James Montgomery Boice
Reformed theology gets its name from the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation, with its distinct theological emphases, but it is theology solidly based on the Bible itself. Believers in the reformed tradition regard highly
The Star-Spangled Banner
Few Americans know the story of how God used ordinary Christians to do extraordinary things during the desperate days of 1814
200 years ago we were in the midst of the War of 1812. The U.S. Capitol and the White House were burning. Average citizens like us hung their heads in shame. Then God intervened and a series of events occurred that saved America and led to the writing of the Star Spangled Banner.
Why Did God Let Paul Become a Murderer?
By John Piper
We know that before Paul was born God had set him apart for his apostleship.
He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles. (Galatians 1:15–16).
And we know that Paul became a Christian-hating (Acts 9:1), Christ-persecuting (Acts 9:5), zealot (Philippians 3:6; Galatians 1:14) before he was converted. Forever after he would call himself “the chief of sinners” because of these wicked days (1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Corinthians 15:9).
We also know that God broke into Paul’s life dramatically and decisively to bring him to faith (Acts 9:3–19). Which means that he could have planned the Damascus Road encounter before Paul imprisoned and murdered Christians, but he didn’t.
His purpose, therefore, was to allow Paul to become the “chief of sinners” and then save him, and make him the apostle who would write thirteen books of the New Testament.Why? Why do it this way? Why choose him before birth to be an apostle? Then let him sink into wicked and violent opposition to Christ? And then save him dramatically and decisively on the Damascus road? Why?
Here are six reasons. The first two are explicit in the biblical text. The last four are clear inferences from the first two. God did it this way . . .
1. To put the perfect patience of Christ on display.
“I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience.” (1 Timothy 1:16)
2. To encourage those who think they are too sinful to have hope.
“I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” (1Timothy 1:16)
3. To show that God saves hardened haters of Christ, who have even murdered Christians.
4. To show that God permits his much-loved elect to sink into flagrant wickedness.
5. To show that God can make the chief of sinners the chief of missionaries.
6. To show a powerless, persecuted, marginalized church that they can triumph by the supernatural conversion of their most powerful foes.
Teologia Reformada
WhatIsReformedTheology
Teologia Reformada
A Teologia Reformada pode ser honesta e conscienciosamente resumida como a “Teologia dos Cinco Pontos”?! Bem, esses pontos são fundamentais para a correta ênfase da Soberania de Deus e sua aplicação na salvação de Seu povo. Contudo, esses marcos são apenas o princípio, não todo o Calvinismo. Portanto, nem cinco nem cinqüenta!
Em Mileto, Paulo quando se despede dos presbíteros de Éfeso, diz que durante o seu ministério de três anos entre eles, jamais deixou de “anunciar todo o desígnio de Deus” (Act.20:27). O Evangelho não consiste no anúncio de “algumas partes” da Bíblia, mas sim de todo o “Conselho” de Deus revelado nas Escrituras. (Gal.1:8,9,11). O conteúdo da mensagem cristã deve ser nada mais, nada menos do que toda a vontade revelada de Deus (Dt.29:29).
O calvinismo, declara Packer, é uma maneira teocêntrica de pensar acerca da vida, sob a direção e controle da própria Palavra de Deus". A Teologia Reformada envolve uma nova cosmovisão, que, partindo da Palavra, afeta obviamente todas as áreas de nossa existência, não havendo compartimentos estanques do ser e do saber onde a perspectiva teocêntrica não se faça presente de forma determinante em nossa epistemologia doutrinária e existencial.
O Calvinismo, com sua ênfase na centralidade das Escrituras, é mais do que um sistema teológico, é, sobretudo, uma maneira teocêntrica de ver, interpretar e atuar na história. O estudioso inglês Tawney (1880-1962), observa que “o Calvinismo foi uma força ativa e radical. Era um credo que buscava não meramente purificar o indivíduo, mas reconstruir a Igreja e o Estado, e renovar a sociedade permeando todos os setores da vida, tanto públicos como privados, com a influência da religião”.
O Cristianismo – conforme entende o Reformado –, não é uma forma de acomodação na cultura, antes de formação e de transformação através de uma mudança de perspectiva da realidade, que redundará necessariamente numa mudança nos cânones de comportamento, alterando sensivelmente as suas agendas e praxes. Assim sendo, a nossa fé tem compromissos existenciais inevitáveis. Ser Reformado não é apenas um status nominal vazio de sentido, antes reflete a nossa fé em atos de formação e transformação.
Clic no link abaixo e tenha o livro de John Piper em formato PDF que é a nossa base de estudos.
Coram Deo - Living in the Presence of God
What Does “Coram Deo” Mean?
FROM R.C. Sproul - Ligonier Ministries The teaching Fellowship of RC Sproul
I remember Mama standing in front of me, her hands poised on her hips, her eyes glaring with hot coals of fire and saying in stentorian tones, “Just what is the big idea, young man?”
Instinctively I knew my mother was not asking me an abstract question about theory. Her question was not a question at all—it was a thinly veiled accusation. Her words were easily translated to mean, “Why are you doing what you are doing?” She was challenging me to justify my behavior with a valid idea. I had none.
Recently a friend asked me in all earnestness the same question. He asked, “What’s the big idea of the Christian life?” He was interested in the overarching, ultimate goal of the Christian life.
To answer his question, I fell back on the theologian’s prerogative and gave him a Latin term. I said, “The big idea of the Christian life is Coram Deo. Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life.”
This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live Coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.
To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze.
To be aware of the presence of God is also to be acutely aware of His sovereignty. The uniform experience of the saints is to recognize that if God is God, then He is indeed sovereign. When Saul was confronted by the refulgent glory of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, his immediate question was, “Who is it, Lord?” He wasn’t sure who was speaking to him, but he knew that whomever it was, was certainly sovereign over him.
Living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer sovereignty that is motivated out of a fear of punishment. It involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honor to God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, oblations offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude.
To live all of life Coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. A fragmented life is a life of disintegration. It is marked by inconsistency, disharmony, confusion, conflict, contradiction, and chaos.
The Christian who compartmentalizes his or her life into two sections of the religious and the nonreligious has failed to grasp the big idea. The big idea is that all of life is religious or none of life is religious. To divide life between the religious and the nonreligious is itself a sacrilege.
This means that if a person fulfills his or her vocation as a steelmaker, attorney, or homemaker Coram Deo, then that person is acting every bit as religiously as a soul-winning evangelist who fulfills his vocation. It means that David was as religious when he obeyed God’s call to be a shepherd as he was when he was anointed with the special grace of kingship. It means that Jesus was every bit as religious when He worked in His father’s carpenter shop as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Integrity is found where men and women live their lives in a pattern of consistency. It is a pattern that functions the same basic way in church and out of church. It is a life that is open before God. It is a life in which all that is done is done as to the Lord. It is a life lived by principle, not expediency; by humility before God, not defiance. It is a life lived under the tutelage of conscience that is held captive by the Word of God.
Coram Deo - Before the Face of God, that’s the big idea. Next to this idea our other goals and ambitions become mere trivialities.