Here is a new book that provides a modern day defense of Calvinism:
Living for God’s Glory
by Joel R. Beeke
To order, call 800-435-4343 or visit http://www.ligonier.org.
“Dr. Joel R. Beeke aims to “cover the intellectual and spiritual emphases of Calvinism, the way it influences the church and everyday living, and its ethical and cultural implications” in his latest book, Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism. In this comprehensive survey of Reformed Christianity, Dr. Beeke and eight fellow contributors offer twenty-eight chapters that trace the history of Calvinism; explore its key doctrinal tenets, such as the so-called five points of Calvinism and the solas of the Protestant Reformation; reveal how Calvinists have sought to live in devotion to God; and survey Calvinism’s influence in the church and in the world at large. In the end, the book asserts that the overriding goal of Calvinism is the glory of God. Saturated with Scripture citations and sprinkled with quotations from wise giants of church history, this book presents Calvinism in a winsome and wondrous fashion.”
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Here are some excerpts:
Excerpts from Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism by Joel R. Beeke
Pg. 12 Calvinism has a bright future, for it offers much to people who seek to believe and practice the whole counsel of God. Calvinism aims to do so with both clear-headed faith and warm-hearted spirituality, which when conjoined, produce vibrant living in the home, the church, and the marketplace to the glory of God.
Pg. 38 Of course, most evangelical Christians and, sadly, even some Calvinists, lack a proper understanding of the real heartbeat of Calvinism. “There is nothing upon which men need to be more instructed than upon the question of what Calvinism really is,” Charles H. Spurgeon once said. Whether you are a Calvinist, a non-Calvinist, or an anti-Calvinist, you need to give this question a fair hearing: what really is the marrow of Calvinism?
Pg. 40 God’s sovereignty is the marrow of doctrinal Calvinism – provided we understand that this sovereignty is not arbitrary but is the sovereignty of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Duncan wrote: “It is a holy will that rules the universe – a will in which loving-kindness is locked up, to be in due time displayed. It is a solemn thing that we and all creatures are at the disposal of pure will; but it is not merely free will, it is the free will of the sovereign Lord Jehovah, and therein it is distinguished from the abstractness and apparent arbitrariness of mere will.”
Pg. 41 To be Reformed, then, is to be concerned with the complete character of the Creator-creature relationship. It is to view all of life coram Deo, that is, lived before the face of God. As Warfield wrote: “The Calvinist is the man who sees God: God in nature, God in history, God in grace. Everywhere he sees God in His mighty stepping, everywhere he feels the working of His mighty arm, the throbbing of His mighty heart. The Calvinist is the man who sees God behind all phenomena and in all that occurs recognizes the hand of God, working out His will. [The Calvinist] makes the attitude of the soul to God in prayer its permanent attitude in all its life activities; [he] casts himself on the grace of God alone, excluding every trace of dependence on self from the whole work of his salvation.”
Pg. 66-67 The personal nature of God’s election is warm, paternal, and relational. God treats His millions of children as if each were His only child.. The minuteness of His loving, fatherly concern is staggering. The hairs of our heads are all numbered. Our names are engraved on the palms of Jehovah’s hands and carried in the heart of the Savior, the Lord Jesus. He whispers our blood-bought names into the ears of His Father in heaven as He makes intercession for us.
Pg. 66 Personal election is an incredible comfort in today’s impersonal, computerized society. Many people feel lonely and insignificant, like creatures clinging desperately to a little planet in a vast universe. But the believing Calvinist finds his identity in the infinite God of this vast universe. He confesses with the psalmist, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Ps. 23:1). He who has chosen us graciously will never abandon us. All things will work out for our good (Rom. 8:28-39).
Pg. 66-67 No Calvinist who has a personal relationship with the God of unconditional election ever need say, “No one cares; I do not matter.” Rather, God grants him to say, “God cares for me so much that He has given me His own Son. He loves me and gave Himself for me, meeting all the conditions of God’s justice for me. . . . How intensely personal is God’s election.. It involves the great heart of the living God.
Pg. 103 A clear grasp of the doctrine of irresistible grace is sorely needed today. The contemporary church is in the midst of a crisis of confidence concerning biblical preaching and the diligent use of the means of grace by which the Holy Spirit works irresistibly in the lives of sinners. The church needs to reaffirm her faith in the invincible power of the Spirit-applied Word of truth.
Pg. 112 Like the effectual call, regeneration is done to us and within us, not by us. As Iain Murray says, “We are as helpless to co-operate in our regeneration as we are to co-operate in the work of Calvary.”
Pg. 119 Assurance reveals itself in close fellowship with God, childlike obedience, and an intense longing to glorify Christ in all things. Assured believers view heaven as their home and long for Christ’s return and their translation to glory (2 Tim. 4:6–8).
Pg. 138 The Reformation’s emphasis on faith alone was the result of Luther’s tortured struggles to resolve the issue of how a fallen sinner may be saved. “My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and had no confidence that my character would satisfy Him. Night and day I pondered,” Luther said. The breakthrough came when Luther was given insight into Romans 1:17: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” Luther later wrote: “Then I grasped that the justice of God is the righteousness by which, through grace and sheer mercy, He justifies us through faith. Immediately I felt myself to have gone through open doors into paradise.”
Pg. 173 Few people enjoy being called pietistic today. Tragically, piety and its English derivatives have become pejorative words and concepts. John Calvin would be aghast. For him, piety was not only a positive trait, it was the essence of true biblical Christianity. For Calvin, the preeminent systematician of the Protestant Reformation, theological understanding and practical piety, truth and usefulness, were inseparable. Theology deals first with knowledge – knowledge of God and of ourselves – but there is no true knowledge where there is no piety.
Pg. 189 Calvinism has a reputation as an ivory tower school of thought, dealing in high and lofty doctrines that have no practical benefits for ordinary people in the church or society at large. Nothing could be further from the truth. In actuality, Calvinism has practical outworkings in nearly every sphere of life. Our challenge is to limit our discussion only to major areas of practical application.
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Looks like an interesting read
Stan
