In this installment of Vos Group, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton explore Geerhardus Vos’s treatment of “faith as the correlate of kingdom power” from pages 387–390 of Biblical Theology. Moving beyond vague spiritualism or self-generated “manifestation,” they unpack Vos’s insight that faith is not a creative force but a receptive grace. Faith does not actualize the kingdom—it receives it.

Christ’s miracles reveal the omnipotent power of God in redemptive form—beneficent and gracious acts for the good of sinners. These miracles elicit trust not because of any magical quality in faith itself, but because they manifest the glory and compassion of the Redeemer who speaks them into being. Faith, then, is the Spirit-given response of the regenerate heart—a resting and receiving upon the miracle-working Christ who is both the author and perfecter of our faith.

In contrast to modern distortions that treat faith as self-empowerment, Vos directs us to the true object of faith—Christ alone. Faith is entirely dependent on divine omnipotence and grace. It is the instrument by which we are united to Christ and brought to maturity in him, sustained by the same omnipotent power that once stilled the storm and raised the dead.

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• 00:07 Introduction
• 06:32 Faith and the Kingdom
• 10:13 Faith Is the Corresponding Response to God’s Power
• 12:26 Miracles Are Beneficent and Elicit Trust
• 16:57 The Power of the Word
• 22:59 The Elements of Saving Faith
• 29:12 Unbelief
• 34:24 Preaching Christ without Doctrine
• 37:01 The Offense of Unbelief
• 41:36 The Vocabulary of Faith
• 50:30 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Autumn¹

By Geerhardus Vos

Translated by Daniel Ragusa

Still lingers golden autumn, still stand harvest colors,
Ripening in field, still roams through woods and gardens
A lovely postlude of summer’s most pleasant hours—
The sweetest melody was saved until the end.

Listen! Amidst it quakes a sad tone of parting,
So soft one wonders: does it melt in joy or pain?
As if the player were the silence preparing,
When shall have faded away the last note and strain.

How brief bloom and song! A Goliath with steel blades,
Winter soon appears, a great sickle in his hand;
When reaping’s done, he the harvest feast celebrates
And rages with storm-music through the bare-shorn land.

The Seasons Tell One Story

As the year has unfolded under the providence of God, we have welcomed each season with Geerhardus Vos as our guide. Through the lens of his nature poetry—a lens shaped by true religion and eschatology, attuned to see God’s redemption mirrored in the natural world—we have gained, and hope still to gain, God-glorifying and soul-satisfying insights into the rhythm of the seasons sovereignly ordered by our Lord (Gen. 1:14).² The seasons teach us “to adore the wisdom of God in nature, His ways and His works.”³

Each season speaks with its own voice, yet all join in telling a single story. What is that story? The world wonders, for hearing they do not hear (Matt. 13:13). Only the Christian, whose ears are opened by the Spirit and aided by Scripture, hears in the seasons an unhurried, year-long proclamation of the old, old story: the gospel.

We have already heard spring speak of life’s miracle in the fresh tones of a child and summer sing of love’s might in the ardent tones of a bride. Now autumn enters—aged yet grand. Her voice is perplexing—at once majestic and mournful, splendid and solemn. She is robed in a dazzlement of glory, burning with scarlet, gold, and amber, while winter waits at the threshold, sickle in hand. Where does the story of the seasons lead now? Vos brings us along to see in his poem “Autumn.”

Analysis of “Autumn”

Vos’s “Autumn” consists of three quatrains—the first two preparing for the third, when winter, long looming in the shadows, finally emerges like a Goliath. Its governing metaphor is music: “postlude” (line 3), “melody” (line 4), “tone” (line 5), “player” (line 7), “note” (line 8), “song” (line 9), and “storm-music” (line 12). The poem moves from autumn’s “sweetest melody” to winter’s harshest “storm-music.” Yet, there is a mystery involved: How can autumn face winter’s death with majesty and grace?

The opening stanza conveys a sense of holding on by its repeated “still . . . still . . . still . . . ,” which slows the pace, and the verbs “lingers,” “stands,” and “goes.” Yet this holding on is not desperate but dignified, not pathetic but majestic. Autumn appears “golden,” her crops are “ripening,” and her hope is voiced as a “lovely postlude.” The first two images are visible to all—we see them every autumn—but the third is subtler: a hidden, even spiritual truth, for those with ears to hear. The end closes in, yet autumn plays not a dirge. In a wonderful surprise, she has saved her “sweetest melody” for this very moment. Who can fade away with such beauty and grace?

The second stanza calls us to listen more closely to that third description of autumn’s “lovely postlude” like a readying hush. “Listen!” says the poet. Amidst the majesty and sweetness, what else do you hear? The poet tunes our ears to “a sad tone of parting.” This soft yet discernible undertone shows that she is not ignorant of the inevitability of her parting. She plays her sweetest melody with full awareness of her unavoidable farewell. What strength! She will not face Goliath’s taunt with ears stopped, nor be dragged unwillingly to meet her challenger. With poise, she herself prepares the silence, as the poet says about her, “when shall have faded away the last note.” Again, the question arises: How can she do this? Clearly her song carries a secret—a secret those who live under the shadow of death long to know.

The final stanza opens with a strong contrast with the first. Whereas the first lingered with its triple “still . . . still . . . still . . . ,” the final laments, “How brief bloom and song!” (line 9, emphasis added). Winter’s appearance provides a new perspective. It really did not matter how long her song lingered; it was bound to feel all too brief once its last note faded away into silence.

Winter appears as that ancient Philistine champion, clad in death and dragon armor, who defied the armies of the living God: Goliath of Gath (1 Sam. 17:4–5, 10). Scripture tells us that “the shaft of his spear [Dutch spies] was like a weaver’s beam” (v. 7). There may be some analogy between Goliath’s weapon and winter’s “sickle” (Dutch spieren), which he uses to cut down queenly autumn. The “sweetest melody” of autumn has ceased, her “lovely postlude” ended, and winter rages in storm-music as the victor feasts.

But is winter’s triumph the final word? Does the story of the seasons that began with spring in her cradle end in tragedy? Certainly not. Remember autumn’s “lovely postlude,” with its “sweetest melody,” as winter drew near. She prepared the silence for when her last note will have faded away. In the face of death, she hoped against hope.

There is also more to the Goliath analogy than winter’s seemingly supernatural strength—it also anticipates winter’s downfall, and that at the hand of the least expected: “Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.’ . . . David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground” (1 Sam. 17:33, 49–51). Vos’s final poem in the cycle, “Winter’s Death,” unveils the full-strength of autumn’s secret, her hidden hope. It opens:

Here lies the Winter hated,
Goliath-like prostrated,
Whom David’s stone laid low.⁴

“Winter’s Death” is not about the death winter inflicts but the death with which winter itself is inflicted. That is good news. The seasons, then, join to tell a single story of death’s defeat, a story of resurrection! That is the mystery of autumn’s majesty, the reason she saved her “sweetest melody . . . until the end” (line 4). She knew of spring’s resurrection power, so she embraced winter with unflinching hope.

In the mirror of royal autumn, we glimpse a reflection of the true king, who lays down his life that he may take it up again. No one takes it from him, but he lays it down of his own accord (John 10:17–18). His death was the death of death.

We see also reflected the secret that we who live under the shadow of death longed to know: The true king has transformed death for his people so that we, too, in union with him, can face the grave with beauty and grace, with resurrection hope.

Application: An Autumnal Hope

More poems about autumn have graced the earth than the trillions of leaves on the ground. What about this season that captivates the poetic imagination? Kathleen Jamie, in her introductory essay to Autumn: A Folio Anthology, suggests it is partly nostalgia for what is passing and partly appreciation for the slowing down of time in the gathering and storing. There is truth in this. In Vos’s poem, autumn speaks with sadness and slowness. But there is a deeper truth spoken by autumn. As we have heard, her boldest speech is not about the past or the present but about the future.

On the spine of the universe as God’s “beautiful book” (Belgic Confession 2) is written: creation and providence. This book contains the rhythm of the seasons. Yet we read it rightly only by the light of God’s second book: Holy Scripture. That second book tells us that creation’s deepest longing is neither nostalgia, a longing for the past, nor desperation, holding on to the present at any cost, but hope. Creation longs for what is still to come. As the apostle Paul writes, “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19).

