The wood is beautiful...

It got cut above the rot, but you can see here where it was starting to work upwards.

Thankfully, this one of Grandma's three "little trees" didn't get damaged too badly by the walnut's limbs crashing around it.

There were at least three in there--maybe more. (Doesn't that one on the right look like he's smiling?)

Ze man wit de chain-saw... (you can see in this picture how close the tree is to the road.)

     Racheal

Christ’s divine-human personality began at the instant of His miraculous
conception in Mary’s womb, when the angel Gabriel uttered the words to the virgin: “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28). (34)

Christ became incarnate, i.e., fully human, so that, as God and man in one person, He might take sinful man’s place before God’s law and satisfy God’s justice in his behalf by bearing in Himself man’s punishment for sin. In Philippians 2:5–11, Paul says that Christ existed in the form of God and, at the same time, existed in the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. (34-35)

The four points Isaiah stresses in 7:14 are: (1) The virgin birth is a sign; (2) The mother of the Child is one who is both unmarried and a good woman; (3) The very presence of the Child brings God to His people; (4) The name, Immanuel, cannot be applied to anyone who is not God, therefore the human child of the virgin is also God. (36)

In the incarnation the Holy Spirit created the humanity of Jesus from Mary, His mother....Because of the work of the Holy Spirit Christ “was born a true man, thinking, willing, and feeling like other men, susceptible to all the human emotions and sensations that cause the countless thrills and throbs of human life.” 44 Abraham Kuyper, The Work of the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,[1900] 1966), 83. (38)

In the incarnation the Holy Spirit preserved Jesus’ humanity from sin....From His conception throughout His life, Jesus was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” because of the work of the Holy Spirit. As the Son of God He was eternally holy and without moral blemish....Therefore it can be said, that whereas Christ was made SIN for us, He was never a SINNER. (38)

What was the role of God the Father and God the Son in the incarnation? The Holy Spirit effected the conception of Jesus. This is not to say that He is the Father of Jesus, or that the other Persons of the Trinity had no part in the incarnation. Just as in the creation of the universe, so in the incarnation all Three Persons of the Trinity
were active. Furthermore, it is Biblical to say that the Two Persons of the Trinity, the Father and the Son, worked through the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. (39)

"...The relation of the Holy Spirit to the human nature of Christ is that of Creator and creature. It is the first Person of the Trinity, not the third, who is Christ’s Father [Eph. 1:3].”47 The Holy Spirit is the executive of the Godhead, the agent of the will of God, carrying out the will of the Father and the Son. 47. Edwin Palmer, The Holy Spirit (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed, [1958] 1964), 65–66 (39)

The two ways in which man becomes a sinner by birth, were not in effect in Jesus, who was kept sinless by the Holy Spirit from conception. (40)

First...The integrity of Christianity as a religion of redemption stands or falls with its reality. (42)


Second, belief in the virgin birth is important with reference to the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible. (42)

Third, the issue of the virgin birth and incarnation of Jesus is important "as a test for a man to apply to himself or to others to determine whether one holds a naturalistic or a supernaturalistic view regarding Jesus Christ." 54. Machen, The Virgin Birth of Christ, 387. (43)

Fourth, this issue is also important because it makes it impossible for us to separate the “Jesus of history” from the “Christ of faith,”... (44)

Fifth, a person’s knowledge of the Savior would be incomplete without faith that the New Testament passages on the virgin birth are true. (44)

Sixth, "the knowledge of the virgin birth is important because of its bearing upon our view of the solidarity of the race in the guilt and power of sin.… How, except by the virgin birth, could our Saviour have lived a complete human life from the
mother’s womb, and yet have been from the very beginning no product of what had gone before, but a supernatural person come into the world from the outside to redeem the sinful race?" 57. Machen, The Virgin Birth of Christ, 395. (45)

To summarize: believing what the Bible says about the virgin birth of Jesus is vitally important because: (1) If it is rejected the authority of the Bible is denied. (2) It brings before a person the supernaturalness of the person of Jesus. (3) Without the virgin birth, there is something seriously lacking in one’s view of the person and
work of Jesus Christ. (45)

