YOU HAVE NOT WITHHELD YOUR SON, YOUR ONLY
SON, FROM ME’ ” (VV. 11–12).

Spend some time listening to testimonies of people who have been

converted to Christ, and it probably will not be too long until you hear a
promise that believing in Christ will make your life easier in some way.
Most people who say such things or who give the impression that the life of
faith is easy are motivated by a desire to see as many people converted to
Christ as possible, so their ways of speaking about Christ are
understandable. However, such individuals do a disservice to people who
are considering the claims of Christ. In truth, trusting in Jesus adds
complications to our lives that we do not have before placing our faith in
Him. Often in the Christian life, we have to trust God in hard places,
believing that He is commanding us to do things that are ultimately for our
good even if we cannot yet understand how that could be so.
The life of Abraham illustrates this point. Abraham often had to trust
God when it was difficult to do so, and he sometimes failed to believe the
Lord. He was promised many descendants, but when God seemed to be
taking too long to fulfill His promise, Abraham took matters into his own
hands and fathered Ishmael with his wife’s maid Hagar (Gen. 15:1–6; 16:1–
16). Such an action shows us that Abraham did not necessarily find it easier
to trust God than we do.
 However, the greatest test of Abraham’s faith did not come until years
after he had Ishmael. Decades passed and finally Sarah conceived a child,
and Isaac, the son of the promise, was born (21:1–7). The couple’s trust in
God was finally vindicated after years and years of waiting, and we can
hardly imagine the joy that Isaac brought to his parents. But soon this trust
was tested again when Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac, the son for
whom he had waited for what no doubt seemed like an eternity (22:1–2).
Abraham did pass his test, but clearly he struggled to do so. He did not
set out with Isaac right away, but he delayed his trip until morning, maybe
even hoping that God would call off the test (v. 3). It seems that Abraham
could finally move forward because he believed God would provide a
substitute for Isaac (v. 8), but since God did not tell him that explicitly, he
must have endured great agony until the Lord finally did provide the lamb
just in time (vv. 9–14). Abraham was no superhuman saint; he struggled to
trust God when it seemed impossible to do so. But he did trust God,
showing himself to be a model of faith for us.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Job 1:20–21; Habakkuk 3:17–18; Matthew 15:21–28; Hebrews 11:32–40

APPLICATION

Authentic faith does not trust God only when times are good. It also
believes God and acts upon His Word when doing so guarantees great
difficulties. Resolve now to trust God even when it is hard, and ask the Lord
to give you the courage, conviction, and stamina to continue following Him
even when doing so means you must pay a high cost.
 DAY 72

THE FRUIT OF FAITH

ROMANS 1:16–17 “THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH” (V. 17).

Authentic faith in our Creator is not a blind leap into the dark, but it is a
committed trust in God based on His revelation of Himself in nature and in
Scripture. It is not an act of irrationality but a conviction grounded in the
surety of the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor. 15). Knowing that the Lord is
trustworthy, faith holds firm to God even in the most difficult of
circumstances, confident that He will never fail to keep His promises (Gen.
22:1–14).
Faith is eminently rational because it is faith in the supreme revelation
of God—Jesus Christ. And as we see in the Gospels, those who trust in
Jesus are never the same. Faith results in a life of ever-increasing obedience
to our Maker, in our being willing to die unto ourselves more and more and
to take up our cross in following Jesus (Mark 8:34).
In sum, righteous people live by faith; their continuing trust in God
demonstrates that our Lord sees them as righteous, and they bear fruit in
acts of righteousness. This is part of what Paul is getting at in today’s
passage. Of course, our acts of obedience are not the ground on which we
are declared righteous in God’s sight, for only the perfect righteousness of
Christ is the basis for our acceptance by God (Rom. 5:12–21; 2 Cor. 5:21).
This righteousness is received only by faith. Nevertheless, those whom God
declares righteous He is also conforming to the image of His Son. Faith
continues after our conversion, our trust in God proving that we have been
reconciled to Him in Christ and moving us to greater and greater obedience.
 A few days ago, we saw that one essential component of saving faith is
fiducia, which is the personal trust that we place in Christ to save us. But
fiducia means not only that we entrust ourselves to Christ once but that we
do so over the course of our lives. We give our lives continually to Jesus,
pledging and living out our loyalty to Him. Inspired by our personal trust in
the promises of God, we are loyal to Him, and we strive never to
compromise our loyalty to Him and His way.
Loyalty to God bears fruit in our continuing commitment to Him but
also in our loyalty to others. Those whom God has declared righteous live
lives of integrity because they live by faith, by abiding trust and
commitment to God. Living by faith means we keep our promises to God
and to other people. It means we can be trusted when we make
commitments. By faith, we are being conformed to Christ, the eminently
trustworthy One, and so we imitate Him in becoming more trustworthy
ourselves.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Joshua 2; Proverbs 2:6–8; John 15:13; Ephesians 4:25

APPLICATION

Are you a trustworthy person? As believers have been predestined to be

conformed to Christ’s image (Rom. 8:29) and Christ is supremely
trustworthy, then evidence of Christian growth comes as we become more
trustworthy. As we live by faith, let us seek to become more trustworthy
friends, relatives, workers, and citizens.
SECTION V: SOLI DEO GLORIA

Soli Deo gloria—“to God alone be the glory”—sums up the purpose of

salvation and the teaching of the entire Bible. God’s own glory is His chief
motivation in all that He does, and it is for the purpose of displaying His
glory that God saves His people. Ultimately, we stress that the Lord is the
only Savior because He is glorified only when He is respected as the sole
author and finisher of salvation.
That God does everything for His own glory is the best way He can be
for us. Since He is unsurpassably worthy and beautiful, for Him to magnify
Himself allows us to see His incomparable worth and beauty. Only God can
satisfy us deeply and everlastingly, and when all things are done to His
glory, we begin to understand just how satisfying He is. Things not done for
the sake of God’s glory cannot last, but everything done for His glory will
be remembered forever. Most amazingly, we will participate in God’s glory
in such a way that we are glorified and that ultimate glory remains reserved
for Him forever. We will be like Him and see Him as He is.
 DAY 73

THE PRIMACY OF DIVINE GLORY

ISAIAH 42:8 “I AM THE LORD; THAT IS MY NAME; MY GLORY I GIVE TO NO
OTHER, NOR MY PRAISE TO CARVED IDOLS.”