This hope comes to its most majestic expression when it is most deeply tested—nowhere more than in autumn, as winter approaches. Autumn inspires our poetic imagination by her glory in going to the grave with hope.

We, therefore, cannot rightly think of autumn in isolation from the fourfold cycle of the seasons. Imagine an autumn with no spring: Winter would be the end, and autumn’s willingness to face winter’s death with queenly poise would be folly. But autumn tells a different story. Autumn is like a prophet, foretelling spring’s power by which the snow will melt and the trees will defy death with fresh shoots from the dirt. Autumn, then, confesses to the world: Death has been transformed.

In the same way that we cannot think of autumn without spring, so, too, the Christian cannot think of death without resurrection—or, better, of sharing in Christ’s death without also sharing in his resurrection. Heidelberg Catechism 42 summarizes this kind of autumnal hope:

Q. Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?
A. Our death is not a payment for our sins, but only a dying to sins and an entering into eternal life.

In autumn, we glimpse this transformation of death into a gateway opening to eternal life. In autumn, we see a reversal of the fall. For the keys of death and Hades are now in the hands of the living one, who died and, behold, is alive forevermore (Rev. 1:18).

Autumn reflects as in a mirror the good news concerning our risen Lord and faithful Savior—we belong to him, “body and soul, in life and in death” (Heidelberg Catechism 1).

1. Geerhardus Vos, “Autumnus,” in Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica (Geerhardus Vos, 1927), 44. This translation is my own; I have tried to maintain the rhyme scheme and meter of the original Dutch. The original meter is alexandrine with twelve syllables per line. ︎
2. See Geerhardus Vos, Theology Proper, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1, trans. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. (Lexham Press, 2012), 172. ︎
3. Geerhardus Vos, Natural Theology, trans. Albert Gootjes (Reformation Heritage Books, 2022), 5. By “us,” Vos has in mind the Christian who believes God’s specially revealed word by the internal witness of the Holy Spirit for he distinguishes this use of natural theology from its apologetical use: “for refuting those who have rejected the supernatural revelation of God.” Vos, Natural Theology, 5. ︎
4. This is taken from the English translation of this poem in Geerhardus Vos, Charis: English Verses (Geerhardus Vos, 1931), 18. The original is Vos, “Mors Hyemis,” in Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica, 45–46. ︎

In this installment of the Vos Group, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton continue their deep dive into Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments. Together they explore Vos’s treatment of the essence of the kingdom of God (pp. 385–387), drawing connections to his “Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology.”

This conversation highlights Vos’s thoroughly theocentric vision—where creation, redemption, and faith all center upon the glory of God. Dr. Tipton unpacks how this framework distinguishes Reformed theology from other traditions, and how the kingdom manifests historically through the power of the Holy Spirit. The discussion further shows how Vos integrates covenant, kingdom, and eschatology, pointing us to our inheritance in Christ and the glory of God as our ultimate portion.

Whether you are a pastor, student, or thoughtful layperson, this episode will help you see more clearly how Vos unites themes of covenant and kingdom in a way that sharpens our understanding of Christ and strengthens our hope in his coming reign.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Word and Deed
• 2:19 Introduction
• 7:29 Vos on the Doctrine of the Covenant
• 20:10 Jesus’ Use of the Term “the Kingdom of God”
• 30:15 Power Is Central to the Kingdom of God
• 33:36 The Role of the Spirit in the Kingdom
• 48:36 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this milestone 100th installment of Vos Group, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton turn to page 381 of Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments to explore the “two-sided conception of the kingdom.” Together they unpack Vos’s insights into the already/not yet dynamic of the kingdom of God—its present spiritual reality and its future consummate glory.

Along the way, they engage with historical-critical objections, consider the role of John the Baptist, reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ parables, and highlight the religious nature of the kingdom as forgiveness, communion with God, and eternal life in Christ. This discussion not only brings clarity to Vos’s redemptive-historical vision but also deepens our understanding of Christ’s reign now and in the age to come.

As the Vos Group nears completion of Biblical Theology, Camden and Lane also share exciting news about what’s next: a new series through Vos’s The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church.

Register now for our upcoming Theology Conference.

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Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 10:26 The Two-Sided Conception of the Kingdom
• 26:43 The Kingdom of God within You
• 31:18 The Arrival of the Present Kingdom
• 37:44 The Parables of the Kingdom
• 47:37 The Gradual Progression of the Kingdom
• 54:47 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Summer¹

“Aestas” (Summer) is the third poem in the collection “Annulis Anni” (Circle of the Year) from Vos’s volume of nature poetry, titled Spiegel der natuur (Mirror of Nature). (The poems are all written in Dutch with Latin titles.) This collection reflects on the seasons and times of day.

We all inevitably experience the seasons, being timebound creatures in a universe upheld by the word of the Son of God’s power (Heb. 1:3). We have observed the distinct characteristics of each season: how spring blossoms like a newborn; how summer delights like a long, slow, satisfying sip; how autumn blazes with glory like a soldier’s last stand; how winter quiets and stills the earth with an icy hush like the grave. Our experience of the seasons may have at times brought us hope or joy or longing or peace. As the seasons mark out the year for us, with each one fading as the next becomes bolder, they may have given us perspective and direction amid the flow of time that moves at a dizzying speed. All of this, of course, is good for us to observe, and we ought to give thanks to God for it. But is there more for us to see in the seasons? Do they have something more to say to our souls? Is there anything spiritual, even something of the order of redemption, reflected in them?

We’ve already considered how Vos’s first poem in this collection, titled “Dies Solis” (Sunday), sits atop these earthly cycles like a heavenly crown. This poem forms a religious (God-centered and worshipful) and eschatological (eternal and perfect) lens through which to read rightly God’s natural revelation—in this case, his preservation and government of the universe in its seasons and times (Gen. 8:22).

Sunday—the Lord’s Day—teaches us to see the seasons not only under the light of the sun that burns some 93 million miles away but under the light of heaven—the supernatural light refracted, as it were, through the sea of glass, like crystal, before the throne of God (Rev. 4:6). This heavenly light sanctifies all the rhythms of time, including each season, for the glory and enjoyment of God (true religion) and offers a foretaste of the higher goal of eternity in the joyful presence of God (eschatology). True religion and eschatology walk hand in hand, for God made us in his image to “live with [him] in eternal happiness, for his praise and glory” (Heidelberg Catechism 6).

We already saw how these twin elements of true religion and eschatology framed Vos’s second poem, “Miracle of Spring.” Might the same hold as we move into “Summer”? Might heaven’s light reveal something more for us to see in “summer’s pleasure store”?

Hidden since the Foundation of the World

Before answering these questions, it will help first to explore another aspect of Vos’s thought that illumines his nature poetry and especially the mystery at the heart of his poem “Summer.” Vos recognized a God-constructed parallel between the natural and the spiritual (or redemptive). He expounds this in his Biblical Theology as the theological principle that undergirded Jesus’s parables—parables that employed the height, depth, and breadth of creation to show as in a mirror the glorious mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (see Matthew 13). Vos writes:

It would be wrong to assume that the parables which Jesus spoke were nothing more than homiletical inventions, not based on any deeper principle or law. It would be more correct to call them spiritual discoveries, because they are based on a certain parallelism between the two strata of creation, the natural and the spiritual (redemptive) one, because the universe has been thus constructed. On the principle of “spiritual law in the natural world,” the nature-things and processes reflect as in a mirror the super-nature-things, and it was not necessary for Jesus to invent illustrations. All He had to do was to call attention to what had been lying hidden, more or less, since the time of creation. This seems to be the meaning of Matthew’s quotation from Psa. 78:2 [Matt. 13:35]. The marvelous acquaintance of Jesus’ mind with the entire compass of natural and economic life, observable in His parables may be explained from this, that He had been the divine Mediator in bringing this world with all its furnishings into being, and again was the divine Mediator for producing and establishing the order of redemption.²

“The nature-things and processes reflect as in a mirror the super-nature-things” (emphasis added). Vos uses this mirror metaphor extensively throughout his writings. He even titled the book we are considering Spiegel der natuur (Mirror of Nature), suggesting that all his nature poetry is undergirded by the same theological principle (“spiritual law in the natural world”) that undergirded Jesus’s parables.

