Meet The Puritans

Perkins on Retaining the Descent Clause

Posted on 08. Jun, 2010 by Danny Hyde.

What did the Puritans think about the clause in the Creed, “He descended into hell?” For that answer you need to read Chad Van Dixhoorn’s PhD thesis, which we hope will be in-print in the near future. For one example, listen to how one of the fathers of English Puritanism, the great Cambridge theologian, William Perkins,wrote of the benefit of retaining “He descended into hell” in the Apostles’ Creed. He spoke of the benefit of being truly catholic in our theology:

Neverthelesse considering that this clause hath long continued in the Creede, and that by common consent of the Catholike Church of God, and it may carrie a fit sense and exposition; it is not, as some would have it, to be put forth.”

—An Exposition of the Symbole, 1:231, col. 2

—Cited in Daniel R. Hyde, In Defense of the Descent: A Response to Contemporary Critics (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), 67.

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How to Meditate on the Glory of Christ

Posted on 11. May, 2010 by Ryan McGraw.

Meditation is a difficult duty. Most Christians struggle even with where to begin with respect to this duty. It is particularly important for us to mediate upon the Person and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, since beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is the primary means by which we are transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18). In his devotional work, The Glory of Christ, John Owen has provided five useful ways that we can meditate upon the glory of Christ as a divine/human Person. Our congregation in Conway found these instructions particularly helpful, so I pass them along with the hope that they will help you in your devotion to Christ (you can read the full section in Owen, Works, 1, 312–322).

1. Consider that the knowledge of Christ as fully God and fully man in one Person is the most useful object of our contemplations and affections (1, 312–314). Christ’s identity as the God-man places him in a unique position to make your redemption possible. He also reveals the glory of God to your understanding in a unique manner.

2. Diligently study the Scriptures with the express purpose of finding the glory of Christ in them (1, 314–316). The Scriptures assert that Christ is their central object (Lk. 24:26–27, 45–46; 2 Cor. 3:13–16). The three primary ways that Christ is revealed in the Old Testament is by direct descriptions of his Person and his incarnation, by prophecies concerning him, and by the Old Testament ceremonies of worship (Owen richly expands each of these). Too often Christians read the Old Testament in a manner that is no better than the Jews. Even if we do not see Christ in everything in the Old Testament, we must be careful to take our knowledge of Christ with us while reading the Old Testament.

3. Meditate frequently upon the knowledge of Christ that you have already obtained, both from Scripture and from sermons (1, 316–317). Failing to use and to build upon the knowledge of Christ that we have already received is the “fundamental mistake” standing behind the lack of spiritual growth among so many Christians. This is the error of treating the doctrines of Christ as fundamental and basic, thus taking them for granted. Owen adds that although we must not isolate ourselves from the world, we must love solitude as well. Without some measure of regular solitude, meditation upon the Lord Jesus Christ is impossible.

4. Do not simply rely upon fixed times set aside for meditation, but think upon Christ at every possible occasion throughout the day (1, 317–320). This is particularly important during those seasons in which Christ “withdraws” himself from our “spiritual experience.” If we know what it is like to “miss” Christ sometimes, then we should take comfort from the fact that this means that we have truly known what it is to have fellowship with him. When the comforts of communion with Christ diminish, we must seek him with the desperation with which a thirsty man seeks water. Christ acts in this way for our good, since his withdrawals increase our dependence upon him and the fervency with which we seek him. The truth is that Christ is always near to us, but “the principal actings of the life of faith consist in the frequency of our thoughts concerning him” (1, 319).

5. Accompany your thoughts of Christ with admiration, adoration, and thanksgiving (1, 320–322). The more we contemplate our divine/human Lord, then the more we shall realize that he is beyond the limits of our comprehension. This should lead us to love the Lord Jesus Christ with every faculty of our souls. In heaven, we shall exercise all of the faculties of our souls simultaneously in the worship and service of Christ, but in this world both our understanding and our strength is incomplete. Therefore, sometimes our thoughts of Christ should lead to admiration, others to adoration, and still others to thanksgiving according to our understanding and our capacity. You must never lose sight of the fact that the purpose for which you know Christ is worship.

Owen closes this section with the useful reminder that meditation upon the glory of the Person of Christ only occurs in the context of a heavenly-minded life. This is an important thought. Perhaps one reason why meditation is so hard for us is that we have not set our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father in everything that we set our hands to (Col. 3:1–2). Meditation upon the glory of Christ is a jarring and painful interruption when our minds are trained to run along the well-worn grooves of our earthly routine. Let us never forget that we are pilgrims and strangers in the world! Let us never be surprised at the difficulty of heavenly-mindedness on this side of glory! Let us make use of means to help us contemplate the glory of our Savior more fully! And may we come to our heavenly Father who is able and ready to help us to meditate upon the glory of his Son through the power of the Holy Spirit!