One of the most basic distinctions we make in considering the doctrine of

God is between the communicable and incommunicable attributes of God.
Communicable attributes are those divine attributes that can be shared in
some way with human beings. For example, God can love and show mercy,
and humans can show love and mercy as well. There is a similarity, though
not an identity, between human love and divine love. Incommunicable
attributes, on the other hand, are divine attributes that cannot be shared in
some way with human beings. Divine eternity and self-existence are wholly
unique to God, for, unlike human beings, God has no beginning and He
depends on nothing outside Himself for His existence.
When it comes to the divine attribute of glory, we see in Scripture that
human beings can in some ways reflect the Lord’s glory. First Corinthians
11:7, for instance, describes man as the “glory of God.” Yet God’s glory is
incommunicable in some respects. This is what Isaiah 42:8 teaches us when
it tells us that our Creator will give His glory to nothing and to no one else.
The context of Isaiah 42:8 has to do with salvation, for in verses 1–7,
the Lord speaks of His working justice for His people, His opening of the
eyes of the blind, and His freeing of His people from bondage. The glory
that is revealed in God’s work of salvation He will not share with others. It
is His and His alone, and any attempt to take away from that glory by
giving sinners a meritorious role in their salvation is a grave sin against the
Lord.
 Moreover, that God will not share His glory in salvation with others
indicates the primary purpose of salvation. It would be easy for us to think
that the chief aim of God in our redemption is our restoration. While the
Lord is certainly seeking the restoration of His people in salvation, His
chief goal and impetus in saving sinners is His own glory. He will not share
this glory in salvation, so it must be precious to Him above all else.
If God’s highest aim is the furtherance of His own inherent glory—and
ultimately, everything He does is for His own glory—then that must be our
aim as well. Our entire lives must be spent working to make much of His
name, not our own. No other goal of ours should be greater than to see the
Lord’s glory magnified and proclaimed everywhere. To be a true servant of
God is to seek His glory.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 57:5; Isaiah 48:1–11; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Jude 24–25

APPLICATION

Jesus tells us that God bestows a certain kind of glory on us in salvation

(John 17:22), but this is not the kind of inherent divine glory that Isaiah is
talking about. There is a glory that belongs to God alone, that existed before
all things, and that is the reason for all things. We are called to point our
friends and family to that glory by what we say and by what we do.
 DAY 74

THE LIGHT OF GLORY

EXODUS 34:29–35 “WHEN MOSES CAME DOWN FROM MOUNT SINAI, WITH THE
TWO TABLETS OF THE TESTIMONY IN HIS HAND AS HE CAME DOWN FROM THE
MOUNTAIN, MOSES DID NOT KNOW THAT THE SKIN OF HIS FACE SHONE
BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN TALKING WITH GOD” (V. 29).

God esteems the glory that is inherent to His divine nature so highly that
He will share it with no other (Isa. 42:8). Among other things, this tells us
that the Lord’s greatest aim is to see His glory revealed throughout creation
and that we should also make exalting the glory of God our highest goal. If
the Lord values His glory above all else, then His glory is the most valuable
thing in existence, and we would be fools to set a higher value on anything
but that which our Creator deems most valuable.
So, we are to make the exaltation and proclamation of God’s glory our
chief aim, but that raises the question of what, exactly, God’s glory is. The
answer is not a simple one, and there will be limits to what we can say
about it. However, Scripture does reveal several aspects of God’s glory, and
today’s passage points us in the direction of one of the central aspects of
divine glory—bright, refulgent light.
As we see in today’s passage, when Moses met with the Lord to receive
divine revelation, his face then shone with such intensity that the Israelites
could not bear to look upon it (Ex. 34:29–35). That such brightness was a
reflection of divine glory is confirmed in passages such as Revelation
21:23, which says that the glory of God will be the source of illumination in
the new heaven and earth. There is an incomparable brightness, a dazzling
whiteness of light that is inherent to our Creator’s very being. This light is
so incredible, in fact, that when the plan of redemption is fully
consummated and creation has been transformed, the complete unveiling of
this glory will illuminate the entire universe.
When we think of dazzling light, we also think of such concepts as
purity, holiness, and truth. The blindness associated with judgment also
comes to mind. This is not surprising because Scripture also associates
these concepts or attributes with light (Ps. 43:3; Isa. 6:1–7; Hos. 6:5; John
12:41). Because of this, we can think of glory as in some sense summing up
all the divine attributes. In the bright light of the glory of God we find the
fullest picture of His holiness, His righteousness, His truth, His justice—of
His very character. And since God is incomprehensible—we can know Him
truly though not fully and not in the way God knows Himself—it makes
sense that we run into some difficulty whenever we try to describe His
glory. We can say much about it, but there is much that we cannot say until
that day when we see His glory in the new creation.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

1 Chronicles 29:11; Psalm 57:5, 11; Isaiah 60:1–3; 2 Corinthians

4:1–6

APPLICATION

Scripture gives us many indications of what the glory of God means, but
like His other attributes, God’s glory is not fully comprehensible to
creatures. There is a greatness and magnificence to the Lord that cannot be
expressed, and we won’t ever be able to comprehend God entirely—even
into eternity. We are to exalt His glory because it is the highest good and the
only thing that can ultimately satisfy human beings.
 DAY 75

THE GLORY OF DIVINE BEAUTY

ISAIAH 28:5 “IN THAT DAY THE LORD OF HOSTS WILL BE A CROWN OF GLORY,
AND A DIADEM OF BEAUTY, TO THE REMNANT OF HIS PEOPLE.”

Inherent to God’s very being is His divine glory, His refulgent light that
expresses His nature as holy, true, righteous, and just (Rev. 21:23; see Ps.
43:3; Isa. 6:1–7; Hos. 6:5; John 12:41). Yet while pure light, brighter than
we can even begin to imagine, is part of what defines the glory of God,
there are other ways in which Scripture speaks of divine glory. Certain
biblical passages connect divine glory with divine beauty, as we see in
Isaiah 28:5.
Divine beauty is something that the modern church does not often think
about, but it is essential to who the Lord is. Our Creator is so beautiful that
David’s highest desire was to gaze upon the very beauty of the Lord (Ps.
27:4). We also see how much God esteems beauty in the description of the
tabernacle and the priests’ garments. The holy garments of Aaron were
made “for glory and for beauty” (Ex. 28:2). Glorious colors and precious
metals were ordained by the Lord for the tabernacle, His earthly dwelling
place under the old covenant (Ex. 26). Being made in God’s image (Gen.
1:27), human beings esteem beauty and work to make their homes, their
clothing, and other things beautiful. Since God Himself is beautiful and the
standard of beauty itself, we cannot help but yearn for what is lovely.
We have seen that God has an inherent divine glory that He will not
share with any creature (Isa. 42:8). However, that does not mean that there
is no glory at all that He will give to His people. There is a glory of beauty
that our Creator will bestow on His children, as is evident in today’s
passage. This glory is God Himself, who will be for the remnant He saves a
“crown of glory” and a “diadem of beauty” (28:5). The Lord has already
made His people beautiful by clothing us with the robe of the perfect
righteousness of Christ (61:10), but that beauty is not yet fully evident to all
creation. But on the last day, in our glorification, all creation will see that
God has declared us righteous and made us His people when the “hope of
righteousness” is fulfilled (Gal. 5:5). On that day, Matthew Henry
comments, “God will so appear for [His people] by his providence as to
make it evident that they have his favour towards them, and that shall be to
them a crown of glory; for what greater glory can any people have than for
God to acknowledge them as his own? And he will so appear in them, by
his grace, as to make it evident that they have his image renewed on them,
and that shall be to them a diadem of beauty; for what greater beauty can
any person have than the beauty of holiness?”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 28:2; Psalm 96:5–6; Isaiah 4:2–6; 52:1; 60:9; Romans 10:15

APPLICATION

God has an inherent beauty of glory that cannot be shared with mere
creatures. However, there is a beauty He bestows on His people, the beauty
of Christ’s perfect righteousness that will vindicate us as God’s children and
citizens of heaven’s glory on the last day. Are you looking forward to that
day of the Lord’s vindication of His people?
 DAY 76

THE ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY

2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 “THIS LIGHT MOMENTARY AFFLICTION IS PREPARING
FOR US AN ETERNAL WEIGHT OF GLORY BEYOND ALL COMPARISON.”