Jesus is the divine mediator (the Logos) in both creation and redemption (new creation), and he is perfectly consistent.³ He reveals in his parables that the order of redemption is mirrored, and intentionally so, in nature. What has been hidden since the time of creation is revealed by Jesus’s own person and work. Jesus cites Psalm 78:2 (in Matthew 13:35) as being fulfilled in him: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

The emphasis falls on the “I”—he whom the gospel (Rom. 1:3) and all things (11:36) ultimately concerns. Christ’s coming with his teaching, preaching, and miracles brought to light what had been hidden—namely, “the mysteries [mystērion] of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 13:11). These “super-nature-things” concerning the kingdom were typified and shadowed in the Old Testament and, less clearly, mirrored in the natural world. But now in Christ the mysteries themselves have arrived. “Repent,” Jesus preaches, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (4:17). Herein lies the mysteries: “What else could so suitably have been designated by Jesus ‘a mystery’ in comparison with the Jewish expectations than the truth that the kingdom comes gradually, imperceptibly, spiritually?”⁴ The spiritual presence of the kingdom of heaven on earth may not be seen directly with natural eyes—it is imperceptible—but its reflection may be seen indirectly in what has been made for the one who has eyes to see (13:13). Was this not also how the King himself was among them? As both hidden and revealed? Who followed Jesus as his disciples but those to whom the Father sovereignly revealed his Son (11:25–26)?

This parallelism, which Vos recognizes between the “two strata of creation,” explains how Christ can utter what had been hidden using parables—parables that depend on similes between the kingdom of heaven and creation. For example, “the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. . . . ” (13:31). The mustard seed had always contained this mystery, but now it is brought to light in Christ who has brought the kingdom of heaven near.

Vos summarizes the principle behind the parallelism as “spiritual law in the natural world.”⁵ This theological principle, of course, undergirds far more than just Jesus’s parables. The natural world is drawn into Scripture’s prophecies and praises and proverbs, and typically in poetic form. While we rightly distinguish general and special revelation, we ought not to isolate them from one another, just like we ought not to isolate Jesus’s mediatorial work in creation and redemption. For Christ is the source, center, and goal of both. Apart from knowing him, apart from listening to his voice and trusting in him who is the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:30), these spiritual mysteries of the kingdom remain hidden not only in the Scriptures but also in plain sight in the things that have been made.

Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. . . . For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:39–40, 46–47). Paul provides the theological rationale: “When they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts” (2 Cor. 3:14–15).

The parallelism between the natural and the redemptive means that a veil also lies over the hearts of all those who seek to read God’s general revelation in a spirit of unbelief. According to John Calvin, those who study God’s works of nature in a spirit of unbelief—contenting themselves with “mediate and proximate causes” while refusing to be led to the “Author of Nature himself”—“learn in such a manner that [they] can never know any thing.”⁶ He adds, “They employ enchantments to shut their ears against God’s voice, however powerful, lest it should reach their hearts. . . . Far greater is the folly of those philosophers, who, out of mediate and proximate causes, weave themselves veils, lest they should be compelled to acknowledge the hand of God, which manifestly displays itself in his works.”⁷

The unbeliever cannot understand God’s book of nature in the same way he cannot understand the Scriptures. Unbelieving Jews could discern various facts from the Old Testament—for example, moral requirements, a sacrificial system, historical events, etc.—but not its true meaning or coherence in Christ. Likewise, unbelievers can discern various facts of creation—they could discern various facts about the season of summer—but not its true meaning or coherence in Christ (Matt. 16:2–3). With futile minds and darkened hearts, they look upon the creation not as a mirror of redemptive and spiritual kingdom realities brought near in Christ the King, but as an end in itself, and so they worship it rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:21, 25).

The coming of Christ with the kingdom of heaven does not infuse new things into creation, just as it does not infuse new things into the Old Testament. Rather, it brings to light that which God had already hidden in the mirror of nature “since the foundation of the world.” By knowing Christ as revealed in his word, we are equipped with special revelation, so that every square inch of creation lights up for us with brilliant wonder unto the adoration of God’s goodness and greatness in the gospel concerning his Son.

The parallelism of the natural and the redemptive, as constructed by God, means that God’s general revelation and special revelation presuppose and supplement one another in one grand scheme of covenant revelation that has Christ as its center. It also provides the foundation for a proper natural theology that may teach us “to adore the wisdom of God in nature, His ways and His works. Psalm 104.”⁸ It is this positive use of natural theology that we primarily see at work in Vos’s nature poetry, including “Summer.”

May the Soul Dream

In keeping with the theological principle of “spiritual law in the natural world,” Vos will often directly address the soul in his nature poems, as he does in the final stanza of “Summer”:

May the soul [ziel] dream in safety
Of summer’s pleasure store.⁹

And in the penultimate stanza of “Miracle of Spring”:

O Soul [Ziel], so sharply sensing,
Eternal Spring so near.¹⁰

Other times he will raise his thoughts to the end or into eternity, like in the first stanza of “Autumn”:

A sweet postlude of summer’s sweet happenings,
As if the sweetest melody had been saved for the end.¹¹

And in concluding lines of “Winter’s Death”:

Though Autumn weep discouraged,
Seeing withered all that flourished,
Yet shall new years be nourished
From the eternal breast.¹²

God’s general revelation does not only address our senses but our souls—where it is to be received by faith. What the heavens ultimately declare about the glory of God resounds not in our ears but in the deepest depth of our being:

Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world (Psalm 19:2–4).

So, we can sing in This Is My Father’s World, “he speaks to me everywhere.”¹³

For Vos, the soul is that from which all the issues of life flow (like the heart in the Bible). It is the core and center of our existence that was made to rest in God for God’s sake alone. In a programmatic passage, Vos relates our soul and its capacities to our nature as the image of God: “[The image of God] means above all that [man] is disposed for communion with God, that all the capacities of his soul [ziel] can act in a way that corresponds to their destiny only if they rest in God. This is the nature of man. That is to say, there is no sphere of life that lies outside his relationship to God and in which religion would not be the ruling principle.”¹⁴

We do not exist for a moment apart from God and his self-revelation both inside and outside of us. We are everywhere confronted with reflections of God’s glory and the spiritual realities of the kingdom of heaven in the mirror of nature—for God constructed it so. We were not made to esteem nature and its beauty in disregard of God. “The fulness of the earth belongs to Him,” says Vos, “and to take any natural object, intended to reflect His divinity, for the purpose of making it serve the exaltation of the creature, is the essence of sin.”¹⁵ The fullness of the earth, every square inch, sings of the glory of God—they are songs of the soul about “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” for anyone with ears to hear (2 Pet. 1:11).

Peering into the mirror of nature, then, we ought to be stirred in Christ, as Vos was, to adore the Lord, our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend! In his sermon “The More Excellent Ministry,” Vos says, “A mirror is not an end in itself, but exists for the sake of what is seen through it.”¹⁶ The mysteries of the kingdom reflected in nature, illumined by the person and work of Christ, and seen by faith, are intended to excite in us an eschatological longing for perfected fellowship with our God—who is our portion forever and in whose presence there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16).

With the twin frame of true religion and eschatology and the theological principle of spiritual law in the natural world now before us, we can turn to a brief meditation on Vos’s poem “Summer.”

