Who Exactly is Jesus? Firm Foundations - Learning with the 1689 Confession (10)

Scripture: Luke 5.1-11

Confession Chapter 8: Christ the Mediator

1. ¹To give effect to His eternal purpose God chose and ordained the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, in accordance with the covenant into which they had entered, to be the Mediator between God and man; also to be Prophet, Priest, King, Head and Saviour of His church; also to be the Heir of all things and Judge of the world. ²From all eternity God had given to His Son those who were to be His progeny, and the Son engaged in time (as distinct from eternity) to redeem, call, justify, sanctify and glorify them.

Ps. 2.6, Isa. 42.1, 53.10, Lke. 1.33, Jn. 17.6, Ac. 3.22, 17.31, Rom. 8.30, Eph. 1.22, 23, Heb. 1.2, 5.5, 6, 1 Pe. 1, 19, 20.

2. ¹The divine Person Who made the world, and upholds and governs all things that He has made, is the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. ²He is true and eternal God, the ‘brightness’ of the Father‘s glory’, of the same substance (or essence) as the Father, and equal with Him. ³It is He Who, at the appointed time, took upon Himself the nature of man, with all its essential characteristics and its common infirmities, sin excepted. ⁴He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, a woman who belonged to the tribe of Judah, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her and the power of God Most High overshadowing her. ⁵And so, as the Scripture tell us, He was made of a woman, a descendant of Abraham and David. ⁶In this way it came about that the two whole, perfect and distinct natures, the divine and the human, were inseparably joined together in one Person, without the conversion of the one nature into the other, and without the mixing, as it were, of one nature with the other; in other words, without confusion. ⁷Thus the Son of God is now both true God and true man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

Matt. 1.22-3, Lke. 1.27, 31, 35, Jn. 1.14, Rom. 8.3, 9.5, Gal. 4.4, 1 Tim. 2.5, Heb. 2.14, 16, 17, 4.15

3. ¹The two natures, divine and human, being thus united in the person of God’s Son, He was sanctified and anointed with the Holy Spirit to an unlimited extent, and in Him are found all treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ²He is replete with all that is pleasing to the Father, being holy, harmless, untouched by sin, and full of grace and truth. ³Thus He has become thoroughly qualified to execute the work of a mediator and surety. ⁴He did not take this work upon Himself uncalled, but was commissioned by His Father so to act. ⁵His Father also conferred upon Him full powers of jurisdiction and commanded Him to pass judgment on all.

Ps. 45.7, Matt. 28.18, Jn. 1.14, 3.34, 5.22, 27, Ac. 2.36, 10.38, Col. 1.19, 2.3, Heb. 5.5, 7.22, 26

Outline of the Chapter

1. Jesus, the Covenant Mediator

The Lord Jesus Christ came at the Father’s bidding to bring His own to salvation.

2. Jesus, fully God and fully man

The Second Person on the Trinity came, fully God and fully man, in the line of promise, to be our Mediator.

3. The work and achievement of Jesus

Jesus was called, commissioned and Spirit-anointed in order to fulfil His task of being our Mediator. He is now Judge of all.

Questions

1. Read Conf. 1.1. What is the Covenant which the Confession refers to? Check Psalm 2.6 and Is. 42.1 (and Conf. 7.3.4).

2. How many titles are given to the Lord Jesus in Conf. 1.1? Can you come up with a clear, biblical statement as to what each one means?

3. Read Conf. 2.1-3, and the first Scriptures from the Gospels (in the footnote). How do these verses help us to appreciate the Confession’s sentences?

4. What role does Conf. 2.7 say that Jesus fulfils? Why is it necessary that in this office He should be both God and man? Check the Scripture references, especially Rom 8.3, and Heb. 2.14, 16, 17, 4.15.

5. Read Conf. 3.2-3. What does Jesus’ sinlessness tell us about Who He is, and what He achieves for sinners?

6. Check Jn. 5.22, 27 alongside Conf. 3.5. How do these truths shape how we believe – and tell – the Gospel?

He suffered, so that you can

I know that many of us at Hope Church have been struck and moved recently as we've been following the Lord Jesus in Mark's Gospel as He approaches the Cross. His resolve, His courage, His faith and His humility all shine out in the enveloping darkness. He is betrayed, arrested, deserted, mocked, tried, lied about, and sent to a criminal's death. In all of this, reflects the Apostle Peter, 'Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps' (1 Peter. 2.21).