Scripture places a high value on God’s glory, and it is not hard to figure
out why. Since the inherent glory of the Lord is something that He will not
share with others (Isa. 42:8), we know that His glory is something He prizes
highly; indeed, He prizes it more highly than anything else. We should
therefore set the glory of God as the goal and overarching emphasis of our
lives. Whatever we lose for the sake of making the Lord’s glory known will
be worth it when we see the dazzling light and beauty of the divine glory
(28:5; Rev. 21:23).
Glory has to do with light and beauty, but those aspects do not sum up
what the Bible means when it speaks of the glory of God. Interestingly, the
Hebrew word kabod, which is translated into English as “glory,” has the
root meaning of “weight” or “heaviness.” This offers a clue that glory has to
do with weight, and this is confirmed by passages such as 2 Corinthians
4:17, which speaks of the “weight of glory.”
But when we speak of glory as having to do with weight or heaviness,
what exactly do we mean? Essentially, we are talking about worth or value.
Things of value are often measured by their weight—for example, precious
gemstones such as diamonds. Scripture often speaks of the weight of
precious metals when it is talking about prices or trying to measure
generosity and wealth (Gen. 23:16; 24:22). So, glory and worth are
correlative concepts. God has a glory that surpasses the glory of anything
else in existence because He is of infinite value and worth.
 So, when we are ascribing glory to God, we are ascribing worth to Him.
We are telling others of His value and unsurpassed worth. This, in turn,
should shape what we do in and for Him. Our worship should evidence
great beauty and reverence, for the most worthy being deserves that kind of
worship. The Lord’s perfections should be regularly on our lips, for if we
truly value something, we will not fail to tell others about it. If God has
infinite worth and value, we should speak of His marvelous character. Since
we are to do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), we should have high
standards for our work and for how we treat other people. To work and
relate for the sake of the glory of God means doing things well and loving
people rightly, for we are seeking to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to
the infinitely worthy One (Rom. 12:1–2).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Samuel 22:4; Psalm 73:25–26; Colossians 1:9–12; Revelation 4:11

APPLICATION

How much worth do you ascribe to the Lord? We are apt to spend a great
deal of time thinking about and working for that which we value highly, so
the amount of time we dedicate to thinking about God’s glory and talking to
others about it can be an indicator of how worthy we find Him. Let us seek
to give glory to God and to help others understand His infinite worth.
 DAY 77

GLORY AND PURITY

JOHN 12:41 “ISAIAH SAID THESE THINGS BECAUSE HE SAW HIS GLORY AND
SPOKE OF HIM.”

John 12:41 records an interesting statement—namely, that Isaiah saw the

glory of Jesus. One might wonder how this was possible, for Isaiah lived
some seven hundred years before the life and ministry of Christ. But the
context helps us understand exactly what John is talking about. John 12:39–
40 refers to Isaiah 6:10 and the word given to Isaiah when he was called to
ministry and given a grand vision of the holiness of God. Isaiah saw God’s
glory (see Isa. 6:1–7), and John tells us that in seeing God’s glory at that
point, the prophet saw the glory of Jesus. This is a strong indicator of the
deity of Christ, for if Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus when he saw the glory
and holiness of the Lord, the prophet must have seen the preincarnate Son
of God.
But if Isaiah saw the glory of God when he had his vision of the Lord in
His majestic holiness, then we also see our definition of the glory of God
fleshed out. That is, when the Bible speaks of the glory of God, it is also
making reference to His holiness. And it is doing so in the two main senses
of the concept of holiness. First, holiness refers to “set-apartness.” To be
holy is to be set apart from what is common, and if God’s inherent glory is
something that He will share with no one (42:8), then in His glory our
Creator is set apart from all else. Holiness is also used in Scripture with
reference to moral purity. So, God’s glory goes hand in hand with God’s
purity. The beautiful light of divine glory is so blindingly pure because our
Creator is perfectly pure, free of all taint of evil. “God is light, and in him is
no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Our Creator cannot be tempted with evil,
and He tempts no one with evil (James 1:13). God is absolutely pure and
free of sin—so pure, in fact, that He is not even capable of sin. This
holiness coincides with His glory.
That the light of our Lord’s glory and His perfect holiness go together
helps to explain passages such as John 3:19. Taking on human flesh, God
became incarnate in the person of Christ Jesus and came into the world as
the light of the world. Yet, the result was to confirm wicked men in
judgment, for they, being evil, have loved the darkness rather than the light.
The darkness of evil cannot stand the light of God’s glory, for it is the light
of His holiness. Only when someone’s sin is atoned for can he stand in the
presence of divine glory (Isa. 6:1–7). We must be purified to endure the
glory of God (Heb. 12:14).

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 10:17; Ezekiel 28:20–22; John 8:12; Romans 13:12

APPLICATION

We will not love what is holy if God does not make us holy, and in Christ
the Lord not only declares us righteous in our justification but also purifies
us in our sanctification. If we trust in Jesus, we will be able to endure His
presence on that last day. And as we seek to grow in holiness, we will love
holiness more and more, and we will grow in our longing to view the glory
of God.
 DAY 78

THE SOVEREIGN GLORY OF GOD

PSALM 8 “O LORD, OUR LORD, HOW MAJESTIC IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE
EARTH! YOU HAVE SET YOUR GLORY ABOVE THE HEAVENS” (V. 1).