“Summer”

1. Geerhardus Vos, “Aestas,” in Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica (Princeton, NJ: Geerhardus Vos, 1927), 42–43. This translation is my own; I have tried to maintain the rhyme scheme and meter of the original Dutch. ︎
2. Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 355. ︎
3. See Geerhardus Vos, “The Range of the Logos Title in the Prologue to the Fourth Gospel,” in Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation: The Shorter Writings of Geerhardus Vos, ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2001), 59–90. ︎
4. Geerhardus Vos, The Teaching of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church (New York, NY: American Tract Society, 1903), 57. ︎
5. Vos formulates this principle over against the popular teaching of the liberal evolutionist Henry Drummond in his book Natural Law in the Spiritual World [1884], in which he collapses the two strata of creation, in the spirit of Bishop Butler, by arguing for an identity between the natural and the supernatural in terms of a common natural law. ︎
6. John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, 3 volumes, trans. James Anderson (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1949), ad loc. Ps. 29:5–8. ︎
7. Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms, ad loc. Ps. 29:5–8. The example Calvin gives of a philosopher who weaves a veil is Aristotle and his book Meteorology. Psalm 29:7 says, “The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.” According to Calvin, Aristotle “reasons very shrewdly” about lightning and thunder “in so far as relates to proximate causes” but “he omits the chief point.” Aristotle’s study of the works of nature does not lead him to God, as it ought to have. The chief point is “that not a confused noise only may strike our ears, but that the voice of the Lord may penetrate our hearts.” Lightning and thunder are mirrors, to use Vos’s metaphor, in which God reflects the almighty power of his voice. The unbeliever always omits (and intentionally so) the “chief point” in everything. ︎
8. Geerhardus Vos, Natural Theology, trans. Albert Gootjes (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2022), 5. Note, by “us” Vos has in mind the Christian who believes God’s specially revealed word for he distinguishes this use of natural theology from its apologetical use: “for refuting those who have rejected the supernatural revelation of God.” Vos, Natural Theology, 5. ︎
9. Geerhardus Vos, “Aestas,” in Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica, 43, my translation. ︎
10. Geerhardus Vos, “Miraculum Veris,” in Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica, 41, my translation. ︎
11.  Geerhardus Vos, “Autumnus,” in Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica, 44, my translation. ︎
12. Geerhardus Vos, “Mors Hyemis,” in Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica, 46, translated as “Winter’s Death” in Geerhardus Vos, Charis: English Verses (Princeton, NJ: Geerhardus Vos, 1931), 20. ︎
13. Hymn 252, This Is My Father’s World, Trinity Psalter Hymnal (Trinity Psalter Hymnal Joint Venture, 2018), verse 2. ︎
14. Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 2: Anthropology, trans. and ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014), 13–14; The following edits were made to the translation: “beyond his nature” was changed to “external to his nature” and “exists only in correspondence to God” was changed to “consists only in likeness to God.” ︎
15. Geerhardus Vos, “Some Doctrinal Features of the Early Prophesies of Isaiah,” in Redemptive History and Biblical Interpretation: The Shorter Writings of Geerhardus Vos, ed. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2001), 282. ︎
16. Geerhardus Vos, Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI: The Reformed Press, 1922), 122. ︎

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob returns to a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. Chapter 9, “The Kingdom and the Church.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

In this installment of the Vos Group, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton turn to pages 378–381 of Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, focusing on Jesus’ teaching and the eschatology of the kingdom. They explore the vital biblical distinction between the “already” and “not yet” aspects of the kingdom of God, examining how this two-age structure stands in contrast to various eschatological systems, including premillennialism, postmillennialism, and what Vos labels “ultra-eschatology.”

Tipton and Bucey analyze Vos’s critique of these systems, highlighting the theological implications of denying either the inaugurated or consummated dimensions of the kingdom. They also discuss the resurrection, the second coming of Christ, and the theological coherence of amillennialism within the Reformed tradition. In the course of the discussion, they reflect on the life and teaching of Dr. Robert B. Strimple, affirming his Christ-centered theological pedagogy and lasting influence.

Listeners will find this episode a robust and thought-provoking engagement with biblical theology, eschatology, and Reformed orthodoxy.

Watch on YouTube

Chapters

• [00:00] Mid-America Reformed Seminary Center for Missions and Evangelism Conference
• [01:30] Introduction
• [02:45] Remembering Dr. Robert Strimple
• [09:03] The Two-Stage Kingdom
• [20:32] Albert Schweitzer and Ultra-Eschatology
• [25:30] Postmillennialism and Gradualism
• [33:42] Measuring the Kingdom’s Advance
• [38:58] Vos on Premillennialism
• [48:32] Premillennialism and the Westminster Standards
• [58:45] Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this installment of our Vos Group series, Camden Bucey welcomes Lane Tipton back to the studio for an in-depth discussion on Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology (pp. 372–374), focusing on the Kingdom of God. Together, they explore how the concept of the kingdom is foundational to Jesus’ public ministry and central to redemptive history.

Drawing from Vos’s text and the broader Reformed tradition, Lane and Camden unpack the eschatological character of the kingdom, its redemptive nature, and its Old Testament foundations. They trace how this theme unfolds from the prophets to the teachings of Christ, addressing modern misconceptions—ranging from liberal moralism to dispensational literalism—and emphasizing the kingdom’s spiritual and heavenly dimensions.

Listeners will gain fresh insight into key theological categories such as inaugurated eschatology, the continuity of redemptive history, and the contrast between earthly and heavenly expectations of the Messiah. Whether you’re new to Vos or a long-time student of Reformed theology, this episode offers deep encouragement and clarity on a subject that lies at the very heart of Scripture.

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Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 04:35 The Kingdom of God in the Ministry of Jesus
• 07:12 The Eschatological and Redemptive Nature of the Kingdom
• 19:08 Kingdom Language in John vs. Synoptics
• 28:01 Salvation, Discipleship, and the Call to Radical Obedience
• 34:19 Kingdom in the Old Testament: Present and Future Dimensions
• 40:59 Future Kingdom in the OT: Abstract, Historical, Messianic
• 45:57 Jewish Expectations vs. Jesus’ Teaching on the Kingdom
• 52:13 Christ’s Kingdom: Heavenly, Spiritual, and Redemptive
• 57:08 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this episode Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey continue their discussion of Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology, focusing on pages 369–371. This section addresses Jesus’ teaching on the divine majesty and greatness, the retributive righteousness of God, and the implications for true religion.

Lane Tipton explains how Vos maintains the biblical tension between God’s transcendent majesty and his loving condescension. They discuss how Vos’s doctrine of God stands against the errors of theological liberalism, which often reduces the divine character to a single attribute of love divorced from holiness and righteousness. The conversation highlights how Jesus’ teaching does not abandon the concept of divine retribution but presents it as an essential and irreducible aspect of God’s nature.

Drawing connections to the contemporary theological landscape, Camden and Lane address modern tendencies to elevate divine love to the exclusion of justice. They also explore the ways in which Reformed theology provides a robust foundation for understanding God’s attributes in their fullness, without compromising his immutability or impassibility.

Listen in as they unpack Vos’s profound insights and demonstrate how they continue to speak to modern theological debates.

Watch on YouTube.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 07:41 Vos’s Critique of Liberalism
• 11:32 The Attributes of God
• 17:02 The Impassibility of God and Its Importance
• 28:19 True Religion and God’s Transcendence
• 33:04 The Retributive Righteousness of God
• 44:51 Practical Application
• 49:53 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this episode we turn to Geerhardus Vos’s discussion on divine fatherhood as presented in Biblical Theology (pp. 365–369). Vos masterfully traces the theme of God’s fatherhood from the Old Testament to the New, demonstrating both its continuity and the profound transformation it undergoes in Jesus’ teaching.

We explore key theological distinctions, including:

• The development from a national to an individual application of fatherhood
• The redemptive, rather than universal, nature of divine sonship
• Jesus’ unique relationship with the Father and its implications for believers
• The eschatological significance of adoption into God’s family

Along the way, we challenge modern misconceptions about the fatherhood of God and discuss why Vos firmly rejects the notion of universal divine fatherhood. Join us as we uncover the richness of this biblical doctrine and consider its implications for the Christian life.

Watch on YouTube and Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 05:31 The Divine Fatherhood of God
• 10:37 Biblical References to God as Father
• 14:13 God as a Father to the Nation of Israel
• 17:26 The Scope of Divine Fatherhood
• 21:38 Divine Fatherhood Is Not a Macro-Attribute
• 24:26 The Redemptive and Eschatological Nature of Divine Fatherhood
• 29:45 God Relating to Believers as Father
• 34:23 Clarifications on Alleged Universal Fatherhood
• 38:37 Expansion of the Concept in the New Covenant
• 43:50 The Practical Import of Divine Fatherhood
• 46:59 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this episode, we open pp. 360–365 of Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology to discuss his profound insights into Jesus’s relationship with the Old Testament. How did Christ use the Scriptures in his teaching? What did he mean when he said he came to “fulfill” the law? And how does his doctrine of God affirm the continuity of divine revelation from the Old to the New Testament?

