OT/NT/ST/CH: 12/2/2022

Halley’s “Bible Handbook:” discusses the fall, God’s foreknowledge, man’s freedom and sin. For Psalm 31, Prof. Calvin discusses God as a “fortified city” for the believer. Zondervan Pictorial Bible: “Israel:” deals with the early Monarchial period of David. For Genesis 30: Prof. Keil discusses the labor contract between Laban and Jacob. For Judges 18, Prof. Keil discusses the lineage of the Danites from Moses onwards. For Isaiah 14.24-32, Prof. Henry notes that Assyria will fall by God’s hand. God’s people will be delivered. ISBE on Johannine Letters, Prof. I. Howard Marshall discusses false teachers and the Anti-Christs. For Mathew 12.29ff., Prof. Jamieson discusses the unpardonable sin. For Romans 8.12-28, Prof. Hodge discusses the Holy Spirit as enabling and uttering words of need on behalf of the believer. For Acts 2.37-42, Prof. Henry focuses on the power of the Holy Spirit in Peter’s preaching and in effectually calling to salvation 1000s. Frederick Copleston’s “History of Philosophy: Greece and Rome (1.1):” discusses Socrates conviction that there was absolute truth and knowledge versus the relativism of others. EDT: William Law (1686-1701): cites a “Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life” (1729), encompassing all spheres of living, a volume that influenced John Wesley, George Whitfield, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Whyte and Charles Simeon. For Theology Proper (locus 2): Prof. Hodge discusses materialism as rebutted by reason. For Theology Proper (locus 2), Prof. Reymond affirms the historicity of the First Adam, outlining objections offered by decadent ones denying the analogy of faith. For Theology Proper (locus 2), Prof. Berkhof comments on God’s righteousness, and law. For Apostolic Christianity, Vol. 1 (1-100) Prof. Schaff quotes Suetonius and Tacitus on the prevailing corruptions in the Roman Empire. It’s a worse picture than Paul affords in Romans 1.18-32. For Medieval Christianity, Vol. 4 (590-1073), Prof. Schaff comments Greek hymnists and poets in the medieval period, citing Maximus the Confessor, a martyr and Monothelite. For the Swiss Reformation Vol. 8 (1519-1605), Prof. Schaff comments on what might be called the Book of Order—dealing with baptism, divine services, catechesis, confirmation and confession of faith, funerals, visitation of the sick, and prisons under the taxonomic structure of the Venerable Elders, Teachers, Doctors, and Deacons. For Dr. Cranmer, Prof. MacCulloch comments on English Anabaptists caught up in a net of inquisition in 1538. The Germans had written a letter to the English warning of them. Unfortunately, a man like Lambert was burned in 1538, an everlasting stain on Cranmer’s reputation. Philip Schaff’s “Creeds of Christendom, Vol.1:” Prof. Schaff discusses Zwingli’s manuscript on the faith sent to Francis 1 a few months before his death. It’s bold, direct, clear and courteous. But, Francis was a frivolous monarch, holding to Popery in France but dealing cordially with Swiss and German Protestants. A double-minded man. 1994 CCC: our infallibilists in paragraphs # 850 talks about church divisions and impairments to unity making Christian witness difficult.