Post tenebras lux—“After darkness, light”—was one of the mottoes of the

Reformation. For too long, the light of God’s truth in the gospel had been
obscured by man-made traditions that made human beings responsible for
meriting their own salvation. So, when the Reformers recovered the gospel
from under the layers of inherited man-made doctrines and practices, it was
as if a light had dawned in the church once more.
We could also look at the Reformation motto as a rediscovery of the
true glory of God. Scripture often describes the glory of God as a bright
shining light (Rev. 21:23), and given that divine glory is also associated
with beauty, worth, and holiness (Isa. 28:5; John 12:41; 2 Cor. 4:17),
rediscovering the truth of the gospel also entailed a recovery of divine
beauty, worth, and holiness. For the God of Scripture proclaimed by the
Reformers is so holy that only He can provide us with the righteousness we
need to stand before Him. And in His work of salvation, we see the beauty
of the Savior and we understand by His grace that He alone is worthy of all
praise.
In addition to light, beauty, worth, and holiness, Scripture also
associates divine sovereignty with divine glory. We see this in today’s
passage, which proclaims that God has set His glory “above the heavens”
(Ps. 8:1). That is language pertaining to our Creator’s rule and reign, and
the rest of Psalm 8 bears that out. Verses 3–8, for instance, speak of God’s
sovereign choice to give human beings a high place in His creation and of
His delegating His rule over the creatures to humanity.
Other texts also tie glory and divine sovereignty together. First
Chronicles 29:11 features David’s song of praise in which he ascribes to
God both glory and kingly reign over creation. In 1 Thessalonians 2:12,
Paul says that God calls us into His kingdom and to His glory. The Lord is
referred to in 1 Timothy 1:17 as the “King of the ages,” and glory is
ascribed to Him in that passage. The glory of God is expressed in His
sovereign reign over all things.
We have said before that God’s glory, from one perspective, can be
considered a summary attribute. It sums up many different aspects of the
character of the Lord, such that to say God is glorious is to say He is
beautiful, true, worthy, pure, and sovereign. Christians long to see the glory
of God because in that glory they see the nature and attributes of God.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 15:18; Psalm 24:7–10; Luke 19:37–38; Revelation 11:15–19

APPLICATION

Because God is glorious, He is sovereign over all things. Because God is

sovereign over all things, He is glorious. We cannot separate these attributes
of His character, and one of the reasons that we emphasize the complete
sovereignty of God over every detail of creation is because we want to
emphasize His glory. God is most glorified by us when we ascribe to Him
full control over all things, even our salvation.
 DAY 79

GOD’S GLORY AND OUR JOY

PSALM 105:3 “GLORY IN HIS HOLY NAME; LET THE HEARTS OF THOSE WHO
SEEK THE LORD REJOICE!”

Jonathan Edwards, widely regarded as one of the most significant

Protestant thinkers of the past three hundred years, is known for his
emphasis on the glory of God. In his book The End for Which God Created
the World, Edwards observes that God’s pursuit of His own glory is not
contrary to our happiness. In fact, by seeking to display the fullness of His
glory, the Lord is at the same time seeking our joy.
How can this be the case? Since the highest aim of our God is to reveal
His glory—He does all things for the sake of His name and will share His
inherent divine glory with no one else (Isa. 48:9–11)—then His glory must
be the highest good possible. After all, what else would the perfectly good
Creator place first besides the greatest good? But if God’s glory is the
highest good possible, then we will find our greatest joy in the revelation
and proclamation of that glory, for there is nothing greater in existence than
His glory and therefore nothing that could bring us greater joy.
Today’s passage demonstrates the connection between the glory of God
and our joy. The psalmist calls for the people of God to glory in His holy
name, to revel in the revelation of His holy character, and to understand the
goodness and beauty of the Lord. This exhortation goes hand in hand with
the psalmist’s call for those who seek the Creator to rejoice (Ps. 105:3). We
seek the Lord as we glory in His name, and as we glory in His name we
find ourselves rejoicing, for seeking the glory of God is the very purpose
for which we were made. As Isaiah 43:1–7 explains, the people of God
were made by Him for the sake of His glory.
Because we who believe in Christ alone for salvation are the people of
God, we also have assurance that He is able to establish us as blameless in
the presence of His glory with great joy (Jude 24). Our Lord will certainly
be glorified, and He will be glorified in His wrath and in His salvation. For
those who do not know God in Christ, the revelation of His glory will be a
day of doom, not a day of great joy (Ezek. 30:3). But for those who have
been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God, it will be a day of
unsurpassed joy.
To seek the glory of God, therefore, is not contrary to our joy. In the
end, when we deny ourselves for the sake of the Lord’s glory, we are not
giving up anything at all. For we will experience the fullness of eternal joy
in His glorious presence.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 149; Isaiah 41:14–16; Romans 5:1–2; 1 Peter 1:3–9

APPLICATION

For all eternity, we will find our joy in the infinite glory of God. We
proclaim the gospel and call people to bow to the glory of the Lord not only
because He has commanded us to do so but also because we know that only
the redeemed, in the presence of the glory of God, will enjoy the fullest
human joy possible. As we share the gospel, we should call people to repent
for the sake of their eternal joy.
 DAY 80

GOD’S CONSUMING GLORY

EXODUS 33:17–23 “[THE LORD] SAID, ‘YOU CANNOT SEE MY FACE, FOR MAN
SHALL NOT SEE ME AND LIVE’” (V. 20).

After Israel’s idolatry with the golden calf (Ex. 32), Moses sought
assurance from God that He would indeed not utterly destroy Israel but
would go with the people and remain with them to set them apart from
other nations (33:12–16). The Lord, by His grace, reassured Moses that He
would stay with Israel, but then Moses made a remarkable request of God—
he asked to see the divine glory (vv. 17–18).
This request was incredible for several reasons. First, it shows us that
the true source of our assurance is God Himself. Moses had already seen
God’s mighty act of salvation in delivering Israel from the Egyptians in the
crossing of the Red Sea (ch. 14). However, given the sin of Israel, Moses
sought greater assurance that the Lord would not break His covenant with
His people even though they had broken covenant with Him. The only
assurance that could satisfy Moses was to have a vision of God Himself.
Second, Moses’ request is remarkable because in response God did
reveal an essential truth about His glory—namely, that it is all-consuming.
As we see in today’s passage, the Lord agreed to show Moses His goodness
but not His face directly, for no one can see the face of God—the fullness of
His glory—directly and live (33:19–20). Moses would have to be content
with a more indirect revelation of divine glory. He would get to see the
Lord’s “back” but not the Lord’s “face” (vv. 21–23). Since “God is a Spirit,
and has not a body like men” (Catechism for Young Children 9; see John
4:24), we know that “back” and “face” are anthropomorphic terms. The
Lord does not literally have a face or a back like ours, but these are
metaphors for a direct vision of God’s glory (face) and a lesser, indirect
vision of the same glory (back).
The Lord was gracious in granting Moses’ request and letting Him see
His glory only indirectly. One day, in fact, we will see the glorious face of
God, but that cannot happen until all sin has been removed from us. We will
see God because we will be like Him on that final day (1 John 3:2), but
until then, any sinner who would see Him directly would be consumed. The
Lord in His glory is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29), and so sin and sinners
cannot be sustained in His presence. Until we are fully renewed after God’s
image in our glorification, John Calvin comments, “it must needs be that
the incomprehensible brightness [of divine glory] would bring us to
nothing.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Numbers 16; Deuteronomy 4:24; Psalm 21:8–9; Hebrews 10:26–31

APPLICATION

That God in His glory is a consuming fire should shape us in many ways. It
should make us more reverent in worship and more humble in prayer, for
the God with whom we deal is not to be trifled with. He is the holy Lord of
the universe, and He should be treated with the deference and honor that He
deserves. He loves us deeply, but He is still our King and Sovereign.
 DAY 81

GOD’S GLORY AS CREATOR

REVELATION 4:11 “WORTHY ARE YOU, OUR LORD AND GOD, TO RECEIVE GLORY
AND HONOR AND POWER, FOR YOU CREATED ALL THINGS, AND BY YOUR WILL
THEY EXISTED AND WERE CREATED.”