Whether you’re a student of Reformed theology, a pastor, or simply curious about the biblical foundations of Christ’s teaching, this episode offers a rich and insightful exploration of key theological themes. Tune in now and be equipped to see Scripture through the lens of redemptive history.

Watch on YouTube and Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 09:08 Claims that Questions the Authenticity and Historicity of the Gospel of John
• 15:20 Disjunctive Views of the Old and New Testaments
• 21:04 Spirit and Truth
• 28:25 Jesus as Fulfillment of the Old Testament
• 38:46 Continuity between Old and New Covenants
• 42:44 Jesus’s Doctrine of God
• 49:11 Recap of Major Points
• 51:01 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this episode, we consider the profound theological insights of Geerhardus Vos as found in pp. 355–360 of his Biblical Theology. Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton explore the Johannine concept of truth, which transcends human-centered definitions like coherence or correspondence theories. Instead, John presents truth as an intrinsic, divine attribute embodied in the Logos, Jesus Christ, and rooted in heavenly realities.

The discussion highlights how Jesus is both the fulfillment and culmination of the Old Testament, uniting Christocentrism and Christotelism to show that all Scripture points to him. From heavenly realities and earthly shadows to worship in Spirit and truth, the episode unpacks the eschatological depth of John’s Gospel and the organic unity of God’s redemptive revelation.

We also reflect on Jesus’ own hermeneutic, his attitude toward Scripture as the “most orthodox of the orthodox,” and how his approach undergirds the Reformation’s emphasis on the open access of Scripture to all people. This rich conversation will deepen your understanding of biblical theology, worship, and the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.

Join us as we uncover how Christ is not only the center but also the goal of all Scripture, illuminating God’s unified message of redemption across the ages.

Watch on YouTube and Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 05:27 Upcoming Oklahoma City Seminar
• 10:12 True and Truth in the Gospel of John
• 19:57 Heavenly Realities and Earthly Shadows
• 31:47 Jesus’ Attitude toward the Old Testament
• 35:16 Christo-Centrism and Christotelism
• 47:28 The Fulfillment of the Scriptures
• 55:26 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this episode of Christ the Center, Daniel Ragusa leads us in a consideration of nativity through the lens of Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology. As this season prompts reflection on the incarnation of Christ, this conversation explores the eight aspects of the nativity highlighted by Vos, including its linguistic and redemptive-historical continuity, non-political and gracious character, eschatological significance, and missional scope. Along the way, we examine how Vos’s insights foster a deeper sense of wonder and worship, connecting the nativity to God’s covenantal promises and his grand redemptive plan.

Whether you’re a student of biblical theology or seeking to enrich your understanding of the birth of Christ, this episode offers profound insights and a timely celebration of the wonder of Christ’s coming. Listen in for a thought-provoking conversation that ties the nativity to the broader redemptive narrative and stirs your heart to worship this season.

Watch on YouTube and Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Sponsor: Five More Talents
• 00:01:04 Introduction
• 00:13:17 Vos on the Nativity
• 00:15:59 Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions
• 00:26:21 The Structure of Revelation regarding the Nativity
• 00:31:55 Aspects of the Nativity
• 00:33:36 Organic-Linguistic Continuity
• 00:35:26 Historical Continuity
• 00:37:49 The Redemptive Aspect
• 00:42:16 The Non-Political Aspect
• 00:46:56 The Aspect of Grace and Obedience
• 00:56:30 The Eschatological Aspect
• 01:02:07 The Universal/Missional Aspect
• 01:06:44 The Supernatural Aspect
• 01:11:53 Bonus: A Covenantal Aspect
• 01:14:24 Practical Application
• 01:22:43 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Dan Ragusa

In this episode of Christ the Center, we continue our Vos Group series with an in-depth discussion on Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology, focusing on Jesus’ use of parables and allegories on pages 352–355. Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton explore the unique role of parables in Jesus’ teaching, emphasizing the contrast between parables and allegories and unpacking their function, purpose, and the theological depth within each form.

They also discuss the eschatological significance of the natural-spiritual parallel Vos identifies, highlighting how Jesus’ parables point to a heavenly reality beyond earthly expectations. The conversation also touches on the implications for Christian eschatology and the proper focus of hope within reformed thought.

Join us as we explore the richness of Vos’s thought and its relevance for understanding Jesus’ mission and message. Listen now to deepen your grasp of the parabolic teaching method and its place in Reformed theology, and catch up on past Vos Group episodes.

Watch on YouTube and Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 03:27 Parables and Allegories
• 17:31 The Purpose of Parables
• 30:07 The Natural-Spiritual Parallel
• 38:44 John’s Theological Distinction
• 51:24 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey leads a discussion with Lane Tipton and Danny Olinger on Geerhardus Vos’s sermon, “The Christian’s Hope,” from his book Grace and Glory. The group explores the profound eschatological themes of 1 Peter 1:3-5, examining the nature of Christian hope as rooted in the resurrection of Christ and the believer’s heavenly inheritance. They unpack how this hope should shape the Christian life, influencing how we view suffering, earthly success, and our ultimate calling. The conversation highlights how Vos’s insights are still relevant for modern Reformed believers, particularly in a world distracted by temporal concerns. Tune in for a rich discussion on how our eschatological hope fuels a life of faithful pilgrimage toward the new heavens and new earth.

Watch on YouTube and Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 05:01 The Pilgrim Life and 1 Peter 1:3–5
• 07:49 The Historical Context of 1904
• 10:42 The Nature of Hope
• 21:15 The Christian Perspective on American and European Culture
• 27:02 Postmillennialism and Amillennialism
• 35:14 The Characteristics of the Heavenly Inheritance
• 40:48 The Powerful Witness of Christian Hope
• 48:17 Christ’s Blessing upon the Church
• 53:42 The Christian Purpose
• 57:42 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Lane G. Tipton

Rev. Dr. Daniel Ragusa, pastor of Messiah’s Reformed Fellowship in New York City joins Camden Bucey for this thoughtful episode of Christ the Center. Together, they explore the profound impact of Dutch Reformed theology on American Presbyterianism, focusing on key historical moments and figures, including Cornelius Van Til and Gerhardus Vos. Ragusa shares insights from his recent work translating and editing Van Til’s “Dutch Letters” and discusses the lasting influence of Dutch Reformed thought on the formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC).

This conversation examines the connections between the nineteenth-century Dutch secession movements, particularly the Afscheiding of 1834, and their influence on the theological and ecclesiastical landscape in America. With a focus on confessional integrity and the challenges posed by modernity, Ragusa highlights the ongoing relevance of these historical developments for Reformed theology today.

Listeners will also hear about exciting new publications from Reformed Forum, including Ragusa’s forthcoming book, The Joyful Fellowship, which traces the theme of “God with us” throughout Scripture. This episode provides a rich, historical, and theological exploration of the Dutch Reformed legacy in American Presbyterianism.

Watch on YouTube or Vimeo.

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:04:16 The Joyful Fellowship
• 00:13:08 Van Til’s Dutch Letters
• 00:21:43 First Impressions of the Letters
• 00:29:09 The Afscheiding of 1834
• 00:47:42 The Doleantie
• 00:50:10 Holland-Mania
• 00:54:51 Vos as a Connecting Figure
• 01:06:30 American Presbyterian Influence on the Dutch Reformed
• 01:11:57 A Struggle for Faithfulness to Confessional Identity
• 01:21:12 Teaching at MARS
• 01:23:24 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Dan Ragusa

In chapter 5 of Geerhardus Vos’ Biblical Theology (pp. 343ff), the focus is on the various aspects of Jesus’ revelation during his public ministry. Vos argues that the revelation mediated by Jesus is often mistakenly confined to his earthly life, ignoring his pre-existence and post-existence, both of which are integral to the comprehensive scheme of divine revelation.