It asserts: (1) Her perpetual virginity; (2) Her immaculate conception, i.e., she was conceived without sin; (3) Her glorious assumption, i.e., her resurrection, ascension and enthronement at Christ’s right hand as the “Queen of Heaven”; (4) Her present position as “Co-Redeemer” with Christ. (47)

The Bible, on the other hand, gives us an accurate, and beautiful, picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The highest honor ever given to a woman was conferred upon her by God. The crown and glory of all motherhood was bestowed upon her. She was chosen by God to be the mother of the Son of God. Although she was a sinner in need of a Savior, as she herself admits in Luke 1:47... (47)

In order to resolve the prevalent heresies and to maintain the truth of the Bible, the response of the Council of Chalcedon was essentially this: Jesus Christ is one person with a truly human nature and a fully divine nature united without detracting from or confusing the characteristics of the human nature with the perfections of the divine nature. (50)

      Racheal

(Savannah has the prettiest bedroom walls!)

I pinned the ends of my braid across the top of my head (and the sections together right behind my ear to keep the looped braid from flopping).

      Racheal

There were several loads this size...

It had also "eaten" that old brick fire-place thing too...I had forgotten that. (And obviously, this was taken after most of the vine was already out.)

I almost flipped off there backward once...glad I didn't because it would have hurt--and I probably would have mashed the back of my hat!

A "tree-nymph"...or something. (What a jolly green mustache have I!)

Being a goofy with the nippers. (Stationed between the peach on my left [right as you view] and the maple and lilac mess on my right [your left]; below are the currant. ;])

     Racheal

Man is in a fallen and sinful condition (Rom. 3). He is under God’s condemnation, and his sin has separated him from his Maker (Rom. 1–2). ...God’s attitude toward mankind is no longer one of indiscriminating affection. Therefore a mediator is necessary if God is to be placated and if man is to be induced and enabled to turn from his sin to God. ...If fallen man is to be restored to God’s favor, a mediator MUST be provided, because of God’s very nature. Human sin has so offended
and insulted all of God’s glorious perfections, that He MUST be repulsed at it. Everything God is, is against human sin. Everything sin is, is against the holy God. (6)

The Bible makes absolutely clear that the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the one and only Mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5). He alone can be that divinely appointed Mediator for two reasons: (1) Only He possesses all the divinely appointed and divinely prophesied traits of that Mediator; and (2) The time has already passed for the Messiah promised in the Old Testament to make His
appearance. (9)

Furthermore, Jesus of Nazareth was the Mediator-Messiah, because of the “fullness of time” in which He lived (Gal. 4:4). The promised Messiah of the Old Testament must have already come, because the time has passed for His coming (Gen. 49:10; Dan. 9:24–27). He was to come while the second Temple in Jerusalem was standing (Hag. 2:6f; Mal. 3:1f), while the Jewish state was still intact (Gen.
49:10), and while Jerusalem was still the capital of the Jewish theocracy (Hag. 2:6f; Isa. 2:3; Isa. 62:1). (10)

His most definitive name and title is THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Acts 11:17; 28:31; 15:26; 20:21). ...The title “Lord” (kurios in Greek), is applied to God in the Greek 
Old Testament and is the equivalent of “Jehovah.” To call Jesus, “Lord,” is to confess Him to be Jehovah incarnate (John 1:14), and to confess that His authority is exalted and supreme (Mark 12:36f; Luke 2:11; 3:4; Acts 2:36; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:11). (11)

The name “Jesus” means “Savior.” It is the Greek form of the Hebrew word for “Joshua,” which is derived from two words meaning “Jehovah is our salvation.” (11)

The name, “Christ,” means “the anointed One.”...It points us to the fact that God has appointed and commissioned Jesus to save His people as their Mediator; and that He has fully equipped Him with the Holy Spirit beyond measure to carry out the offices of prophet, priest and king (John 3:34; Ps. 45:7, John 6:27; Matt. 28:18). (12)