Continuing our study of the glory of God, we begin today by noting that
there are at least two angles from which we can approach the topic of divine
glory. We have been focusing on what we might call the “divine angle.” In
other words, we can talk about God’s glory from the perspective of defining
what glory is and how it is manifested in our Lord’s character. But we can
also talk about the glory of God from a “human angle.” Here we are
thinking more about the human response to divine glory. For instance, one
cannot read very far in Scripture without reading an exhortation for people
to “give glory” to God (for example, Josh. 7:19).
What does it mean to give glory to our Creator? Essentially, giving
glory entails treating God with the gravitas that He deserves. God possesses
infinite weight—that is, infinite worth—and we must respond accordingly.
Because He is infinite in His perfections (Job 37:16; Rom. 11:33), we
cannot add glory to the Lord, so giving glory to Him does not mean that we
increase His glory or supply glory that He lacks. However, we can honor
God. We can approach Him with the praise He is due. That is how we give
glory to God.
God is due glory for who He is, but the Scriptures tell us also to give
glory to the Lord for what He has done. We see an example of this in
Revelation 4:11, where the elders and creatures in heaven proclaim that
God is worthy to receive glory because He created all things by His will.
The Lord is the source of existence, the One who has being in Himself and
therefore gives being or existence to everything else. He is self-existent,
depending on nothing else for His existence, but His creation is dependent,
so it would not and could not exist apart from His willing it into existence.
Only God can speak to nothingness and call things to exist (Heb. 11:3).
It would take a being of unsurpassed worth, a being who is perfectly
powerful—indeed, all-powerful—to bring something into existence that
previously had no existence. God did not simply rearrange preexisting
matter to make the universe; He called matter itself into existence.
Consequently, God possesses great glory as the Creator of all things, and
because He in His glory created all things, He is worthy to receive glory
from us. We are His creatures; He is our Creator. Therefore, our highest
honor and praise should go to Him alone. We can revere nothing greater
than we revere God, for there is nothing greater than our Creator.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 1:1; Psalm 90:1–2; Isaiah 40:28; 43:15; 45:7, 18–19;

Colossians 1:15–16

APPLICATION

It is easy for us to take the existence of the universe for granted, to think
that we are owed things simply because they exist. However, nothing would
exist if God had not created the universe, so we should regularly give the
Lord glory for His creation, for making us and for making everything that
we enjoy. Have you this day given God the glory for being your Creator?
 DAY 82

GOD’S GLORY IN SALVATION

ROMANS 9:22–24 “WHAT IF GOD, DESIRING TO SHOW HIS WRATH AND TO MAKE
KNOWN HIS POWER, HAS ENDURED WITH MUCH PATIENCE VESSELS OF WRATH
PREPARED FOR DESTRUCTION, IN ORDER TO MAKE KNOWN THE RICHES OF HIS
GLORY FOR VESSELS OF MERCY, WHICH HE HAS PREPARED BEFOREHAND FOR
GLORY—EVEN US WHOM HE HAS CALLED, NOT FROM THE JEWS ONLY BUT ALSO
FROM THE GENTILES?”

Isaiah 42:8 tells us that God will share His inherent divine glory with no
creature, and we have seen that His refusal to share His glory is particularly
evident in His work of salvation. The context of Isaiah 42:8 makes that
clear, for verses 1–7 speak of God’s work of redemption, His freeing of
captives and giving sight to the spiritually blind. God alone will receive the
glory in our salvation, for salvation is a manifestation of His glory. His
omnipotence, His mercy, His love, and His holiness are in a sense all
summed up in His glory, and all these attributes are on display in His work
of salvation.
Today’s passage helps us understand this point more deeply. In
presenting the doctrine of divine predestination, Paul explains that God
redeems some sinners and hardens others in order to put on full display “the
riches of his glory for vessels of mercy” (Rom. 9:22–23). Our Lord’s chief
end is to reveal and magnify His own glory, and God’s glory is seen in both
His mercy and His justice. First, with respect to the elect, God shows His
glory through His mercy. By saving us from sin and death, our Creator
reveals Himself as our Savior, and He is glorified for His saving work. And
because we are redeemed solely on account of His kindness and not for
anything in us, the credit and glory for salvation go only to Him, not to us.
His power, His mercy—these and other divine attributes are shown to us
when He saves us.
But Romans 9:22–24 also demonstrates that God’s patience with the
reprobate, those whom He has not chosen for salvation, also shows us the
riches of the divine glory. How is this possible? In the first instance, God’s
treatment of the “vessels of wrath” shows us divine glory because this
treatment manifests His justice. The elect will see the Lord justly condemn
the impenitent, and so they will more clearly see His attributes of justice
and righteousness, thereby receiving a fuller revelation of His character and
thus His glory.
Second, the contrast between the Lord’s dealing with the elect and His
dealing with the reprobate shows the riches of divine glory by giving a
fuller picture of divine mercy. When we understand that we deserve
salvation no more than the reprobate do, we will be in awe that God has
redeemed us. John Calvin comments: “The greatness of divine mercy
towards the elect is hereby more clearly made known; for how do they
differ from [the reprobate] except that they are delivered by the Lord from
the same gulf of destruction? And this by no merit of their own, but through
his gratuitous kindness.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 15:2; Psalm 106:47; Luke 2:25–32; 2 Timothy 2:10

APPLICATION

When we take our salvation for granted, we take God’s glory for granted,
and His mercy is obscured. But when we seek to understand the depth of
our sin and the sheer mercy of God, we will gain a better glimpse of the
glory of the Lord. Meditate on the riches of God’s grace today so that you
will see more clearly the riches of God’s glory.
 DAY 83

GOD’S GLORY IN JUDGMENT

ISAIAH 66:15–24 “I KNOW THEIR WORKS AND THEIR THOUGHTS, AND THE
TIME IS COMING TO GATHER ALL NATIONS AND TONGUES. AND THEY SHALL
COME AND SHALL SEE MY GLORY” (V. 18).

