Sunday, July 26, 2009

Sabbath Healings!

… of healings on the sabbath (Mark 1:21f.; Mark 3:1f.; Luke 13:10f.; Luke 14:1f.; John 5:9; John 9:14f.).

His (Jesus’) own (first) coming meant that the seventh and last day, the great day of Yahweh, had dawned, and healing was the specific Word of God that He had come to accomplish on this day ... Thus He not only did not break the sabbath with this work but genuinely sanctified and kept it. He was free also, and particularly, to do good and not evil on the sabbath, i.e., to save life and not to destroy it (Mk. 3:4). - Barth, K., Church dogmatics, Volume V: Index, with Aids for the Preacher (p. 497).

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Faith is Assurance!

calvin_slices_01 “For to have faith is not to waver, to vary, to be borne up and down, to hesitate, to be held in suspense, to vacillate- finally, to despair! Rather, to have faith is to strengthen the mind with constant assurance and perfect confidence, to have a place to rest and plant your foot [cf. I Cor. 2:5; II Cor. 13:4].”

J. Calvin, The Institutes of The Christian Religion (3.13.4)