Jesus is fully God and fully man in one person forever, or as the Shorter Catechism says, “God and man in two distinct natures and one person, for ever” (WSC, Q. 21)....The “Word,” who is the Son of God, equal to God, and “of the same substance” with God, came to possess a fully human personality, intellect, soul and body, in addition to His divine being and perfections, which remained unchanged. When we speak of the divine nature of Jesus as being “one substance” with God, and of His human nature as being “of her [Mary’s] substance,” we are saying that Jesus from His conception was really and truly a human being, possessing all the properties of man, making Him fully human; and that He possessed all the perfections of God, (who is His perfections), making Him truly and fully God. Whatever can be said of God can be said about Jesus, and whatever can be said about man can be said about Jesus, except that He was and is sinless....although these two natures are united in one person, yet each retains its respective properties or perfections.(15-16)

Jesus is God. This is the emphatic and unequivocal testimony of the entire Bible. (17)

First, the Bible gives Jesus names and titles that belong to God alone. He is actually called “God” and “the Son of God” over forty times in the New Testament....In Titus 2:13, we are told to look forward to “the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” And Jesus Himself said, “I am the Son of God” ( John 10:36).

Second, the Bible attributes to Jesus perfections that belong to God alone.

Third, the Bible records the words of Jesus which only God can speak. Only God can forgive sins (Mark 2:7), and yet Jesus can say, “My son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5). Exodus 20 says that the Sabbath is to be sanctified unto Jehovah alone; but Jesus says that He is “the Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). 

Fourth, the Bible ascribes works and activities to Jesus which only God Himself can perform. Christ is the Creator of the universe. Speaking of Him, the apostle John wrote: “All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). 

Fifth, the Bible says that we are to give to Jesus Christ the worship and reverence that belong to God alone. Throughout the Bible we are strictly forbidden to worship any mere man, and yet we are commanded to worship Christ, the Son of God. (17-20)

(1) His deity kept His humanity from sinking into oblivion under the weight and full force of the infinite wrath of God and the power of death (Acts 2:24f)....human nature united to the divine nature, as in Jesus, would not sink under the weight of
wrath, for if it did sink, “then it would have been said, that he who is a divine Person, miscarried in an important work which he undertook to perform in his human nature, which would have been a dishonour to him.” 18

(2) His deity gave infinite value and eternal effectiveness to His redeeming work as a man in our behalf (Acts 20:28; Heb. 9:14). If the Mediator were only human, sinless though He might be, and although His actions and sufferings were perfect, yet, being a finite creation, nothing He did could be of the infinite value demanded by God’s justice....The Mediator must obey all the demands of God’s Law in such a way that that law is fully honored; therefore the required obedience must not only be sinless, it must be of infinite worth.

(3) As God, Jesus was able to give His Holy Spirit to His people.

(4) Only as Almighty God incarnate could our Mediator conquer all our enemies...

(5) If Christ is to bring His chosen people to everlasting salvation, He must be God....This is all a truly divine work, therefore, He who performs it must be a divine Person.

(6) It is essential that our Mediator, Jesus Christ, should be God, because the everlasting happiness of His people consists in their enjoyment of Him. He not only is the producer of their eternal blessedness, He is the very heart of it.

A seventh reason is that Jesus, our Mediator, had to be God in order to live, even in death, and to give life to those who were dead. No mere man can voluntarily lay down his life in death, and then take it back again....He said, “I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up
again” (John 10:17f).

18. Ridgeley, Commentary on the Larger Catechism, 1:484. (20-22)

While remaining no less than God, in possession of all that makes God God, Jesus was, and is, at the same time, really man, possessing all that makes man man. Christ has a true physical body....Being fully human, Jesus had a rational soul. He was not merely half-human and half-divine....As a child, He “increased in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52), i.e., intellectually, spiritually and physically. (24)

“It belongs to the truth of our Lord’s humanity, that He was subject to all sinless human emotions.” 24. Benjamin Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, ed. by Samuel G. Craig (Philadelphia, PA: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1950), 93. (24)

Jesus was neither remote and cold, nor was He dominated by uncontrolled human
emotions. He was warm, personal, and in total emotional control. But the fact that He experienced the whole range of human emotions is testimony to His true humanity. (25)

To be our Savior, Jesus, the Son of God, identified Himself completely with mankind, which involved the assumption of flesh and blood, as well as all human feelings, sensibilities and frailties. By this incarnation He was fully qualified to be our High Priest and our substitutionary sacrifice, turning away God’s wrath from us. Representation and substitution require identification. (25)

(1) It was necessary for the Mediator to be human “that He might advance our nature.” The greatest honor and dignity to which human nature could be advanced is to be taken into an inseparable union with the Second Person in the Holy Trinity.