We can describe how people know the one true God in three basic ways.
First, all people know Him as Creator. He has made the world from nothing,
and He reveals Himself in the world such that all people have at least some
awareness of His attributes and hence some knowledge that He is the Lord
of glory (Ps. 19; Rom. 1:18–32). Second, those who trust in Christ alone for
salvation know the one true God as Savior. They, as undeserving sinners,
know His mercy in redeeming them, and through that knowledge have a
better understanding of His glory (Rom. 9:22–24). Finally, impenitent
sinners know God not as Savior but only as Judge. Try as they might to
deny it, they know their sin and that a day of judgment is coming (Rom.
2:1–16). And on that day of judgment, today’s passage tells us, all people
will see God’s glory manifested in His final judgment on wickedness.
Isaiah proclaims the coming day on which the “LORD [will] enter into
judgment. . . with all flesh” (Isa. 66:15–16). On that day, nothing will
escape God’s sight, for He knows the “works” and “thoughts” of all people
(v. 18). And on that day, mere ritual observance or outward religiosity will
save no one, for God will bring an end to the wicked, both those who make
an outward show of faith and those who reject His covenant outright (v. 17).
Yet that will not be a grim day for all people. For those who know
Christ, it will be a day of salvation, as God has already pronounced
judgment on His people: He has declared them righteous on account of the
imputed righteousness of Christ (Rom. 5:1–2; 2 Cor. 5:21). Thus, many
nations will come to God in Christ and be received as priests unto Him, as
those who have been granted the right to be in His holy presence unafraid.
All others, those who are not in Christ by faith alone, will at that point
receive judgment, and it will be a judgment of condemnation (Isa. 66:18–
24).
On that day, God will manifest His glory. All nations will see it (v. 18),
and it will be heralded by all (v. 19). For the Creator gets glory not only in
creating and saving people but also in executing His righteous judgment.
That day of judgment will magnify the Lord’s glory, for we will see His
attribute of righteousness on full display, and every mouth will be stopped
and unable to protest divine injustice, for it will be plainly evident under
God’s law that there is not injustice at all in our Lord (Rom. 3:19). God will
show His glory in the end.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 66:15–24; Ezekiel 39; Matthew 25:31–46; Revelation 16:4–7

APPLICATION

God’s glory will be shown on the last day when He executes final
judgment. On that day, the whole world will see His righteousness as
everything is set right and the wicked get the justice they deserve. Let us
give glory to God for His justice and pray that the day on which that justice
is fully revealed comes quickly.
 DAY 84

CHRIST THE GLORY OF GOD

HEBREWS 1:3 “HE IS THE RADIANCE OF THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE EXACT
IMPRINT OF HIS NATURE, AND HE UPHOLDS THE UNIVERSE BY THE WORD OF
HIS POWER. AFTER MAKING PURIFICATION FOR SINS, HE SAT DOWN AT THE
RIGHT HAND OF THE MAJESTY ON HIGH.”

Divine glory, we have seen, is often depicted as a blazing light that we

will fully see on the final day (Rev. 21:23). It is at the moment largely
veiled to us, for we do not yet see God face-to-face. Note, however, that we
have said that this glory is largely veiled to us, not completely veiled. It is
possible for us now, by faith, to see something of the glory of God.
That is one of the implications of today’s passage, which tells us that
Christ “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his
nature” (Heb. 1:3). If we want to know what God is like, we must look to
Christ, for Christ is God incarnate (Phil. 2:5–11). Divine patience, divine
love, divine wrath, divine holiness—we get the fullest picture of these in
Jesus.
But, we might ask, how can this also be true of the glory of God? After
all, did not the Son of God veil His glory when He took on human flesh? If
we are talking about the revelation of divine glory as blindingly pure light,
then the answer is yes. Apart from Peter, James, and John at the
transfiguration, no one who saw Christ during His earthly ministry saw the
light of divine glory (Matt. 17:1–2). Yet while Jesus veiled the light of His
glory, He did exercise other divine attributes such as His sovereignty over
creation when He calmed the storm (Mark 4:35–41). Since we have also
seen that God’s glory is in one sense the summation of His attributes,
anytime Jesus exercised divine attributes, people saw something of the
divine glory.
What about those of us who live today, two thousand years after the
earthly ministry of Christ? Do we see the divine glory? No, we do not see
the fullness of divine glory, and we will not see it until we meet God face-
to-face and all the light of His beauty and majesty is evident to us.
However, since Christ is the radiance of the divine glory (Heb. 1:3), it is
possible for us to catch a glimpse of this glory, not with our physical eyes
but with our spiritual eyes—with the eyes of faith. As we read Scripture and
believe what it says about Jesus and His exercise of His divine attributes
and prerogatives, we are, by faith, getting a look at the divine glory. To
know Christ by faith is to know God Himself, and to know God is to know
something of His divine nature, including His glory. John Calvin comments,
“God is truly and really known in Christ; for he is not his obscure or
shadowy image, but his impress which resembles him, as money the
impress of the die with which it is stamped.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Micah 5:2; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Peter 4:13; 2 Peter 1:16–18

APPLICATION

Today, we see something of God’s glory by faith as we trust in Jesus. One

day we will see this glory in its fullest sense, insofar as we are able as
creatures to see His glory, for on that day we will view Christ by sight and
not merely by faith. But that does not mean we get no true glimpse of God’s
glory now as we look to Christ. And as we grow in our knowledge of
Christ, we will also grow in our longing to see the fullness of the divine
glory.
 DAY 85

THE CHURCH AS THE GLORY OF GOD

JOHN 17:22 “THE GLORY THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME I HAVE GIVEN TO THEM,
THAT THEY MAY BE ONE EVEN AS WE ARE ONE.”

Christ, according to His divine nature, “is the radiance of the glory of
God” (Heb. 1:3). Being fully God (John 1:1), our Savior’s divine nature
possesses all the divine attributes, including the attribute of glory. And
given that divine glory can be spoken of, in one sense, as the summation of
all God’s attributes, every point at which Christ exercised His divine
attributes during His ministry gives us at least a glimpse, by faith, of divine
glory.
However, Christ is the glory of God not only according to His divine
nature, for in some sense He is the glory of God according to His human
nature as well. Consider today’s passage, for example. Jesus speaks of a
glory given to Him by the Father that He then shares with believers (John
17:22). Obviously, Jesus cannot be speaking of the inherent divine glory, for
only God can possess that glory. No, Jesus is talking about something
bestowed on His human nature, which can then be shared with His people
because we also possess a human nature. This glory is not identical to the
inherent divine glory, but it is so closely related to it that the glory given to
us in Christ can also be called God’s glory. John Calvin comments, “Christ
is not only the lively image of God, in so far as he is the eternal Word of
God, but even on his human nature, which he has in common with us, the
likeness of the glory of the Father has been engraved, so as to form his
members to the resemblance of it.”
 Ultimately, the kind of glory of which we speak is a derived glory, one
that is not inherent to humanity but was stamped on all people originally as
part of our being made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26). This glory was marred
in the fall, and it is being restored to its fullness in those who are united to
Christ by faith alone (2 Cor. 3:18). The church, then, can be called the glory
of God in the sense that God is renewing our image by sharing with us the
glory He has given to Christ. As the church fulfills its mission, unbelievers
can look at the church and say “God is at work there” (see John 13:34–35).
The church reflects the divine glory, and as we grow in Christlikeness, we
point others to God, the source of all glory. This must be at least part of
what Jesus is saying in Matthew 5:14–16 when He calls us the light of the
world. As we love one another and enjoy God’s presence in our midst, our
light shines before others, and they are directed to the Lord in heaven.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 46:13; John 5:30–47; 1 Corinthians 11:7; 2 Peter 1:3–4