Vos outlines that Jesus’ earthly revelation functioned within a specific framework, implying limitations that did not exist in his pre-existent and post-existent states. These limitations were not due to any inadequacy in Jesus’ knowledge or power but were part of a divine scheme that required a progressive unfolding of revelation. Vos emphasizes that Jesus did not intend to reveal the entire volume of divine truth during his earthly ministry but functioned as a pivotal link within the continuum of revelation that includes both the Old and New Testaments.

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:04:31 The Revelation of Jesus
• 00:20:57 The Generation of the Son
• 00:32:51 The Son as a Divine Person
• 00:44:07 Jesus’ Post-Existence
• 00:48:25 The Progressive Covenantal Character of Christ’s Ministry
• 00:55:24 Beyond the Incarnation
• 01:01:34 Kenosis
• 01:08:20 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

In this thought-provoking episode, we dive deep into the intriguing account of Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness. Join us as we explore the profound insights offered by Geerhardus Vos on pages 339–342 in his work Biblical Theology and unpack the ultimate issue at stake in this cosmic confrontation: Who should be God, and whose Messiah would Jesus be?

We grapple with the perplexing questions surrounding Jesus’ temptability and peccability. How could a sinless Jesus be tempted, and what does this imply about his ability to sin? We examine Vos’s argument that the things Satan suggested were not inherently sinful, only wrong due to God’s prohibition, and consider how this differs from modern interpretations that see the temptations as allurements towards a worldly, political messianic role.

Vos’s work invites us to ponder the profound mystery of a fully human Jesus who is intimately united with the Holy Spirit and possesses a divine nature. We consider how these unique aspects of Jesus’ identity make his sinlessness even more unthinkable than Adam’s, and we wrestle with the implications for our understanding of Jesus’ impeccability.

Through a careful analysis of Vos’s insights and a lively discussion of the theological complexities involved, we aim to shed light on this pivotal moment in Jesus’ earthly mission and its significance for our faith. Join us as we explore the depths of Jesus’ commitment to the path of humiliation and suffering, and the ultimate triumph of his messianic glory.

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:02:33 Calvinism: The Plan of Salvation
• 00:07:31 Camden’s Trip to Budapest and Vienna
• 00:14:09 Temptability and Peccability
• 00:22:50 Bavinck and Vos on the Person of the Son
• 00:37:59 The Nature of Jesus’ Temptation
• 00:42:48 Other Theories of the Messianic Nature of the Temptation
• 00:46:41 Christ’s Victory Comes through Suffering unto Glory
• 00:52:06 Satan’s Intent to Circumvent Redemption
• 01:00:17 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Geerhardus Vos mounted a heavenly vantage point from which he surveyed the world and all its happenings. From the high tower of God’s Word, he saw with eagle-eye clarity the beauty and majesty of the Lord in nature and history, creation and providence. “The whole earth is full of his glory!” was his theme (Isa. 6:3). With his heart brimming with seraphic wonder, he addressed his verses to the King (Ps. 45:1).

In Vos’ nature poems, he saw the mystery of the gospel reflected in creation as in a mirror. To highlight this, he entitled one volume of his nature poetry Spiegel der Natuur (Mirror of Nature). In the mirror of nature, through the spectacles of Scripture, Vos saw that death never had the final say. He saw that the path of life was the path of the cross. He saw evil deeds ironically reversed to bring about good by the providence of God. He saw the truth of Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 42 that he had learned as a child:

Q. Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?
A. Our death is not a payment for our sins, but only a dying to sins and an entering into eternal life.

In sum, he saw the glory of Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).

Vos shares with us a glimpse in his poem “Ex Arbore Navis.” In this poem, he finds the hope of resurrection life in Christ reflected in a tree torn from the earth’s embrace but made into a beautiful ship for the open seas of eternity. Isaiah, the “salvation-poet,” as Vos called him, had once prophesied,

For the coastlands shall hope for me,
the ships of Tarshish first,
to bring your children from afar,
their silver and gold with them,
for the name of the LORD your God,
and for the Holy One of Israel,
because he has made you beautiful (Isa. 60:9).

EX ARBORE NAVIS[1]

Bound is the tree in all his growing;
Sprouting and his flowers showing,
His evening and his morning glowing,

His winter sleeping, summer waking,
His silence and the sounds he’s making.

Still grounded in his mother’s place,
Confined within a tiny space;

Until one day a tragedy,
An axman swings with cruelty.

His market value lights his face,
And tears him from the earth’s embrace.

A woeful groan he then raises,
A fit of death through him races,
Down to his roots it abases.

But behold! the cry he utters,
From the pain of death he shudders,
Finished, it forever severs,

Makes for him, a state to hope in,
A wondrous new world to open.

In the woods a hidden pillar,
Now he journeys to the miller,

Who from the thickness, round and broad,
Of his large trunk cuts plank unflawed,

And for the beams of higher estate,
The right measure he must calculate.

Then onward from the miller’s yard,
Coastward goes he to the shipyard;

There the fragrant wood, like a vow,
Is built for keel and hull and bow.

Secured from wind and weather far,
Sealed with wax, baptized with tar.

The master sees him with delight,
Glide down the slope now to alight,

Like a bird over ocean blue
To his new element he flew.

Longing for the wonders at sea,
Ready to sail, restless lies he,

Tighter and tighter pulling on
The anchor that he might be gone.

It came at last the hour set,
By tugboat pulled to an outlet,

With flag and pennants high he’s free
To sail into the open sea;

Bedecked in white, his bridegroom sail,
On crested billows rides his tail,
Like were his own currents and gale;

Like every droplet in the slough
Of despond was his servant low;

Freer than the sea from bonds and bands,
Up rivers rushes he to distant lands.

You say this is a poetic device,
In real life groundless, it cannot suffice.

Believe me I know of what I sing,
A ship is also a living thing.

Lord, when death soon draws itself near,
Through trunk and branch goes his shear,

Freed from this narrow earthly space,
Let me go to a wider place;

After the escape, make of me,
A ship for Yourself graciously,

Assembled and made beautifully,
For the grand sail of eternity.

Reflected in this poem is that what the axman meant for evil, God meant for good (Gen. 50:20). Vos personifies the tree in the same way trees are found clapping their hands and singing for joy in Scripture (Ps. 96:12; Isa. 55:12). But here the tree is mercilessly torn from the nurturing arms of the earth. He groans and convulses in death. But death is not his destiny.

But behold! the cry he utters,
From the pain of death he shudders,
Finished, it forever severs,
Makes for him, a state to hope in,
A wondrous new world to open.

A kind of resurrection is reflected in the master shipbuilder raising the tree to new life as he forms and fashions him into a beautiful ship. Now the tree, once bound and confined, is loosed upon the open seas. Through a kind of death, his previous narrow existence has now opened into a broader existence of boundless currents of joy.

For Vos, this is more than a mere poetic device. It touches reality. It is the lifepath of the believer in Christ reflected as in a mirror. So, with the seaways to Zion in his heart (Ps. 84:5), he prays to the Lord in the final eight lines. He asks him that when he is torn from the earth by death’s cruel blow,

After the escape, make of me,
A ship for Yourself graciously,
Assembled and made beautifully
For the grand sail of eternity.

It is the true Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will raise his people from the dead to a more beautiful, more glorious existence. “[O]ur citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil. 3:20–21). Glimmering in Vos’ prayer is the good news that though we die, yet we shall live, that by grace alone we will be resurrected “at the hour set” to glorify and enjoy our Lord forever in the boundless joys of heaven—joys which earth cannot afford and none but Zion’s children know. The sea of crystal is forever before us. On its still, clear waters glisten the eternal glory of the gospel of Christ, the firstborn from the dead. With this end in mind, Vos encourages us in his sermon “Heavenly-Mindedness,” saying,

Being the sum and substance of all the positive gifts of God to us in their highest form, heaven is of itself able to evoke in our hearts positive love, such absorbing love as can render us at times forgetful of the earthly strife. In such moments the transcendent beauty of the other shore and the irresistible current of our deepest life lift us above every regard of wind or wave. We know that through weather fair or foul our ship is bound straight for its eternal port.[2]

Carried along by heavenly winds, even the Spirit of Christ in our sails, we pray: “In accord with Your covenant promise, O Lord, make of me a ship for Yourself.” Those last two words reach the apex of the religious longing of our hearts. For God, we were constituted as his image bearers in creation. From God, we fell in the sin of the first Adam. To God, we are restored and perfected by our union with the resurrected Christ in redemption. In Christ, we confess by his Spirit that even the glory of the escape of death is outshone by our God who has made us beautiful in his Son “for the grand sail of eternity.”