(2) It was necessary for the Mediator to be human “that He might… perform obedience to the Law” (Gal. 4:4)....The Law not only demanded punishment for sin, it also demanded perfect obedience from man. Therefore, the obedience of the Mediator had to be performed by a man. 

3) It was necessary for the Mediator to be human “that He might… make intercession for us in our nature” (Heb. 2:14; 7:24, 25). God does not make intercession, for intercession includes worship, and presupposes dependence, which is inconsistent with God’s self-sufficiency and independence. Intercession
is prayer, and only men pray. Therefore, Christ’s making intercession for us is possible because of and the necessary result of His incarnation.

(4) It was necessary for the Mediator to be human “that He might… have a fellow-feeling [sympathy] of our infirmities.”...As the omniscient God, the Mediator has a perfect knowledge of our weaknesses, but not an “experiential knowledge” of them. Only a human being can actually experience weaknesses in his life, having passions and emotions.

(5) It was necessary for the Mediator to be human “that we might receive the adoption of sons, and have comfort and access with boldness unto the throne of grace.” Galatians 4:4–5 makes clear that the Son of God became incarnate to
redeem His people “that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Since man had sinned against God, man must bear the spiritual and physical penalty for that sin (John 12:27; Acts 3:18; Heb. 2:14; 9:22).

(26-28)

The humanity of Jesus Christ never had a separate existence or personality of its own; but from its conception in the womb of Mary, it was united to the second Person of the Trinity, God the Son. This is an intimate, eternal and inseparable union, yet the two natures are not confused, and each retains its own essential human characteristics and divine perfections....To say that the Word became flesh is not to say that the second Person of the Trinity ceased to be God. It is to say that the second Person of the Trinity came to possess human characteristics in addition to His divine perfections, which remained unchanged. God became man in Christ, not by changing Himself into man; but by uniting Himself with man’s nature. (29)

In the incarnation of Christ, the union of the divine Person with the human nature constituted one single person, “which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ,”(WCF, VIII, ii)....His single, theanthropic (divine-human) personality was not even dissolved in His death. Between His death and resurrection, His physical body and His human soul, although separated in death, were still united with His divine nature. (29)

To be effective in His work as Mediator, Jesus Christ was and is altogether free from sin. (31)

He had to be human so He could actually die. He had to be God so He could continue to live and give infinite value to His death. (31)

In order to reconcile us to God, the works of each nature in Christ must be accepted by God as the works of the whole person....Furthermore, the works of each nature of Christ are to be relied on by believers as the works of the whole divine-human Person of Christ. (33)

      Racheal

#1.  Acknowledge the blog that nominated you. 
#2. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger created. 
#3. List 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers that deserve some recognition. 
#4. Write 11 questions for them to answer. 
#5. Notify them they've been nominated.

      Racheal

      Racheal

In the Covenant of Grace in Christ, God not only provided a Mediator, freely offers sinners life and salvation in Him, and requires of them faith in Christ so as to receive that life and salvation, but He also “promiseth and giveth his Holy Spirit to all his elect, to work in them that faith, with all other saving graces; and to enable them unto all holy obedience” (WLC, Q. 32; emphasis added). The Westminster
Confession simply says that in the Covenant of Grace, God promises “to give unto all those that are ordained unto life his Holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe” (WCF, VII, iii). (865)

These two statements from the Catechism and Confession imply several truths. (1) God has elected a certain number of people to eternal life, who are in due time brought to faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit: “as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). (2) Sinners are in and of themselves unwilling
and unable to believe in Christ: “No one can [is able] come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). (3) God promises to give His people the very thing He requires of them: faith in Christ that they might be saved. (865)

Along with faith, the Holy Spirit also produces in God’s people “all other saving graces,” thus enabling them “unto all holy obedience.” (866)