APPLICATION

John Calvin writes, “No one ought to be reckoned among the disciples of
Christ, unless we perceive the glory of God impressed on him, as with a
seal, by the likeness of Christ.” Do you want to know if you are Christ’s
disciple? Look to your life and whether you are growing in Christlikeness.
Though we are never perfected in this life, we slowly become more like
Christ as we die more and more to sin and live more and more to
righteousness.
 DAY 86

ASCRIBING GLORY TO GOD

1 CHRONICLES 16:28–34 “ASCRIBE TO THE LORD THE GLORY DUE HIS NAME;
BRING AN OFFERING AND COME BEFORE HIM!” (V. 29).

Matthew 5:48 records Jesus as saying that we “must be perfect as [our]

heavenly Father is perfect.” In this verse, we learn that God demands
perfect righteousness from us, and since we cannot render such
righteousness (Rom. 3:9–20), Christ’s words ultimately drive us to Him for
our justification, for the gift of His perfect righteousness imputed to us.
We miss something, however, if we think Matthew 5:48 is only about
us. It is also about God, for we are told that our “heavenly Father is
perfect.” In the context of Matthew 5, the text is primarily about divine
righteousness and love, demonstrating that nothing can make God more
righteous or loving since He is perfect, and one cannot improve on
perfection. But we may extend this to all the divine attributes. Job 37:16,
for example, tells us that God is “perfect in knowledge.” He cannot learn
anything, for He already knows everything. God cannot grow in any of His
attributes, including His glory.
So, as we have seen, we cannot add to the divine glory. We cannot
increase the inherent glory of His being. As today’s passage states,
however, we can ascribe glory to God (1 Chron. 16:28–29). This involves
honoring the name of the Lord and treating Him with the reverence He is
owed. In so doing, we are also making His glory known to the world. We do
not ascribe glory to God for His sake, since He has possessed glory for all
eternity, but we do it for our sake and for the sake of the world.
 Today’s passage goes on to explain several ways that we can ascribe
glory to God. We do so by bringing Him offerings (v. 29), not of animals as
under the old covenant, but of ourselves as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1–2),
which testifies that He has made us and has lordship over us. We also
ascribe glory to the Lord in our worship and fear of Him (1 Chron. 16:29–
30). Worship is rendered to that which we believe is greater than we are,
and by worshiping the one true God, we acknowledge His unsurpassed
greatness, and the nations are thereby directed to His great glory. We
ascribe glory to God by thanking Him for His goodness, and people are
thereby reminded that He is the source of all good things (v. 34; James
1:16–17).
Finally, we ascribe glory to the Lord by proclaiming His sovereignty
and living like we mean it—that is, by following His royal law (1 Chron.
16:31). The Lord shows His glory in people who are committed to His rule
and reign.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 29; Isaiah 24:14–15; Jeremiah 13:16; Romans 4:20

APPLICATION

We design worship not for unbelievers but for the glory of God and the
edification of His people. However, reverent worship in which we ascribe
glory to God will be a testimony to unbelievers of the glory of God. By
seeking to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth according to His Word,
we are proclaiming Him to the nations. Our acceptance and participation
only in worship that is holy and reverent is a powerful testimony to our
neighbors.
 DAY 87

THE COMING KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S

GLORY
HABAKKUK 2:14 “THE EARTH WILL BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE
GLORY OF THE LORD AS THE WATERS COVER THE SEA.”

No one will be able to stand before God on the final day and say: “I was
never aware of You. You failed to show Yourself to me.” Scripture makes it
very clear that the Lord has revealed His power and His divine nature, at
least partly, in the creation (Rom. 1:18–20). He has even revealed His glory.
As David wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps. 19:1).
So, on some level, all human beings know that there is a glorious God
in heaven to whom they owe worship and thanksgiving. From the
unreached person in the remotest corner of the globe to the person who has
heard the gospel many times, everyone has some awareness of the existence
and nature of God.
And yet, there is coming a greater revelation of the glory of God
throughout the world. In one sense, the glory of God is already known
across the globe, but in another, “the knowledge of the glory of the LORD”
has not yet covered the world. This is what we learn from Habakkuk 2:14,
which predicts a day when the knowledge of God’s glory will fill the earth
“as the waters cover the sea.”
In the original context of today’s passage, Habakkuk is referring to the
destruction of Babylon and the rescue of the Israelites from the Babylonian
exile. The judgment of the enemies of God’s people and their redemption
from bondage would mark a further revelation of the divine glory—the
nations would see the Lord as the all-powerful Savior of His people. But
this prophecy must cover more than just the physical return from exile of
the old covenant people, for Isaiah 40–66 broadens the rescue from exile to
finally include a new heavens and earth, brought about ultimately by the
work of the Messiah who atones for the sin of His people. In that work of
judgment of sin and salvation of God’s children, the world will see an
aspect of divine glory that is not revealed in nature—they will see His glory
as Savior.
John Calvin comments on today’s passage, “The power, grace, and truth
of God are made known through the world, when he delivers his people and
restrains the ungodly.” The divine glory will be fully manifest on the final
day, but even now the knowledge of the glory of God continues to spread
over the earth. As the church serves her calling as the herald of the King,
making disciples of all nations, we bring to them the knowledge of God’s
glory in salvation (Matt. 28:18–20). And all those who receive this
knowledge in faith today, trusting in Christ alone for redemption, glorify
God as Savior.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Numbers 14:20–24; Jeremiah 23:24; Matthew 24:14; Romans 8:18–25

APPLICATION

In the time between Christ’s first and second advents, the Lord is spreading
the knowledge of His glory through the work of the church to disciple all
peoples. We are engaged in the greatest work possible and are used by God
to fulfill prophecy when we seek to take the knowledge of God’s glory in
the gospel to all peoples.
 DAY 88

SEEING GOD AS HE IS
1 JOHN 3:2 “BELOVED, WE ARE GOD’S CHILDREN NOW, AND WHAT WE WILL BE
HAS NOT YET APPEARED; BUT WE KNOW THAT WHEN HE APPEARS WE SHALL BE
LIKE HIM, BECAUSE WE SHALL SEE HIM AS HE IS.”

