Introduction to Death of Death

"Now, here are two coherent interpretations of the biblical gospel (Arminianism and Calvinism), which stand in evident opposition to each other. The difference between them is not primarily one of emphasis, but of content. One proclaims a God who saves; the other speaks of a God Who enables man to save himself. One view presents the three great acts of the Holy Trinity for the recovering of lost mankind -election by the Father, redemption by the Son, calling by the Spirit- as directed towards the same persons, and as securing their salvation infallibly. The other view gives each act a different reference (the objects of redemption being all mankind, of calling, those who hear the gospel, and election, those who hearers who respond), and denies that any man's salvation is secured by any of them. The two theologies thus conceive the plan of salvation in quite different terms. One makes salvation depend on the work of God, the other on a work of man; one regards faith as part of God's gift of salvation, the other as man's own contribution to salvation; one gives all the glory of saving believers to God, the other divides the praise between God, Who, so to speak, built the machinery of salvation, and man, who by believing operated it. Plainly, these differences are important, and the permanent value of the 'five points,' as a summary of Calvinism, s that they make clear the points at which, and the extent to which, these two conceptions are at variance.
However, it would not be correct simply to equate Calvinism with the "five points." Five points of our own will make this clear.
In the first place, Calvinism is a whole world-view, stemming from a clear vision of God as the whole world's Maker and King. Calvinism is the consistent endeavour to acknowledge the Creator as the Lord, working all things after the counsel of His will. Calvinism is a theocentric way of thinking about all life under the direction and control of God's own Word. Calvinism, in other words, is the theology of the Bible viewed from the perspective of the Bible -the God-centered outlook which sees the Creator as the source, and means, and end, of everything that is, both in nature and in grace. Calvinism is thus theism (belief in God as the ground of all things), religion (dependence on God as the giver of all things), and evangelicalism (trust in God through Christ for all things), all in their purest and most highly developed form. And Calvinism is a unified philosophy of history which sees the whole diversity of processes and events that take place in God's world as no more, and no less, than the outworking of His great preordained plan for His creatures and His church. The five points assert no more than that God is sovereign in saving the individual, but Calvinism, as such is concerned with the much broader assertion that He is sovereign everywhere."
- J. I. Packer, "Introductory Essay," in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ: A Treatise of the Redemption and Reconciliation that Is in the Blood of Christ, With the Merit Thereof, and Satisfaction Wrought Thereby, 1-25, (Banner of Truth, 2002).

The Glory of God

Q: In light of Romans 9. I was thinking about this issue about the glory of God. Some Christians when asked - why were they created, with the option either A) relationship or B) to bring glory to God, would probably answer B) to bring glory to God. Now my question is - is it really that we bring glory to God in as much as God makes his glory known to man? or do we really bring God glory - I guess im asking this question in light that we are in total depravity. So therefore, we it seems like are not capable of actually doing anything that is good on our own. The specific verse that I went to was romans 9:22-24 - I guess I should probably read it in the contexts.

A: In Romans 9, I would contend that both "objects of wrath" and "objects of mercy" bring glory to God, but in difference forms. Objects of wrath show God's justice and objects of mercy show God's grace.That being said, now to your question. Is it really that we bring glory to God in as much as God makes his glory known to man? I would say: we can't bring or add to the glory of God necessarily. We must remember, glory isn't a substance. It's not like water in that you can add to or take away. God is not a cup that we fill with glory. Instead, let's think of God's glory as God's reputation. If I have a good reputation, I'm known for good things. Now God, because he is perfect, already has perfect reputation. He has perfect glory. Whether we exist or not, we can't add to his glory. What we can do is display or give examples of his glory. If he shows grace to us, as it is his nature to do so, then he is showing his glory or his reputation for grace. In return, we glorify him, we exalt and praise his name, for what he did for us.So we don't bring glory to God, but we do benefit from God's glory. In addition, we do make God's glory known to man. Our testimonies are examples of that. We share with other about what God did for us and how he loves us, and we tell the world about that. Also, we look at the world filled with sin, and knowing God's perfection, we share his glory in that we tell them about God's perfection.In short: glory is not a substance, but rather it is a question of reputation and fame based upon the object or person it belongs to. God's glory is perfect because he is perfect.

The purpose of salvation is to do good works, but no one is saved by doing good works.

As Ephesians 2:8-10 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for us to do." But, our works do however perfect our faith, for James 2:22, after talking about people who claimed to have faith with their works, now talks about Abraham, "You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did." It is only by working of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies the regenerate believer, however, that one can fully become more like Christ. And those who are saved will live according to the Spirit, for Galatians 5:16 says, "So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." Therefore by doing works in the Spirit, one is able to produce good fruit – for in verse 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." In some bit of a sense, no one who is not saved can counterfeit the fruit of the Spirit. As it is said in Philippians 3:3 after Paul speaks of those who mutilate the flesh (the equivolent of Circumcision without the Spirit) and who take boast in such things, Paul says that it is the Christian who boast in Christ and Worship by the Spirit.