Why does an inseparable connection exist between saving faith and “saving graces”? In the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and the Son in eternity, it was agreed that the elect would not only be redeemed from sin’s punishment, but that they would also be saved from sin’s power, sanctified by the Spirit and enabled by Him to live faithful lives, before they were brought into the glory of heaven. (867)

“All holy obedience” refers to what the apostle calls “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5), which is that obedience to God that grows out of and is motivated by faith in Christ, in contrast to a legalistic obedience that obeys God in an effort to merit His blessings....“Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). When the Holy Spirit renews the heart of a person, bringing him to new life in Christ, He gives him the gift of faith and the desire and ability to obey God’s revealed will: “I will give you a new heart…and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” (Ezek. 36:26–27...). (868)

James and Paul are not contradictory of each other, they are complementary. Paul is telling us that we are saved by faith in Christ alone; and James is telling us that we are saved by a faith that is not alone, but which proves itself in obedience to Biblical Law....Paul uses Genesis 15 to prove the necessity of faith; James uses Genesis 22 to prove the necessity of “holy obedience” as proof of true faith. (870)

The point of this passage in James is a fundamental one: genuine faith produces an obedient life; and therefore, an obedient life is sure evidence of saving faith. (870)

This “holy obedience” that is rooted in faith in Christ is also sure evidence of the genuineness of “thankfulness to God.” (871)

The Bible reveals one great Covenant of Grace, manifested in several historical covenants, which Covenant over-arches and unifies the Old Testament and the New Testament structurally and thematically. (873)

The Covenant of Grace was administered in the Old Testament by promises (Rom. 15:8), prophecies (Acts 3:20, 24), sacrifices (Heb. 10:1), circumcision (Rom. 4:11), the passover (1 Cor. 5:7), and by various other types, ceremonies and ordinances, viz., the Tabernacle and its furniture and the Levitical priesthood. (875)

Types are those actions, names and personages in the Old Testament that foreshadowed, or “fore-signified” Christ....(1) They are rooted in history (Matt.
12:40; John 3:14). (2) They are prophetic in nature (Gen. 14; Heb. 7). (3) They are divinely designed as an integral part of redemptive history....(1 Cor. 10:1–11). (4) They are Christ-centered, pointing to Him in one way or another (Luke 24:24, 44; Acts 3:24–26). (5) They are edifying and have meaning to believers in both dispensations (Deut. 30:6; Hosea 14:2; Zech. 6:9–15). (875)

The purpose of the revelations, ordinances and types of the Old Testament was to fore-signify Christ and to build up the elect of God in faith in the promised Messiah. (876)

The church in the Old Testament had a clearer understanding of Christ in the ceremonies, ordinances and types of that administration than is commonly recognized today....Furthermore, the Old Testament believers also experienced more profound spiritual blessings than is commonly recognized today. In fact, what believers in the New Testament experienced, the Old Testament believers experienced, but not in the same measure of light, clarity, power and abundance. (878)

More specifically, for example, full forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation were not merely promises to the Old Testament believers which the New Testament church could expect; they were blessed privileges actually enjoyed by the Old Testament church as many of the Psalms teach us. (878)

Jesus Christ is the substance of both the Old Testament and the New Testament administration of the Covenant of Grace. (879)

Since the coming of Jesus Christ and to the very end of history, the Covenant of Grace is administered “in the preaching of the Word and the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper” (WCF, VII, vi). (880)

In 2 Corinthians 3:9, Paul is comparing and contrasting the older covenant and the
New Covenant, and he states: “For if the ministry of condemnation [the older covenant] has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness [the New Covenant] abound in glory.”...Thus, the New Testament saving ordinances, although less ornate and fewer, are more powerful and less obscure than the Old Testament ordinances, because, in the preached Word, we offer a Savior who has come and is present, who has actually accomplished eternal salvation for all His people once-for-all. The sacraments no longer “fore-signify” Christ to come, but are signs and seals of the crucified, risen, and exalted Christ, present with His people by His Spirit in the Word and sacraments. (881)

Hebrews 12:22–29 also speaks to the greater power, clarity and glory of the New Covenant, as well as the greater accountability to obey God’s Law of those who are members of it, than those who were under the older covenants. (881-882)