The Protestant Reformers were well known for their emphasis on faith.
Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the other Reformation leaders taught
without compromise that we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone, and
that God must grant us faith. For all their emphasis on faith, however, they
were also aware that our need for faith is temporary. They understood that
faith pertains to that which we cannot see (Heb. 11:1), and so they knew
that when the invisible finally becomes visible to us, faith will pass away.
We are talking about what theologians call the “beatific vision,” the
direct vision of God that we will enjoy for all eternity. That believers will
see the Lord not with faith but with their own eyes is our greatest hope, and
it is taught in passages such as 1 John 3:2. One day, we will be like God,
insofar as that is possible for creatures. We do not know fully what that
means, but certainly it includes the idea of moral perfection. Being like
Him, we will be able to endure His all-consuming glory, which today we
cannot bear because of remaining sin. In fact, today’s passage suggests that
our being like the Lord will somehow result from our seeing Him as He is.
Do we long to see God? We are blessed to live in a day that offers us
many comforts, and we should be grateful to the Lord for the many things
that make our lives much easier than the lives of those who lived even one
hundred years ago. But if we are honest with ourselves, we also live in a
day of many distractions, many enticements that promise to be more
satisfying than God Himself. Yet Scripture tells us that there is nothing
more beautiful, nothing more satisfying, than God Himself. We taste this
now in our salvation as we find Christ to satisfy our longings for
forgiveness, for meaning, for reconciliation with God. Imagine, then, how
much greater our satisfaction will be when we see the beauty of divine
glory face-to-face. We can hardly anticipate what that will be like, but it
will entail a delight of such magnitude that our suffering cannot even be
compared to it (Rom. 8:18).
Luther’s comments on Galatians that help us understand the beatific
vision give us a fitting conclusion to our study. “In the life to come we shall
no more have need of faith (1 Corinthians 13:12). For then we shall not see
darkly through a mirror (as we do now), but we shall see face-to-face. There
shall be a most glorious brightness of the eternal Majesty, in which we shall
see God even as He is. There shall be a true and perfect knowledge and love
of God.”

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Job 19:25–27; Matthew 5:8; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Hebrews 12:14

APPLICATION

What could possibly be better than seeing God face-to-face? Since He is the
source of all that is good, true, and beautiful, to see the Lord face-to-face is
to see goodness itself, truth itself, and beauty itself. No longer will we need
to be content with created things that only reflect these attributes, but we
will see the very attributes themselves. Let us yearn for that day when our
faith shall become sight.
 DAY 89

SHARING IN CHRIST’S GLORY

ROMANS 8:11 “IF THE SPIRIT OF HIM WHO RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD
DWELLS IN YOU, HE WHO RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD WILL ALSO
GIVE LIFE TO YOUR MORTAL BODIES THROUGH HIS SPIRIT WHO DWELLS IN
YOU.”

Death was not an original part of God’s creation; rather, it came into the
created order when Adam fell into sin (Rom. 5:12). It is the last enemy of
God’s people that will be destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26). Having already been
defeated through the resurrection of Christ, it will be destroyed on the last
day when Christ comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Man brought sin into the world, and death was conquered by a man—
the God-man Christ Jesus (Rom. 5:13–21). He brings life to His people,
both new spiritual life and the new physical life that our bodies will enjoy at
the resurrection. A connection exists between Christ’s resurrection and ours.
As Paul says in today’s passage, the very same Spirit who raised Jesus from
the dead will do the same for our mortal bodies (8:11). There is a continuity
between the resurrection of Jesus and ours. He is the firstfruits; we are the
harvest (1 Cor. 15:20–23). His resurrection was the guarantee of our own
resurrection. In fact, we have already been raised with Christ in principle;
we wait only for the experience of physical resurrection (Rom. 6:1–5). But
the resurrection of God’s people unto new, embodied, glorified life is as
good as done, having been secured by Christ’s resurrection in glory.
Since we will be united with Christ “in a resurrection like his” (v. 5),
our resurrection will likely be similar to His. When we look at the
postresurrection accounts of Jesus, we see that there was both continuity
and discontinuity between what He was like before death and what He was
like after His death and resurrection. Jesus’ postresurrection body was
enough like His preresurrection body that Mary Magdalene finally
recognized Him when He appeared to her, but His postresurrection body
was also different enough from His preresurrection body that she could not
recognize Him at first (John 20:11–18). Perhaps something like that will be
true of our resurrection bodies as well.
Paul explains this for us in 1 Corinthians 15:42–57, where he tells us
that the natural body sown in death will be raised as a spiritual body. He
does not mean a nonphysical body, for spiritual is not set in opposition to
the physical in this text. A spiritual body, instead, is one that has been
permeated with the Holy Spirit and granted immortality. The new bodies
that we will receive at the resurrection will be forever guarded from death
by the power and love of God. We will be imperishable, and all the
weaknesses introduced by sin will be no more.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Isaiah 25; Matthew 23:23–33; John 11:25; Colossians 1:18

APPLICATION

People may claim that death is just part of the natural order, but their
endeavors to delay or even prevent their own deaths prove otherwise.
Sinners are looking to escape death, but the only way to do so is through
resurrection unto eternal life, which is available only in Christ. The hatred
of death is a point of contact with the unbeliever that we can use as a
springboard to declare the promise of resurrection in the gospel.
 DAY 90

THE GLORIOUS RETURN OF CHRIST

ACTS 1:6–11 “MEN OF GALILEE, WHY DO YOU STAND LOOKING INTO HEAVEN?
THIS JESUS, WHO WAS TAKEN UP FROM YOU INTO HEAVEN, WILL COME IN THE
SAME WAY AS YOU SAW HIM GO INTO HEAVEN” (V. 11).

Eschatology, the category of systematic theology under which we study

the last things, continues to be the subject of much discussion and debate in
our day. Much of the discussion is related to such topics as the timing of the
millennium, the identity of the Antichrist, the place of the modern state of
Israel in prophecy, and other subjects. These arguments might lead us to
think that there is no consensus on eschatological matters in the Christian
church. However, that would be a wrong conclusion. As evident in the
ecumenical creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed,
believers from many different theological traditions agree on core
eschatological elements. One of these areas of agreement concerns the
return of Christ in glory.
When examining the Bible’s teaching on the return of Christ to
consummate His kingdom, we must take care to study only those passages
that actually deal with the subject. We say this because some of the texts
often referenced on the final return of our Savior may not address it. For
example, it is likely that most, if not all, of the Olivet Discourse recorded in
Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 20 has to do with Jesus’ judgment on
Jerusalem for rejecting Him, which occurred in the Roman destruction of
the city and its temple in AD 70. Those texts, therefore, are not the best
places to go, at least at first, when we are studying the final return of Christ.
 One of the clearest texts on the subject at hand is Acts 1:6–11, which
describes the ascension of Christ. This passage gives us three important
facts about the second advent. First, the return of Christ will be personal.
The angels note that “this Jesus” will return (v. 11). The very same person
whom the disciples saw depart that day will come back.
Second, the return of Christ will be visible. Jesus, the angels say, “will
come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (v. 11). The disciples
saw the incarnate Jesus ascend into heaven, so if He is coming in the same
manner to consummate His kingdom, we will actually see the God-man in
the flesh at the time of His final advent.
Finally, the return of Christ will be in glory. We read in verse 9 that a
cloud took Jesus out of their sight. That is significant because in the Old
Testament, God’s glorious presence often appeared as a cloud (for example,
Ex. 40:34). When Jesus comes back to bring the new heaven and earth, He
will come in the glory of God.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Daniel 7:13–14; Nahum 1:3; 1 Thess. 4:13–18; Revelation 1:7

APPLICATION

We do not know exactly when Jesus will return, but we do know that it
could be at any moment. Every breath we take could possibly be the last
one we breathe before Jesus returns. Knowing the imminence of Christ’s
return should spur us to serve the church and engage, as we are able, in the
work of making disciples. We do not want to be found idle when Jesus
comes back (Matt. 25).