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New Book on Christ’s Descent Into Hell

Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by Danny Hyde.

The Apostles’ Creed claims that Christ “descended into hell,” but do we really believe that? Should we believe that? In this book, Daniel R. Hyde analyzes this controversial claim, bringing valuable light to this long confessed doctrine. He presents the arguments raised against the descent clause, discusses the various understanding of it throughout church history, explains how the Reformed churches have adopted it, and demonstrates the benefits of retaining it as a point of our Christian confession today. For those who question why Christians would believe in the descent of Christ, In Defense of the Descent is an informative and helpful guide.

Now available for pre-order and will be available as of April 15th from Reformation Heritage Books where you can also read chapter 1 as a .pdf here.

Endorsements:

“For creedal and confessional Christians, the clause in the Apostles’ Creed ‘he descended into hell’ is important, but sometimes puzzling. Even as intelligent lay folk often struggle to articulate a brief, cogent, accurate reply as to its precise meaning, they may not fully appreciate the history of discussion behind the phrase, or the origins and function of its inclusion in what is probably still, liturgically, the most widely used creed in the Reformation churches. Daniel Hyde has come to the rescue with a brief, helpful, historical, biblical, and pastoral treatment of this clause, and the crucial theological truth it is designed to propound and protect. I warmly commend it to the Christian reader.”

— Ligon Duncan, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi and Adjunct Professor of Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary

“Every pastor knows that sinking feeling when the congregation recites the ‘descent into hell’ clause of the Creed. What do we say to them? Written for laypeople and pastors alike, this slim volume not only gives us a good answer; it offers a terrific summary of broader Christian reflection. Danny Hyde convincingly argues that, far from an idle question, our Lord’s descent into hell is a precious facet of the gospel.”

—Michael S. Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California (Escondido, CA)

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John Owen on Christ’s Active Obedience

Posted on 11. Sep, 2009 by Danny Hyde.

In Andrew Thomson’s (1814–1901) biography of John Owen, which may be found in Owen’s Works 1, xxi–cxxii, or reprinted on it own as John Owen: Prince of Puritans (1996 ed., repr., Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2004), Thomson appended several of Owen’s important letters. The first of these letters was to Pierre Du Moulin, Jr. (1601–1684), son of the famous French Huguenot, Pierre Du Moulin, Sr., and staunch Royalist and advocate of prelacy (i.e., episcopacy). Owen’s letter was in response to Du Moulin’s critique of the Independants’ Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order (1658), of which Owen was a member of the composition committee.

In his letter to Du Moulin, Owen recounted that Du Moulin accused Owen of contradiction, speaking of the “active obedience of Christ imputed to us” on the one hand, and saying that “Christ acquits us by his obedience in death and not by his fulfilling of the law” on the other (Thomson, 144–145). It is telling that the longest section of Owen’s letter deals with a refutation of this accusation.

Owen’s reply to Du Moulin was gentle: “I fear you make use of some corrupt copy of our Confession” (Thomson, 145). Contrary to Du Moulin’s charge, Owen retorted: “…but we say that Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those who are justified – which comprehends both his active and passive righteousness” (Thomson, 145). To Du Moulin’s attempt “to disprove this doctrine of ours concerning the imputation of the active righteousness of Christ unto our justification,” Owen forcefully said, “Pray, sir, do not mistake that such mistaken reasonings can give us any occasion to change our judgments in an article of truth of this importance” (Thomson, 145).

Owen summed us his response to this point, with a wonderful paragraph on the twofold obedience of Jesus Christ for our justification, when he said,

“In the meantime I tell you, we are by the death of Christ freed from all sufferings as they are purely penal, and the effects of the curse, though they spring out of the root; only, sir, you and I know well that we are not freed from pains, afflictions and death itself – which had never been, had they not proceeded from the curse of the law. And so, sir, by the obedience of Christ we are freed from obedience to the law as to justification by the works thereof. We are no more obligated to obey the law in order to justification than we are obligated to undergo the penalties of the law to answer its curse” (Thomson, 145).

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Canticles: Communion with Christ?

Posted on 07. Sep, 2009 by Mark Jones.

Interpretation of Canticles or “The Song of Songs” in the last fifty years has predominately favored the view that the book reflects the love between a man and his wife, and not, in the first instance, the intimate relationship a believer has with Christ.  Many in the (Reformed) church today seem to talk so little about the enjoyment of sweet communion with the risen Savior who “dwells in our hearts by faith”.  They can speak about the ordo-historia issue all night long, but they are decidedly silent on Christian experience; indeed, they may even be embarrased to speak of their relationship with Christ in the manner we read of in the Song of Songs. [...]

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