[1] Geerhardus Vos, Spiegel der Natuur en Lyrica Anglica (Princeton, NJ: Geerhardus Vos, 1927), 33–34. The translation is my own. I attempted to maintain the meter and rhyme scheme of the original.

[2] Geerhardus Vos, “Heavenly-Mindedness,” in Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached at Princeton Seminary (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2020), 120–21, emphasis mine.

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob returns to a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. Chapter 8, “The Essence of the Kingdom continued: The Kingdom as a State of Blessedness.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Today, we turn to pages 318–322 of Vos’ Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments to explore the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. Our goal is to offer a nuanced understanding by identifying both the similarities and differences between John’s baptism of Jesus and the baptisms John performed upon the people.

Vos aims to steer clear of two misconceptions: the first being that Jesus’ baptism and the people’s baptisms were entirely distinct events, and the second that they were essentially the same.

The baptism of Jesus holds dual significance. Firstly, it serves as a public and objective revelation of the Holy Spirit’s glory, manifested as the Spirit descended from heaven onto Jesus. Secondly, it has a sacramental meaning for Jesus himself, as he received something from the Spirit that furthered his earthly mission, which was a journey of suffering leading to glory.

In addition, we’ll examine the connection between Jesus’s baptism and his role as the Messiah, offering insights into both pneumatology—the study of the Holy Spirit—and eschatology—the study of end times.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 00:37 Discussing the Recent Course on Aquinas’ Trinitarian Theology
• 09:49 John’s Baptism of Jesus
• 23:22 The Redemptive-Historical Roles of Jesus and John
• 27:05 Jesus Identifies with His People
• 29:55 The Objective Office of Messiah
• 41:42 The Descent of the Spirit upon Jesus
• 46:54 The Sacramental Significance of Jesus Baptism
• 50:31 The Beginning of the New Creation
• 58:49 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

We turn to pp. 315–318 of Geerhardus Vos’s book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments to discuss revelation connected with John the Baptist. Our discussion examines the complexities of John’s role in the grand scheme of Biblical theology, unearthing profound insights about revelation and prophecy. We explore John’s unique connection with Elijah, and the significance of his testimony to Jesus and baptism.

Join us as we ponder Vos’s interpretation of Biblical revelation, shedding light on how it relates to the shadowy figure of John the Baptist. We navigate the delicate interplay between Old Testament prophecy and New Testament fulfillment, guided by the astute scholarship of Vos.

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:02:49 Thoughts on Studying Vos
• 00:14:10 John the Baptist and Elijah
• 00:21:50 Dispensational Interpretations of OT Prophecy
• 00:30:11 Repent in Preparation of the Coming of Christ
• 00:34:37 John’s Baptism
• 00:43:47 The OT Background to the Baptism of John
• 00:51:27 Considering John’s Baptism Redemptive-Historically
• 01:01:50 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

We turn to pp. 311–314 of Geerhardus Vos’s book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments to discuss revelation connected with John the Baptist. In this section, we are reminded of the importance of being methodologically self-conscious in our biblical theology. Vos provides valuable insights into John the Baptist’s mission and his place in the unfolding of God’s plan of salvation.

Through an exposition of Matthew 11:2-15, we explore Jesus’ correction of mistaken views and his explanation of John’s significance as “more than a prophet” as well as Vos’ biblical theology, emphasizing the redemptive event as preceding the interpretive word. Whether you’re a biblical scholar or simply interested in the history of special revelation, this episode is sure to provide you with valuable insights and a deeper understanding of John the Baptist’s role in the unfolding of God’s plan of salvation.

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:01:32 Join Our New Online Community
• 00:07:37 New Course Available on Van Til and Barth
• 00:16:10 Vos, John the Baptist, and Methodological Considerations
• 00:23:32 Baldensperger and the History of Religions School
• 00:29:04 John the Baptist in Luke 1
• 00:36:54 Baldensperger’s View of Luke 1–3
• 00:44:45 The Christian Philosophy of History
• 00:50:14 John the Baptist in Matthew 11:2–15
• 00:57:46 John and Impending Judgment
• 01:01:45 John Living under the Old Covenant
• 01:05:46 Rejoicing in Suffering for Christ
• 01:18:16 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

We turn to pp. 309–310 of Geerhardus Vos’s book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments to discuss aspects of the nativity. The convergence of the coming of Jehovah and the coming of the Messiah is found in Jesus Christ and revealed particularly at the time of the nativity. Two Old Testament roots support this convergence: the circle of Mary and Joseph, who stand in the line of David, and the circle of Zacharias and Elizabeth, where the idea of Jehovah’s coming prevails.

Additionally, Vos notes that the name “Jesus” means “Jehovah is Salvation,” signifying Jesus’ divine identity as the one who delivers his people from the guilt and power of sin. Finally, Vos emphasizes that the inclusion of the Gentiles into God’s covenant people is another important aspect of Jesus’ redemptive work revealed with the incarnation.

Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 01:31 The Coming of the Son of David
• 11:41 The Coming of the Lord
• 15:43 John the Baptist’s Ministry
• 21:45 The Name of “Jesus”
• 27:54 Simeon and the Inclusion of the Gentiles
• 36:42 Jesus Has No Earthly Father
• 39:52 Creation and Incarnation
• 50:09 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob returns to a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. In chapter 7, “The Essence of the Kingdom continued: The Kingdom in the Sphere of Righteousness,” Vos explains the relationship between the kingdom and righteousness.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

In this episode, we bring you the third plenary address from our 2022 Theology Conference wherein we considered, “The Covenantal Tale of Creation, Christ, and Consummation: The Life and Work of M. G. Kline.” This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Meredith G. Kline. We will take the opportunity to consider his unique contributions by exploring several covenantal and eschatological themes he identified throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Danny Olinger is General Secretary for the Committee on Christian Education for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He is the author of Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian.

Links

• Nathan Feldmeth, S. Donald Fortson III, Garth M. Rosell, and Kenneth J. Stewart, Reformed and Evangelical Across Four Centuries: The Presbyterian Story in America
• Mark Noll, America’s Book: The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilization, 1794-1911
• Jeffrey S. McDonald, “Advancing the Evangelical Mind: Melvin Grove Kyle, J. Gresham Machen, and the League of Evangelical Students“

Chapters

• 0:00:00 Introduction
• 0:08:01 The Biblical Theology of Vos-Kline-Gaffin
• 1:00:45 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob returns to a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. In chapter 6, “The Essence of the Kingdom as the Supremacy of God in the Sphere of Saving Power,” Vos explain why the concept of the kingdom of God is so thoroughly God-centered and God-glorifying.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey turn to pages 289–296 of Geerhardus Vos’ book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments. In this section, Vos introduces several significant interpretive practices which are critical for a proper understanding of the eschatology of the prophets. These are the principles of (1) finality and consummation, (2) prophetic idiom, and (3) the coming of the Messiah as the “gift of God.”

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 02:48 Finality and Consummation
• 13:53 The Forshortening of Prophetic Insight
• 22:54 Prophetic Idiom and the Future Glory of Isaiah
• 42:58 The Coming Messiah as the Gift of God
• 51:06 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey turn to pages 267–269 of Geerhardus Vos’ book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, to consider the collective sin of the nation during the time of the prophets. Vos addresses several passages in this section, including Amos 5:25, Isaiah 1:10–17, and Hosea 6:6.

Links

• OPC Report of the Committee to Study Republication

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 05:13 Critics, the Prophets, and the Old Covenant
• 12:28 The Passover and Redemptive-History
• 19:32 Amos 5:25
• 28:33 Isaiah 1:10–17
• 36:17 Hosea 6:4–10
• 40:47 Israel’s National Sin
• 49:06 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Danny Olinger delivers an address at the 2021 Reformed Forum Theology Conference. The event was held October 8–9, 2021 at Providence OPC in Pflugerville, Texas.