Because the Church is now one body with no ethnic distinctions, the mission of the Church is to make the world’s nations Christ’s disciples, because Christ “wast slain, and didst purchase for God with (His) blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And…hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God” (Rev. 5:9). (883)

This view is such a radical paradigm shift that it can affect every aspect of one’s understanding of God and salvation. The focus of this new view is on what its adherents call “the objectivity of the covenant.” (884)

According to their teaching, being baptized into the organized church is equivalent to entering into the covenant of God.... For them, to be in the visible church is to be “in Christ.” So, they say, by water-baptism God incorporates a person into Christ and, being “in Christ,” from that moment God promises that person all the blessings of the salvation that are in Christ—regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification—unless he should apostatize and be excommunicated, at which time he would no longer be “in Christ”and therefore would lose the salvation he did in fact possess so long as he was a member of the organized church. They teach that, since Christ is “the elect one,” a person’s union with Christ by water-baptism 
proves that person is also one of the elect of God. Thus, in their view, excommunication makes a baptized person no longer one of the elect, since he is no longer “in Christ.” According to their teaching, God promises all who are baptized the blessings of salvation, but of a salvation that can be lost after it has been possessed. This means, if we follow their view, that divine election and divine reprobation are not irreversible. (884-885)

Therefore, according to this new view, in the New Testament’s teaching on the covenant of God, election can be possessed and lost; union with Christ can be possessed and lost; “baptismal regeneration” can be possessed and lost; justification, adoption and sanctification can be possessed and lost. (885)

This new view of “the objectivity of the covenant” goes off track by failing to keep clear two Biblical distinctions: first, the distinction between the corporate election of Israel as a nation (in the Old Testament) and the soteric election of individuals in Christ (in both Testaments), and second, the distinction between being baptized
into the organized church and being incorporated into Christ. (885)

In the Old Testament, Israel was chosen by Jehovah nationally to receive special privileges and to be set apart from all the nations of the world for the purpose of bringing salvation to the world in the Messiah. (885)

This theocratic election of the nation of Israel, however, did not guarantee either the eternal salvation of the nation or of all the individuals within that nation. Therefore, it is to be distinguished from the particularized and soteric election of individuals within the nation to eternal life, which doctrine is taught in the Old Testament (1 Kin. 19:18; Ps. 95:8–11; Isa. 1:9; 10:22,23), as well as in the New Testament (Eph. 1:3f; Rom. 9:22; John 15:16). (886)

As privileged as ancient Israel was to be nationally elected by God, that theocratic election, as her theocratic adoption, was inferior to the soteric election and adoption of individuals in Christ. (887)

Jesus made the point that the elect must be saved eternally, when He said, concerning the fall of Jerusalem, that “unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short” (Matt. 24:22). (889)

The point of this discussion is simply this: election as it is explained in the New Testament is soteric election that infallibly causes the person elected to receive all the blessings of the eternal salvation to which he was elected. It is not dependent upon anything in the elect, nor can it be reversed. Hence, not all who are baptized are the elect, for not all baptized people go to heaven when they die. Furthermore, the phrase “in Christ” is not to be identified with membership in the organized church by baptism; nor does it denote some external covenant membership by a baptized unbeliever. When a person is “in Christ,” he or she eternally possesses all the eternal, and therefore unlosable, benefits of salvation that are applied to us by virtue of our being in union and communion with Christ. 33 Over against this view is that of Douglas Wilson and the others who hold to this new view of covenant objectivity: “So there is such a thing as genuine covenantal connection to Christ which is not salvific at the last day.” (Reformed is NotEnough, 133). Wilson’s and Shepherd’s interpretation of the vine and branches parable of John 15 also represents this new view. (891)

The new view on the objectivity of the covenant includes a doctrine of baptism that approaches that of Roman Catholicism. It holds that by water-baptism a person is brought by God into union with Christ as the source of his promised salvation. Therefore union with Christ, being described by this view as a covenantal union, is an objective relationship—being “in Christ” is being in the organized church; hence it is not only an objective-external relationship, it is a conceivably losable relationship. (892-893)

