Bonhoeffer on Meditating on God's Word

Why do I meditate?

Because I am a Christian. Therefore, every day in which I do not penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God's Word in Holy Scripture is a lost day for me. I can only move forward with certainty upon the firm ground of the Word of God...

Because I need a firm discipline of prayer. We like to pray according to our moods - briefly, at length, or not at all. But that is to be arbitrary... We are not free to engage in it according to our own wishes. Prayer is the first divine service in the day. "Early in the morning I cry out to you, for in your word is my trust" (Ps 119:147)...

Because I need help against the ungodly haste and unrest that threaten my work as a pastor. Only from the peace of God's Word can there flow the proper, devoted service of each day.

What do I want from my meditation?

... We want to meet Christ in his Word. We turn to the text in our desire to hear what it is that he wants to give us and teach us today through his Word. Meet him first in the day, before you meet other people. Every morning lay upon him everything that preoccupies you and weighs you down, before new burdens are placed upon you. Ask yourself what still hinders you from following him completely and let him take charge of that, before new hindrances are placed in your way.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Instructions in Daily Meditation from Meditating on the Word, tr. David McI. Gracie

Calvin on the primacy of righteousness by faith

Old Life quotes the following from Calvin in response to the teaching of Trent:

We, indeed, willingly acknowledge, that believers ought to make daily increase in good works, and that the good works wherewith they are adorned by God, are sometimes distinguished by the name of righteousness. But since the whole value of works is derived from no other fountain than that of gratuitous acceptance, how absurd were it to make the former overthrow the latter! Why do they not remember what they learned when boys at school, that what is subordinate is not contrary? I say that it is owing to free imputation that we are considered righteous before God; I say that from this also another benefit proceeds, viz., that our works have the name of righteousness, though they are far from having the reality of righteousness. In short, I affirm, that not by our own merit but by faith alone, are both our persons and works justified; and that the justification of works depends on the justification of the person, as the effect on the cause. Therefore, it is necessary that the righteousness of faith alone so precede in order, and be so pre-eminent in degree, that nothing can go before it or obscure it.

(“Acts of the Council of Trent with the Antidote,” in Selected Works, vol. 3, p.128)

Jesu, priceless treasure

Jesu, priceless treasure,
Source of purest pleasure,
Truest Friend to me;
Ah! how long I've panted,
And my heart hath fainted,
Thirsting, Lord, for Thee!
Thine I am, O spotless Lamb,
I will suffer nought to hide Thee,
Nought I ask beside Thee.

In Thine arm I rest me,
Foes who would molest me
Cannot reach me here;
Though the earth be shaking,
Every heart be quaking,
Jesus calms my fear;
Sin and hell in conflict fell
With their bitter storms assail me,
Jesus will not fail me.

Wealth, I will not heed thee,
For I do not need thee,
Jesus is my choice;
Honours, ye may glisten,
But I will not listen
To your tempting voice;
Pain or loss, nor shame nor cross,
E'er to leave my Lord shall move me,
Since He deigns to love me.

Farewell, thou who choosest
Earth, and heaven refusest,
Thou wilt tempt in vain;
Farewell, sins, nor blind me,
Get ye all behind me,
Come not forth again:
Past your hour,
O Pride and Power;
Worldly life, thy bonds I sever,
Farewell now for ever!

Hence, all fears and sadness,
For the Lord of gladness,
Jesus, enters in;
They who love the Father,
Though the storms may gather,
Still have peace within;
Yea, whate'er I here must bear,
Still in Thee lies purest pleasure,
Jesu, priceless treasure!

(Translated from Francke's Jesu, meine Freude by Catherine Winkworth)

Berkouwer on sanctification and faith

For Berkouwer, the Sola fide is central in all thinking about sanctification as well as justification. Quotes from Studies in Dogmatic Theology, Vol. 1: Faith and Sanctification:

The moment sanctification is ejected from the temple of faith, and hence of justification, that moment justification by faith has become an initial stage on the pilgrim’s journey, a supply-station which later becomes a pleasant memory!

...any view of regeneration, faith, and sanctification, must be weighed and tested by the criterion of whether it does justice to the forgiveness of sins as the only ground and source of sanctification.

Cf. Article 24 of the Belgic Confession:

We believe that this true faith being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God, and the operation of the Holy Ghost, does regenerate and make him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin.