'Christ suffered for you.' By God's grace, we rightly understand the Cross as the suffering of Jesus for us. 'Christ for us' is the heart of the message of the Cross. He made atonement for our sins. But Peter here focuses on another aspect of Christ's suffering: it is our example. The whole New Testament is clear, we will suffer, if we are true disciples. Peter's message is that when we suffer, we have an example. It's Jesus Himself. Jesus trusted in His Father's will, and in His Father's justice. Because He trusted, He could suffer. Because He remembered who was in ultimate control, and that His own life was to be one of submission, He could embrace even the most appalling suffering.

This is our example. Can we do it? Will we? Do we have the faith and the courage to look on our trials as those sent in loving wisdom by our Heavenly Father? And will we seek His strength to keep honouring the Father, as Jesus did? Frustration is not an option, neither is complaining. Self-righteous anger at our suffering never achieves God's will (compare James 1.20). Only humble, persevering trust through suffering shows that we're following Jesus' example. And if this is the path we commit to, we will find the Spirit's ample help.

Some words from the peerless John Flavel on this subject:

'Christian patience, or the grace of patience, is an ability to suffer hard and heavy afflictions, according to the will of God. It is a glorious power, that strengthens the suffering soul to bear. It is our passive fortitude: 'strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness' (Col. 1.11); that is, strengthened with the might of power of God Himself.

God hath several kinds of burdens to impose upon His people. Some heavier, others lighter; some to be carried but a few hours, others many days, others all our days; some more spiritual bearing upon the soul; some more external, touching the flesh immediately and the spirit by way of sympathy; and sometimes both kinds are laid on together. So they were at this time on Christ. His soul full of the bitter sense of apprehension of the wrath of God; His body filled with tortures; in every members and sense grief took up its lodging. Here was the highest exercise of patience.'

John Flavel, Sermon on Isaiah 53.7, in the series 'The Fountain of Life.'

A Word to the Wuss

Australia has some great exports. My Australian brother-in-law gave me my first and only stubby holder (he balked at giving me one with 'chick magnet' inscribed on it, I am a man of the cloth). As a family we've enjoyed The Wiggles, INXS, Boomerangs, Colin Buchanan, The Crocodile Hunter, and the My Place book and DVDs. And the word 'Wuss'. Just unbeatable in its power to expose and shame.

Phillip Jensen is one of Australia's most significant spiritual exports in the last forty years, as most evangelicals know, or should know. There are some things not to like in his pragmatics and disregard for certain ways of doing ministry. And yet, there's everything to like. Phillip is not for wusses. He exposes wusses for our wussiness. You can't hear Phillip preach, or read him, without feeling sobered, and spineless. Phillip is simply a stunningly courageous and effective servant of the Lord Jesus. He has a ministry to wusses.

I'm glad that my good friend Paul Levy has flagged a fascinating interview with Phillip. You can access it here. Enjoy this excerpt, and let it minister to your inner wuss:

You’ve got to take up your cross and follow Jesus. So this is no career move for the faint-hearted. This is no career move for someone who wants an easy life or a nice life. You’re not going to be accepted, and you’re not going to be liked: you are following the crucified one.
So grasp that reality before you start. That’s not an invitation for nasty people to join the ministry. If you enjoy conflict you have a spiritual problem. But if you withdraw from conflict, or think you’re going to win people over by niceness, you have a major problem because you’re not actually dealing with Christianity. People like using the suffering servant of the cross as an image of loving service. It is that. But it is also an image of painful martyrdom and alienation and rejection. That’s what Christian ministry is always going to be about.

What is God’s Covenant Love? Learning with the 1689 Confession (9)

Scripture: Genesis 3

Confession Chapter 7: God’s Covenant

1. ¹The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although men, endowed as they are with reason, owe obedience to Him as their Creator, yet they could never have attained to life as the reward had not God, in an act of voluntary condescension, made this possible by the making of a covenant.

Job. 35.7,8 Luke 17.10

2. ¹Furthermore, since man, by reason of his fall into sin, had brought himself under the curse of God’s Law, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace, in which He freely offers life and salvation by Jesus Christ to sinners. ²On their part He requires faith in Him that they may be saved, and promises to give His Holy Spirit to all those who are elected unto eternal life, in order that they may be made willing and able to believe.