Although a person has been chosen in Christ before the creation of the universe (Eph. 1:4), and redeemed by the death of Christ two thousand years ago (Gal. 3:13), he does not become an actual recipient of the benefits of that salvation until they are effectively applied to him by the Holy Spirit of God. (893)

We are “in Christ” and Christ is “in us,” if Christ’s Spirit dwells in us. He is the bond of this union we have with Christ. (893)

...“every believer is personally united directly to Christ. The representation that the life which is in the Church through Christ flows from the Church into the individual
believer is decidedly unscriptural, not only in its sacramentarian but also in its pantheistic form (Rome, Schleiermacher, and many modern theologians). Every sinner who is regenerated is directly connected with Christ and receives his life from Him,”...42. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 450–51. (894)

Water baptism is a sign and seal of this union and communion we have with Christ (Gen. 17:7–14; Rom. 6:3–6; 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:27, 28; Col. 2:11,12). (895)

First, we are adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ: “for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Faith, not baptism, is the means of that adoption, as Galatians 3:26 and John 1:12 make unmistakably clear....Therefore, as soon as a person believes in Jesus Christ, in that very moment he is adopted into God’s family, whether that is before or after his baptism with water. (896)

Second, we are adopted into God’s family by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ: “For all of you … were baptized into Christ.” (896)

Third, our union with Christ is signified and sealed to us by water baptism. (897)

We learn in the first paragraph ([WCF]28:1) that the purpose of baptism is twofold: (1) For the solemn and public admission of a person into the institutional church; and (2) To be a sign and seal of that person’s participation in the salvific blessings of God’s covenant through faith in Jesus Christ. The second paragraph (28:6) also teaches us two truths about the “efficacy” of baptism: (1) It is not
inseparably tied to the moment in which water baptism is administered; and (2) By the right use of baptism the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred, by the Holy Ghost to those to whom saving grace has been promised and therefore to whom it properly belongs, i.e., the elect (Eph. 1:3–4). The point here is that baptism is an effective means of grace to those to whom that grace is promised and to whom it belongs. To them that saving grace is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. (900-901)

In baptism as a sign, “God condescends to our weakness… He also advertises that great truth [of our union with Christ] by an ordinance which portrays visibly to our senses the reality of this grace. It is a testimony which God has been pleased to give to us so that we may the better understand the high privilege of union with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”54 Further,

"[As a seal, baptism] authenticates, confirms, guarantees the reality and security      of this covenant grace. It is not indeed indispensable to the grace sealed; the           grace exists prior to the seal and the seal does not produce the grace sealed. ...
    
"It is apparent that as a sign or seal [water baptism] should not be identified with that which is signified and sealed....The sign or seal presupposes the existence of that which is signified or sealed. Hence baptism is the sign and seal of a spiritual reality which is conceived of as existing. Where that reality is absent the sign or seal has no efficacy.…55 54. Murray, Christian Baptism, 87. 55. Murray, Christian Baptism, 86–87.(901-902)

Each word is important. (1) “Baptism” is a sign and seal of salvation. (2) “Now” is a word often used by Peter in his first epistle (1:6; 1:12; 2:10; 2:25). It denotes the time of the new covenant, “the last days,” the day of salvation, the reign of Christ, the dawn of the age to come in history in Christ. (3) “Saves” is in the present tense
denoting “continuing saving.” The sign and seal of the covenant continues the effects of salvation in us, which are ours by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8–9; Acts 16:31)....(4) The pronoun, “us,” refers to those who possess salvation by faith, “who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure” (1 Pet. 1:1–2). (905-906)

How then does baptism save? Peter gives a twofold answer.
(1) Its saving efficacy is inseparable from “a good conscience,” i.e., a conscience “cleansed…from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14), by “the blood of Christ” (9:14), “through faith” (Rom. 3:25).
(2) Its efficacy is “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God” (vv. 21–22). Without Christ’s resurrection, intercession and reign at God’s right hand, which presupposes His prior death and burial, baptism would be an empty ritual. (907)

