Faith alone - 3 November 2010 |
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Here are the questions for session 36 of the Emmanuel Evangelical Church Guided Reading Course. We’re looking at Calvin, Institutes, III.xi-xvi (pp. 725-802) and Jonathan Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone. There’s two weeks’ worth of reading here, and though it’s quite demanding it’s very worthwhile.
Edwards’s work can be found online here and probably in other places too.
Calvin, Institutes
Chapter xi
1. How does Calvin define justification? How does he distinguish justification by faith from justification by works? (III.xi.2-3)
2. What do you think of the texts Calvin cites in support of his definition?
3. What would Calvin say if he heard an evangelist say, “We need to have our sins forgiven, and we need to have Christ’s righteousness counted to us”? (III.xi.iv)?
4. How does Osiander define justification (III.xi.5)?
5. How does Calvin respond to Osiander’s objection that faith does not justify in itself? (III.xi.7)
6. How does justification relate to union with Christ (III.xi.10)?
7. “It would be insulting to God and contrary to his nature that he should justify those who actually remain wicked” (III.xi.11). How does Calvin respond?
8. What misunderstanding of the relationship between faith and works does Calvin discuss in III.xi.14? How does he address it?
9. How do the “rank and file of the papists or Schoolmen” misunderstand justification, according to III.xi.15? What decisive difference between this notion and his own teaching does Calvin highlight in III.xi.16?
10. How does Calvin understand “the distinction between Law and Gospel” (III.xi.17)? Bearing in mind Romans 4:1–8, what do you think of this distinction?
11. What do “the Sophists” think of the phrase “justification by faith alone”? What does Calvin understand by this phrase? (III.xi.19) Do you agree?
12. What value, according to Calvin, do works have (III.xi.20)?
13. How, in Calvin’s view, is justification related to the imputation of Christ’s righteousness (III.xi.23)?
Section xii
14. Why is it so important to contemplate the judgment and perfect righteousness of God (see especially III.xii.1, 4, 8)
Section xiii
15. What two things are secured by the doctrine of gratuitous justification (III.xiii, especially sections 1, 4, 5)
Section xiv
16. In what sense(s), and on what grounds, does Calvin say that the good works of believers are pleasing in the sight of God (III.xiv.9-13, 20)? Do you agree?
Chapter xv
17. What does Calvin think of the term “merit”? Why?
18. Why, and in what sense, do our good works please God?
Chapter xvi
19. What allegation does Calvin address in III.xvi? How does he respond?
Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone
Section I
1. What conclusions does Edwards infer from Rom 4.5?
2. What thesis does Edwards seek to defend in this work?
3. How does Edwards define justification? Does his definition differ significantly from Calvin’s? If so, how? How does this difference impact his later exposition of the doctrine?
4. Why, according to Edwards, is it inadequate to describe faith as a condition of justification?
4. Why, according to Edwards, is it improper to describe faith as an instrument of justification?
5. How can we be said to be justified by faith alone, and not by good works, when faith is itself a good work?
6. What is the distinction between moral fitness and natural fitness, and why is it important?
Section II
7. Outline (briefly!) Edwards’s arguments in favour of his thesis. Are there any you find particularly striking? Why?
8. What does Edwards mean by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness?
Section III
9. How (briefly!) does Edwards relate obedience to justification in this section?
Section IV
10. Outline the 6th objection in this section, and Edwards’s response to it.
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Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Guided Reading Course, Minister's Blog