Gen. 2.17, Ps. 110.3, Ezek. 36.26, 27, John 3.16, 6.44, 45; Rom. 3.20, 21, Gal. 3.10

3. ¹God’s covenant is revealed in the Gospel; in the first place to Adam in the promise of salvation ‘by the seed of the woman’, and afterwards, step by step, until the full revelation of salvation that was completed in the New Testament. ²The salvation of the elect is based upon a covenant of redemption that was transacted in eternity between the Father and the Son; and it is solely through the grace conveyed by this covenant that all the descendants of fallen Adam who have been saved have obtained life and a blessed immortality; for the terms of blessing which applied to Adam in his state of innocency have no application to his posterity to render them acceptable to God.

Gen. 3.15, John 8.56, Acts 4.12, Rom. 4.1-5, 2 Tim. 1.9, Titus 1.2, Heb. 1.1-2, 11.6,13

Outline of the Chapter

1. Our need of a covenant

We humans need God’s kindness if we are to be saved. God has done this by making a covenant.

2. The character of the covenant

Through this covenant - the ‘Covenant of Grace’ – God offers us salvation in Christ, and empowers us to believe His promise by the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

3. The features of the covenant

The Gospel was first revealed to Adam, then progressively through the Old and into the New Testament. God’s grace to us is entirely dependent upon the prior commitment of the Father and the Son to save us (the ‘Covenant of Redemption’). There is no salvation by obeying the Law – only by trusting in Christ.

1. Read Conf. 1.1. Why can’t we save ourselves, and what is a ‘Covenant’?

2. Read Conf. 2.1. ‘What is the Covenant of Grace,’ and how do we see that spoken of in Genesis 3.15?

3. Pick out the features of this Covenant as it’s introduced in Gen. 3.15. How do we see Christ in it, and His Good News?

4. What are the terms of the Covenant which we must keep in order to be saved (Conf. 2.2), and how does God make that possible?

5. Check 1 Corinthians 15.20-22. How do these verses explain and commend God’s covenant faithfulness.

6. What have you learned about the Covenant today? Do you see God any differently, and if so, how?

Who is sufficient for these things?

‘The tasks of the pastorate in the modern world are multifarious. But whatever else pastors do, they must engage themselves in the preaching of the Word of God, especially through the exposition of Scripture. This, above all, cannot be avoided or done poorly. When they stand before the congregation to expound the Word of the Lord, they will require the greatest resources of intellect and spirit which it is possible to bring to any task. Far from preaching being easier than theological lecturing, for example, or writing a book, it is more demanding, The theological syllabus is divided into many sections so that the teachers may specialise; pastors have to reassemble the whole syllabus and call on their understanding of the world they inhabit in order to bring the Word of the Lord to their people. The intellectual challenge alone is daunting.’

R.J. Gibson, Interpreting God’s Plan: Biblical Theology and the Pastor, pp.88-89

Do we have to Believe in the Fall? - Learning with the 1689 Confession (8)

Scripture: Genesis 3

Confession: Chapter 8: The Fall of Man: Sin and its Punishment

1. ¹Man, as he came from the hand of God, his creator, was upright and perfect. ²The righteous law which God gave him spoke of life as conditional upon his obedience, and threatened death upon his disobedience. ³Adam’s obedience was short-lived. ⁴Satan used the subtle serpent to draw Eve into sin. ⁵Thereupon she seduced Adam who, without any compulsion from without, wilfully broke the law under which they had been created, and also God’s command not to eat of the forbidden fruit. ⁶To fulfil His own wise and holy purposes God permitted this to happen, for He was directing all to His own glory.

Gen. 2.16, 17; Gen. 3.12, 13; 2 Cor. 11.3

2. ¹By this sin our first parents lost their former righteousness, and their happy communion with God was severed. ²Their sin involved us all, and by it death appertained to all. ³All men became dead in sin, and totally polluted in all parts and faculties of both soul and body.

Gen. 6.5; Jer. 17.9; Rom. 3.10-19, 23; 5.12-21; Titus 1.15

4. ¹The actual sins that men commit are the fruit of the corrupt nature transmitted to them by our first parents. ²By reason of this corruption, all men become wholly inclined to all evil; sin disables them. ³They are utterly indisposed to, and, indeed, rendered opposite to, all that is good.

