Reformation500: Tony Phelps Teaches the Commandments through the Westminster Larger Catechism

The First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before Me”

Recently Pastor Tony Phelps has been teaching through the Ten Commandments using the Westminster Larger Catechism.

Recently, I’ve started to use the Westminster Larger Catechism’s exposition of the Ten Commandments as the basis for the homily before our corporate confession of sin. I plan to spend four Sundays on each commandment. And beginning with this post, I plan to share these homilies in my upcoming blogs, starting now:

If ever you think you’re doing pretty well in the Christian life. If you’re not feeling much like a sinner, but pretty darn holy. It’s time to sit yourself down and carefully read the Westminster Larger Catechism on the Ten Commandments. It’s a thorough, biblical exposition of each commandment – what duties each one requires, and what sins each one forbids. In fact, it’s so thorough, that we will only be able to sample it. But as we do, it will be more than sufficient to show us our sin and drive us to our Savior. …

Here is his four-part series on the First Commandment:

Part 1: http://reformation500.com/2013/05/20/yielding-all-obedience-submission-to-him-with-the-whole-man-fail/

(See also J.W. Wartick: http://jwwartick.com/2013/05/06/law-gospel-lutheran/)

Part 2: http://reformation500.com/2013/05/27/another-first-commandment-fail-ignorance-of-the-one-true-god/

Part 3: http://reformation500.com/2013/06/03/first-commandment-fail-3-bold-curious-searching-into-his-secrets/

Part 4: http://reformation500.com/2013/06/10/one-more-first-commandment-fail-legalism-and-the-deification-of-man/

Tony Phelps is pastor of Christ Our Hope PCA in Wakefield RI, the second largest PCA church in RI. (He says, “at the moment, there are only two; come to think of it, that makes us the smallest PCA church in RI.)

Reiterating the “Law-Gospel” Hermeneutic of the Reformation

HT: Rev. Tony Phelps, who provides this endorsement:

Excellent discussion on this Gospel Coalition video re: the distinction between Law & Gospel. Click the link & watch this, not because Tullian & Jono are two handsome lugs, but because this distinction is essential to properly understanding God’s Word. His Word comes in these two words, Law & Gospel. This is the “hermeneutic” (the proper way to read & interpret a text) taught in the Bible itself. In the Protestant Reformation, this is the hermeneutic that was recovered first by Luther, then Calvin, Beza, Ursinus, etc. Get fuzzy on the distinction between Law & Gospel, and you will get fuzzy on how God saves sinners – by grace ALONE through faith ALONE in Christ ALONE – to the glory of God ALONE.

I appreciate what Tullian Tchividjian is doing, in bringing this hermeneutic back into the light of day.

Rehabilitating “Evangelical Obedience”

http://reformation500.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/rehabilitating-evangelical-obedience/

“Evangelical obedience” is a grand old phrase, which has sadly faded from use & familiarity in Reformation circles. It captures the old, Reformed orthodoxy regarding sanctification and its source – not the Law, but the Gospel....

(By the way, the Greek verb “to justify” means “to declare righteous,” not simply “innocent,” so the imputation of righteousness is implied in the very definition of the word. That’s free, no charge, for anyone who thinks the imputation of Christ’s righteousness is not essential to justification.)...

I like this quaint old phrase. I think we should revive its use. It clarifies where Christian obedience – imperfect as it is – comes from. It is not from the Law, but from the evangel, the Gospel. The Law guides and defines that obedience. But only the Gospel produces it. But stay humble, kids. Even your “evangelical obedience” has only a “small beginning” in this life – Heidelberg 114 (based on Romans 7:14-15). Your good works could never stand the severity of God’s judgment apart from Christ – Westminster Confession 16.5 (Is 64:6, Gal 5:17, etc). You still need Jesus, to mediate your “evangelical obedience” which is defiled by your sin (1 Pet 2:5). But He makes it a beautiful thing in the sight of the Father, and graciously rewards it.

That’s why evangelical obedience is not a burden, but a joy...

“Luther and Calvin, Sittin’ in a Tree…”

http://reformation500.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/luther-and-calvin-sittin-in-a-tree/

No, not “K-I-S-S-I-N-G”. But they agreed on something. Luther said:

Listen to the incarnate Son, and predestination will present itself of its own accord. Staupitz used to comfort me with these words:

“Why do you torture yourself with these speculations? Look at the wounds of Christ and at the blood that was shed for you. From these predestination will shine. Consequently, one must listen to the Son of God, who was sent into the flesh and appeared to destroy the work of the devil (1 John 3:8) and to make you sure about predestination. And for this reason He says to you: ‘You are My sheep because you hear My voice’ (cf. John 10:27). ‘No one shall snatch you out of My hands”’ (cf. v. 28).

Martin Luther, vol. 5, Luther’s Works, Vol. 5 : Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 26-30, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald and Helmut T. Lehmann, Luther’s Works, 5:47 (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999, c1968).

“Bringing fuller clarity”

A week ago, I noted the discussion between Tullian Tchividjian and Rick Phillips (TCG vs Ref21) on sanctification. This week, Tchividjian reiterates, “Sin Remains”, and Phillips reiterates, “We are Debtors to Grace”.

I think we are looking at two sides of the same coin, two different emphases on the same phenomenon: Christians are not perfect, and never will be perfect in this life, but God assists us to grow in grace.

But the more important part, as I said, is the “fuller clarification” that comes from these kinds of discussions.


This week, Tony Phelps, Pastor of Christ Our Hope PCA in Wakefield, RI, consulted the Westminster Standards to say just how much God assists us in our sanctification.

He writes:

As I read Westminster, for example, I find such expressions as “sanctification is synergistic” or “effort in sanctification” woefully inadequate…

After we are reminded that the Holy Spirit alone enables us to do good works – and that His influence is essential to any truly good work – yet we are not “hereupon to grow negligent, as if [we] were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the Spirit; but [we] ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in [us].” No “letting go and letting God” in the Christian life! We have Christian DUTIES – outward and observable things we are to diligently DO – in the Christian life.

In fact, one of our duties is to stir up the grace of God that is in us. Yet if this is truly a good work, it too is the result of God’s sanctifying work within us. Nonetheless, WE are to do it! And as we do, by the grace of God, we will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.

This is not to say that any of these things contributes an iota to our standing in Christ. But the world depends on us to be salt and light – preserving and edifying in the things we do in the world.