Meet The Puritans

Sermons of a “German Puritan” on the Apostles’ Creed

Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by Danny Hyde.

My friend and colleague, R. Scott Clark, is general editor of what is going to be a great series of books, “Classic Reformed Theology,” published by Reformation Heritage Books (Grand Rapids, Mich.).

Volume 1 came out last year: William Ames, A Sketch of the Christian’s Catechism, trans. Todd M. Rester, introduced by Joel R. Beeke and Todd M. Rester. In this volume we have a fascinating series of sermons on the Heidelberg Catechism from an Englishman exiled to the Netherlands. For those of us who are required to preach catechetical sermons this is a treasure trove. For those with scruples about this practice, Ames shows how the doctrines of the Catechism can be responsibly preached via an exposition and application of Scripture.

I am excited to announce that Volume 2 is now in-print: Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, trans. Lyle D. Bierma, introduced by R. Scott Clark. This volume is a series of sermons Olevianus, one of the key contributors to the Heidelberg Catechism, preached on the Apostles’ Creed. Here are a couple of snippets to whet your appetite:

From the “Introduction”

It is certain that there are two spiritual kingdoms, even in this world: the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. Every person necessarily belongs to one or the other here in this life . . . there are two spiritual kingdoms even in this world. The one is the kingdom of Christ, made up of all who repent, believe in Christ, and are baptized in His name. It also includes their children, unless, when they are grown, through unbelief they reject the benefit that is offered. But the other is the kingdom of Satan and darkness, made up of all who do not repent and do not believe in Christ. Some of them are not baptized but hold baptism in contempt, like the Turks and Jews. Others are baptized but are nevertheless impenitent and unbelievers. Although they are baptized and join themselves to the visible church, nevertheless they remain in the kingdom and power of darkness until such time as they are converted and believe (Matt. 28; 1 Cor. 6:8–10, 12; 2 Cor. 12:21) . . . Let us then see what the kingdom of Christ is, which begins in the faithful in this world and is also called, with the same meaning, “the kingdom of God” and “the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 3:2; Luke 4:43; 7:28). The kingdom of Christ in this world is the administration of salvation by which Christ the King Him- self outwardly, through the gospel and baptism, gathers to Himself and calls to salvation a people or visible church (in which many hypocrites are mixed). To those in this congregation who have always been His elect, He Himself admin- isters and bestows that salvation to which He calls them. He makes the outward call efficacious, granting them the repentance and faith by which they respond to the One calling them. Those He calls in this way He also justifies, not imputing their sins to them. And those He justifies He also glorifies, purging them daily more and more of their sins, and training, forming, and perfecting them in all godliness, righteousness, and eternal life so that the glory of Christ the King may shine in them (pp. 9, 10).

On “I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth”

The purpose of this description is that once the nature of God is known, we might embrace Him through faith as our only and greatest good, and be afraid to offend Him, so that through this true faith and fear, or repentance, God might be glorified in us. For when we hear, first of all, that God, who by an eternal covenant has promised to be our God, is intelligent, wise, eternal, good, righteous, merciful, etc., we rightly conclude from the form of this gracious covenant that He not only is this way by nature but also wishes to show Himself as such to us believers—and to do so by an eternal covenant, even though all creatures might seem to convince us otherwise. Whoever knows this nature of God, by whom one is received into the covenant, has ample basis for believing in Him and for living by faith according to the will of God (p. 24).

On “He Descended Into Hell”

The true meaning of the article “He descended into hell”

There is no doubt that the descent of Christ into hell is the lowest and most extreme degree of His humiliation, by which He humbled himself for us and, indeed, emptied Himself completely (Acts 2). We should now look at what kind of humiliation this is by examining several meanings of the descent into hell. These are the various meanings: Hell can mean grave; second, it can be translated as “place of the damned”; third, it can mean extreme anguish (Ps. 18[:4–6]; 1 Sam. 2[:6]); fourth, it can be taken for the condition in burial and what follows burial—that state of complete disgrace, as those who have been buried lie oppressed and, as it were, swallowed up by death (Isa. 14:11, 15–17). With respect to the first meaning, we have already said why the descent into hell ought not to be taken simply as burial in this article. We have also shown that the second meaning, descent to the place of the damned, does not agree with this article. That leaves two meanings, anguish of soul and that state or condition that follows both that anguish and the burial itself (p. 88).

The fruit of Christ’s descent into hell

The summary, therefore, of both meanings of Christ’s descent into hell (the latter of which better fits the order of the articles of faith) is that Christ had to be utterly humbled, or forsaken by God, so that we would not be forsaken by God ourselves. We see that, first, in that His divine nature did not exercise its power, so that He might experience the pains of death not only in body but also in soul.

Second, that same Word, or divine nature, rested and for a time did not energize the lump [of flesh] that it had assumed, but allowed the body to be divided from the soul for three days while it was in the hands or power of the grave. This was so that in every way Christ might be truly humbled for us, to the end that we might be certain that not only are our souls delivered from the pains of death, but also all disgrace is expelled from our bodies through this Christ and by His merit. It is also by His efficacy that it will be finally and fully taken away, even though for a time our bodies are kept enclosed by the grave, seemingly conquered by death.

Finally, believing minds have so much more trust in the love of God and in the complete expiation made by the Son when they see how humble and abject (yet without sin) Christ became, and when they see more clearly what their salvation cost Him (p. 91).

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