After Connexion I went home (after a stop at the smore bbq!) and logged on to see what read up on some of my favorite blogs. This one by Justin Taylor was worth sharing here since it spoke to what we discussed tonight. Actually, it’s not by Justin Taylor, he’s quoting JI Packer at length:

J. I. Packer, in an essay on “Justification in Protestant Theology”:

Faith is a conscious acknowledgment of our own unrighteousness and ungodliness and on that basis a looking to Christ as our own righteousness, a clasping of him as the ring clasps the jewel (so Luther), a receiving of him as an empty vessel receives treasure (so Calvin), and a reverent, resolute reliance on the biblical promise of life though him for all who believe. Faith is our act, but not our work; it is an instrument of reception without being a means of merit; it is the work in us of the Holy Spirit, who both evokes it and through it ingrafts us into Christ in such a sense that we know at once the personal relationship of sinner to Saviour and disciple to Master and with that the dynamic relationship of resurrection life, communicated through the Spirit’s indwelling. So faith takes, and rejoices, and hopes, and loves, and triumphs.

J. I. Packer, Honouring the People of God, p. 228.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 18th, 2007 at 8:18 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.