As circumcision in the Old Testament, baptism, as a sign of the covenant, places the one baptized into a realm of God’s special blessings and special curses (Deut. 28; Lev. 26). If that person lives faithfully and in accordance with what his baptism signifies, because he has truly received from God the spiritual realities it signifies by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8–9; John 3:16), God shall bestow upon him rich covenant blessings. (909)

The actions of the resurrected Christ signified and sealed in the sacraments are sometimes spoken of in terms of the visual signs that represent them (Ezek. 36:22;
Ps. 50:8; Matt. 26:27, 28; Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:11, 12; Gen. 17:10, 13; Ex. 13:21; 34:5; Ps. 47:6). This is proper because 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 (WCF, XXVII, ii). (910)

Entering the covenant is not to be identified with being baptized into the organized church. (912)

God’s covenant, at heart, is “a relationship of friendship between God and man, a communion of life, in which man is made to share in the divine life” according to Lewis Bevens Schenck. 70 Lewis Bevens Schenck, The Presbyterian Doctrine of Children in the Covenant, (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, [1940] 2001), 6. (912)

...if baptism is to be a means of grace assuring a person of his participation in the covenant life and bond with the triune God: (1) It must be used rightly, i.e., received with faith in Jesus Christ. (2) The person baptized must be one to whom the saving grace of God’s covenant belongs, i.e., he must be one of God’s elect
in Christ....(3) The time and specific nature of the efficacy of baptism in God’s elect is sovereignly determined by the good pleasure of God. (915-916)

First, it is possible for an unregenerate, and even non-elect, person to be baptized and thereby be publicly initiated into the visible church, either upon a credible profession of faith in Christ and the Bible, or as a child of the covenant, being born of a baptized parent....Only God can see the heart. At the same time, among the children of believers there are Esau’s and Ishmaels, who are not in communion with God because they are devoid of faith, but who do bear the sign of the covenant. (916)

Second, the visible church is the covenant community of God. It is that body of people who bear the sign of the covenant, who have confessed faith in the covenant God, and who have publicly professed that they will be wholly and only the Lord’s, along with their children. Not all who make these public and objective commitments are in communion with God (Matt. 7:22–23). (916-917)

Third, the covenant relationship that God has established with His people in Christ has two aspects to it: (1) A communion of life with God based on the redemptive work of Christ; and (2) A sovereignly-dictated order of life by the covenant Lord, consecrating those who bear the sign of the covenant to Himself. (919)

Not all who have received the sign of the covenant, i.e., baptism, are in possession of covenant life and communion with God. The salvific promise of the covenant is made to believers and their seed organically in that the true and elect seed of God is to be found ordinarily among the natural descendants of those who are baptized into the organized church. Only the true seed are in union and communion with Christ. God does not promise to bestow salvation on each and every person who is baptized. (923)

Since the promise of the covenant is made to Christ’s Church organically and corporately, we are to consider all those who have been baptized and have made a credible profession of faith in Christ and the Bible to be the regenerate sons and daughters of God, along with their children, unless by their lives they prove themselves to be apostate and are excommunicated. (924)

...when it comes to our covenant children, we are to view them in the light of the revelation of God to us in His Word, i.e., in terms of the promise of the covenant: “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you
throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you” (Gen. 17:7). (926)

In other words, we must not separate our faith in God’s promise concerning our children from our sustained faithfulness in their Christian nurture. (927)

     Racheal

Have I showed you the screen-door Daddy made for my room out of chicken-wire? This allows the air to move a little more freely...

*Gasp* I can see my bookshelf!!! I moved that table--it was where the clothes rack now is and the clothes rack was where the table is. (Excuse the ironing pile...I really do need to get around to that too!)

I am hoping that the lamp will stay upright and that Curio will not knock it over and break the light bulb--again! I can also get to my radio again which is really nice!

Yes, the cats are still getting used to it...they have been going around sniffing everything to make sure it's safe! :D (I use this clothes rack because I cannot get my clothes in the closet with Katherine's. Yes, we probably have a few too many...)

It warms my heart to see a portion of my magnet collection back up on the wall! These are mainly my 'military' magnets (there are a few non-military ones up there.) I have oodles of State and National park magnets too. And the occasional, random, odd one from places like a gator farm...

     Racheal

     Racheal