Reformed Christian Studies

 By William Boekestein - Posted at Place for Truth: Salvation is like a treasure that becomes more precious to us the better we understand it. One way of better understanding our salvation is to study what theologians call the ordo salutis , or the order of salvation, the “process by which the work of salvation … is subjectively realized in the hearts and lives of sinners.” [i] Romans 8:30 is the classic text on how God saves: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Embedded in those terms are additional concepts that fill out our understanding of salvation, but this verse provides biblical warrant for itemizing the motions of divine grace. Ultimately, salvation is like a single golden chain, one unified work of God. Still, to get to know our great salvation we can study each of the links in turn. The first link is election, God’s eternal and gracious choice to save some sinners. But to

 By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at Thoughts From Parson Farms: The Blessing of Effectual Calling in the Grace of the Redeemer Good Morning! This week as we look at the catechism questions as the Divines usually do they take one subject from the previous section and expand on it. When it comes to salvation and how men are saved, and thereby shown to be members of the invisible church, well it needs to be clarified how all that works. As with all questions of doctrine and life the answer that every preacher normally wants when he asks a question is: Jesus. The situation is no different here. Men are dead in sin by the use of their free will and they maintain their place in perdition through the act of that same desire. What changes them to want by nature to no longer be aliens, but friends of the Most High God? Again, the answer is no different: Jesus. For today’s Larger Catechism help we’ll be examining what it is about the second person of the Trinity that makes all the difference