God talk

  Bavinck reminds us about the two spiritual states we can be in.   Either living in the sinful nature or in the state of grace.   Grace is about the fact that everything we have is dependent on God’s love in Christ by the Holy Spirit.     I was creating some mats for coffee cups As Bavinck reminds us, Jesus proclaimed liberty to the ‘captives’: and “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21 NIV(Reformed Ethics; page 242)). He goes on to say that we have ‘Freedom’ in the Holy Spirit.   Before we go on, it is important to realize that Paul uses flesh a lot in his writings.   Paul is not saying that the human body is evil (This would be gnostic).   Flesh for him in certain passages means to live in an unholy way.   Paul sometimes gives us lists of these things: “ Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 2...

  Beautiful Sunset taken by Hasan Djemal 28 08 2021 In Bavinck’s first book we looked at humanity before the Fall, after the fall with us being under the natural law of nature.   Now the master theologian moves on to look at the new life in Christ.   As a starter into this very important topic Bavinck says: ” Only the Triune God has life in himself; all creaturely life is derived from and dependent upon God. While the drive for self-preservation characterizes all vegetative and sentient life, the spiritual life is characterized by love for God, in Christ, through the Holy Spirit Its fundamental principle is not found within the natural life but first arises through denial, self-crucifixion, renunciation, and loss of our soul. Love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit and fruit of the Spirit, gives stature and form to the spiritual life.” (Reformed Ethics; Herman Bavinck; edited by John Bolt; Book 2, chapter 7, page 239) Obviously, people who read this blog i...

  Christians with the aid of the Scripture can differentiate between nature and grace.   As Bavinck says: “When people awaken to consciousness of the self, they immediately become aware that they are not who they should be. There is a law in their heart, a law that stands above them and opposes the law within their members. This former law under girds their consciences, guiding them to choose between what is (relatively) good and evil. This gives rise to a struggle. The natural moral life is a life of conflict between good and evil. ” (Reformed Ethics; By Herman Bavinck; edited by John Bolt; Natural Morality; page 227) Thanks to  cottonbro from Pexels Bavinck then explains to us that our ‘moral disposition’ takes shape with lots of external forces such as social class, our environment and our personal temperament. (page 229;para2) Our consciousness in relation to nature keeps on developing in us so that it can seen as moral character.   He goes on to say: “...