My God, in Thee all Fulness Lies

My God, in Thee all fulness lies,
All want in me, from Thee apart;
In Thee my soul hath endless joys,
In me is but an aching heart;
Poor as the poorest here I pine,
In Thee a heav'nly kingdom's mine.

I leave to Thee whate'er is mine,
And in Thy will I calmly rest;
I know that richest gifts are Thine,
Thou canst and Thou wilt make me blest,
For Thou hath promised, and our Lord
Will never break His promised word.

Thou lov'st me, Father, with the love
Wherewith Thou lovedst Christ Thy Son,
And so a brightness from above
Still glads me though my tears may run,
For in Thy love I find and know
What all the world could ne'er bestow.

Translated from Mein Gott bei dir ist alle Fülle (Anon) by Catherine Winkworth

Schouls on the Covenant of Grace, Part III

Schouls essentially affirms the former position: covenant as objective reality, but requiring personal appropriation. He reasons:
- The covenant of grace is conditional, demanding of us repentance and faith. Its membership is not therefore limited to the elect.
- The "internal holiness" position leads to unacceptable qualifications of the covenant: some are said to be in the covenant in an external way, or under its influence but not really in it. As Schouls says, "Either they are in or they are not in."
- We should follow Calvin (in his comments on Genesis 17:7) in seeing the promise as given to all in the covenant, but needing to be ratified by faith:

Here, then, a twofold class of sons presents itself to us, in the Church; for since the whole body of the people is gathered together into the fold of God, by one and the same voice, all without exception, are, in this respect, accounted children; the name of the Church is applicable in common to all: but in the innermost sanctuary of God, none others are reckoned the sons of God, than they in whom the promise is ratified by faith.

- The covenant can be likened to a marriage, which we can despise and reject.

I think Schouls is right in his conclusion:

We believe this to be main-line Reformed. We believe this ... stresses squarely what should be: faith and repentance... Without faith it is not possible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and unless a man is born again, which is made evident in his repentance, he cannot even see the kingdom of God, let alone enter it (John 3:3). This is true, also of covenant children.

Schouls on the Covenant of Grace, Part II

His notes on differing understandings within the Dutch tradition of the meaning of covenant membership are very interesting. Two differing positions developed out of the 1834 Secession churches:

Covenant as objective reality

- De Cock entertained a broad view: the covenant is an objective reality for all those baptized into it. To be in the covenant means to have the benefits of Christ promised to one; the reality of the covenant does not depend on an act of faith, although faith is needed in order personally to apprehend the promises.
- This view distinguishes between covenant members and the elect; the promises of the covenant are by nature conditional on personal repentance and faith.
- Pieters and Kreulen asserted that the holiness of children referred to in 1 Cor. 7:14 is the external holiness belonging to all in the covenant (rather than the internal holiness of the regenerate).
- Many of those who broke from the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (see below) to form the Reformed Churches (Liberated), including Schilder, adopted this position.

Covenant as the regenerate only

- Scholte emphasized that only those who could confess their faith, and confirm it by their walk of life, could be seen as true covenant members. These members are the regenerate, possessing internal holiness.
- Joffers said that the covenant was made with the elect only.
- This view did not necessarily imply a narrow view of who was in the covenant. Joffers appeared to view all baptized infants as regenerate/elect. A. Kuyper promoted the belief that infants were to be baptized on the presumption of their regeneration (his belief that all infants possess the "root" of faith lent support to this belief).
- While Kuyper affirmed that one must be vigilant in preaching faith and repentance, since the presumption might turn out, on future evidence, to have been mistaken, some of his followers failed to do this, leaving a legacy of presumed spiritual life.
- The 1905 synod at Utrecht of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (a new union including most of the Secession churches) affirmed the teaching of presumed infant regeneration "until... the opposite should be shown from their walk or doctrine". The justification, however, for infant baptism is simply the command and promise of God. (NB The Christian Reformed Church of North America adopted these decisions at the 1908 synod at Kalamazoo.) Schouls comments that in this system preaching typically urges the hearers to live as the regenerated people they are presumed to be.
- Kersten (who in 1908 united several independent congregations into the conservative Netherlands Reformed Congregations) held a similar but stricter, less optimistic view. Consistent with seeing true covenant membership as being the elect only, his preaching tended towards an introspective self-examination for "marks of grace".