The conference theme was, “The Promise of Life: God’s Plan for His People in the Covenant of Works.” In contrast to Roman Catholic, modernist, and evangelical approaches, we explored a thoroughly Reformed understanding of God’s relationship to Adam as he was created. We learned how Jesus Christ ultimately brings us to the glorious future which God originally offered to Adam in the garden of Eden.

Danny Olinger is General Secretary for the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He is the author of Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian and the editor of A Geerhardus Vos Anthology: Biblical and Theological Insights Alphabetically Arranged.

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:46 Geerhardus Vos and the Covenant of Works
00:10:49 Summary in The Eschatology of the Psalter
00:16:20 Adam and Christ in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15
00:26:06 The Promise of Life in the Covenant of Works
00:41:28 The Nature and Destiny of Man
00:48:43 Reformed and Roman Catholic Theology
00:59:15 Theology from Genesis 2:16–17
01:02:22 The Sabbath Day
01:12:25 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger

Lane Tipton and Camden Bucey turn to pages 264–266 of Geerhardus Vos’ book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, to consider the collective sin of the nation during the time of the prophets. Vos speaks particularly of the prophet Amos, and his indictment of false worship practices among the people.

Links

• OPC Report of the Committee to Study Republication

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:09:14 Collective National Sin
• 00:17:33 Oppression of the Poor and Sexual Immorality
• 00:24:40 Licentious Idolatry
• 00:28:24 The Covenant-Historical Context
• 00:35:26 The Motivation of the Apostates (Amos 8:1–6)
• 00:42:04 A Critical Interpretation of the Prophets’ View of Sacrifices
• 00:45:57 Manners of False Worship
• 00:55:17 Cultural Forces and the Church
• 01:00:33 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Danny Olinger, Lane Tipton, and Camden Bucey discuss Geerhardus Vos’s sermon, “Hungering and Thirsting after Righteousness” from Matthew 5:6. This sermon is included in Grace and Glory: Sermons Preached at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Lane G. Tipton

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. In chapter 5, Vos discusses current misconceptions regarding the present and future kingdom.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

We turn to pages 243–244 of Geerhardus Vos’s book Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments to discuss the prophet’s view of God’s relation to time and space. In terms of God’s relation to time and space, two relations occur. What we have to affirm first of all is that God is everywhere present in all of his fullness. But Vos speaks of a special relation to Zion (on earth) and heaven itself as the temple dwelling of God. Two things help us grasp the significance of this: the notion of covenant and the location of the fellowship.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

We turn to pp. 238–243 of Vos’s book, Biblical Theology, to speak about the Old Testament prophets and their understanding of the nature and attributes of God. Vos affirms that God is Spirit. This brings into view not that God is immaterial per se, as Vos notes, but rather the “energy of life in God.” This is critical to appreciate. That God is Spirit reminds us that while he is immutable in his being, he is impassible in his actions.

He acts, and his actions condition all that he acts upon, without he himself being mutually conditioned by that on which he acts. That is, God is pure act in the sense that he immutably and sovereignly acts in such a way that he is not acted upon, and in that action, changed by the creation on which and in which his actions terminate. Vos says in his Reformed Dogmatics, there is no time distinction in God, yet his acts fall in time. And they fall in time as the acts of an all-conditioning God, who is living and active, but in a way that he is not acted upon or changed by the creature.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that God is a Spirit, “infinite, eternal and unchangeable.” This helpfully distills the essence of what Vos is after. While immutable, God is active and living and all of his acts express his immutable being and purpose. So, a key here is that immutability and spirituality require one another: God is immutable in his life; immutable in his purposes; and his agency in creation expresses immutable but living and acting Trinitarian persons, who are exhaustively and entirely the one true God.

Isaiah 57:15 is a key text: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. In chapter 4, endeavors to test two opposing views about the kingdom of God to determine which one is in accord with the teaching of our Lord.

Participants: Robert Tarullo

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues a reading of Geerhardus Vos’s 1903 book, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Kingdom of God and the Church. In chapter 3, Vos discusses the nature of “kingdom” as well as the difference between the usage of “kingdom of God” and “kingdom of heaven.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

Participants: Robert Tarullo

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob finishes reading from the 1922 edition of Grace and Glory, a collection of sermons delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary by Geerhardus Vos. The sixth of these sermons is on Hebrews 11:9-10, “Heavenly-Mindedness.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues reading from the 1922 edition of Grace and Glory, a collection of sermons delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary by Geerhardus Vos. The fifth of these sermons is on 2 Corinthians 3:18, “The More Excellent Ministry.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues reading from the 1922 edition of Grace and Glory, a collection of sermons delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary by Geerhardus Vos. The third of these sermons is on Luke 19:10, “Seeking and Saving the Lost.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues reading from the 1922 edition of Grace and Glory, a collection of sermons delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary by Geerhardus Vos. The second of these sermons is on Matthew 5:6, “Hungering and Thirsting After Righteousness.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob continues reading from the 1922 edition of Grace and Glory, a collection of sermons delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary by Geerhardus Vos. The fourth of these sermons is on John 20:16, “Rabboni!”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

We take a brief break from our regular schedule in Geerhardus Vos’s book, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments, to discuss Vos’s sermon “Rabboni,” on John 20:16. This sermon is found in Grace & Glory, a collection of Vos’s sermons preached at the chapel of Princeton Seminary.

John 20:1–18 (ESV)

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. ⁴ Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹ for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes. 

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. 

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

This week on Theology Simply Profound, Bob begins reading the 1922 edition of Grace and Glory, a collection of sermons delivered at Princeton Theological Seminary by Geerhardus Vos. The first of these sermons is on Hosea 14:8, “The Wonderful Tree.”

Participants: Robert Tarullo

We turn to pages 224–229 of Vos’s book, Biblical Theology, to speak about the intra-mental state of the prophet, by which Vos means to inquire into “how the soul felt and reacted under the things shown within the vision” (p. 224).

Far too much attention has been given to what is represented by the Greek term ecstasis. The term served first as a translation of the Hebrew tardemah (cf. Gen. 2:21 with Adam and Genesis 15:12 with Abram). In Adam’s case, there is no visionary state. In Abram’s case, there is such a vision (expound the theology of the theophany). But tardemah does not throw any light on Abram’s state of mind.

Ecstasis, on the other hand, has a very definite conception in Greek consciousness that leads in the direction of error. That conception is that of “insanity or mania” and was applied to the oracular process—the process of receiving visions and the resultant state in which it put the seer-prophet. This led to a close association between the prophet and some feature of instability—some manic tendency that seems inherent to the process of receiving a vision.

Vos points us to God’s inspired, inerrant, and infallible revelation in history, which does not bypass the human mind or allow the recipient to escape his humanity, but elevates him to greater communion with God.

Danny Olinger, author of Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theology, Confessional Presbyterian, joins us for a special conversation. We take a brief break from Vos’s book Biblical Theology to discuss the influence of Vos upon several other theologians. We then open the floor to questions from people participating in our live webinar.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Lane G. Tipton

Today we provide an introduction to the doctrine of justification with a consideration of several basic categories. We begin with a confessional doctrine of justification from the Westminster Standards. We then consider justification’s relationship to faith. Then we turn to the believer’s relationship to the person and work of Christ and consider how we are united to him. Finally, we speak about the relationship of that union to faith.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Q. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.

Q. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

Q. 32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
A. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption and sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.

Q. 33. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 11—Of Justification

1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness, by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did, in the fullness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification: nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Lane G. Tipton

Danny Olinger speaks about the life and thought of Geerhardus Vos. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. has identified Vos as the father of Reformed biblical theology and we take the time to speak of his contribution and legacy. Rev. Olinger is General Secretary for the OPC Committee on Christian Education. He has written a tremendous biography of Vos, titled Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian. The book is published by Reformed Forum and available for purchase.

Participants: Adam York, Camden Bucey, Danny Olinger, Jim Cassidy

Rev. Danny E. Olinger lectures on the connection Geerhardus Vos and J. Gresham Machen. This lesson was taught at Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois as part of the Reformed Forum 2018 Theology Conference.

Participants: Danny Olinger