Matt. 15.19; Rom. 8.7; Col. 1.21; Jas. 1.14

5. ¹During this earthly life corrupt nature remains in those who are born of God, that is to say, regenerated. ²Through Christ it is pardoned and mortified, yet both the corruption itself, and all that issues from it, are truly and properly sin.

Eccles. 7.20; Rom. 7.18, 23-25; Gal. 5.17; 1 John 1.8

1. Read conf. 1.3-4 and Genesis 3.1-6. What can we learn about Adam and Eve’s descent into sin?

2. Read Conf. 2 and Romans 5.12-21. Looking at these passages, who is the head of humanity, and how do we compare him to the head of God’s new humanity?

3. Look at Conf. 2.3. Where do we see temptations like Eve’s in our own lives, and how, like Eve, do we fall for them?

4. Read Conf. 4 and Genesis 3.7-13. How do sinners respond to God when they sin?

5. Read Conf. 5. From Genesis 3.14-20, what does God say will be the future of evil, and for us living in a fallen world?

6. What new things have you seen today about sin and salvation?

Gethsemane, Tears, and the Truth

On Sunday morning I preached on Gethsemane. I’m drawn to the Passion narrative like no other part of Scripture, and always count it a holy privilege to trace the suffering obedience of the Saviour in my pulpit ministry. In the darkness of Gethsemane Jesus was, surely, ‘made sin for us’, in the language of 2 Corinthians 5.21. In consenting to receive the cup of wrath, He was being overwhelmed by the horror of His separation from His Father, as His soul was being invaded by the sin of a lost humanity. He also felt the anguish that, a few short hours later, He would be consumed by the wrath of His Father, and would be broken apart in order to redeem His own. He cried, sweated, dreaded, and suffered there for us. Some sermons are so hard to preach, but do us so, so much good, and this was one of them.

We worshipped as we heard the Word. We sang songs and hymns which focused us upon the sufferings of the Lord Jesus for His people, and our hearts were led to the Lord’s Supper, which I was leading. I fenced the Table, and prayed, called believers to walk forwards to the Table to receive the bread and wine, and began to read Psalm 23.

I began, and then couldn’t continue. After verse 2 great waves of emotion smashed into me. I paused, for well over 20 seconds, then managed another phrase. Then another almost 20 second pause. I got my way to the closing verse of the Psalm and looked to the Table to see the last person coming up. Apart from him, I didn’t see a single person take the Sacrament, I was too blinded by my tears, and overcome by the Lord’s grace. I thought about that lonely, agonising man in the garden, fighting and praying for the stupid, selfish, double-minded man that I am. I thought about the same massive struggle He endured for all our fellowship at Hope, and for all the elect. A few moments later, as we tried to embrace a world of massive pain and suffering in our prayers, the waves of emotion were still rocking me.

Did I feel embarrassed at my tears? Yes, and no. I instantly thought of my poor children – they were embarrassed! One of the sweetest as well as the hardest things about ministry is having your children around you as you work, be that in and out of the study at home, constantly around the people you’re seeking to shepherd, and watching and listening to all that you do on a Sunday. Their dad embarrasses them enough, does he really have to cap it all by crying his way through the Sacrament?!

My embarrassment was more, though, at the thought of being a distraction to the people. The Lord’s Supper is our time together with the Lord. Pastors and other leaders can often be so intrusive, with our long prayers, endless Scripture readings, and other liturgical pirouettes. The Supper is simple, solemn, and, ultimately, deeply joyful. And it is the Lord’s. I for one don’t want to get in the way as a distraction to others in their devotions, through my own reactions to it.

And yet; we shout, cheer and sometimes cry about what matters most. I’m no handraiser in worship (though I am a fist-clencher and an eyes-tightly-shut-squeezer when I want to be). Reformed people are ever so good at claiming that all our emotion and heart responses during corporate worship are so deep and so sincere that they’re out of sight. Yes, maybe. Give me a good old hymn which stirs me to a silent, open heart, and I’m truly at worship. But always? I’ve been chocked while singing, and have seen the same in others. I’ve preached with tears before, and I’ve preached to tears. In many ways, I expect these things, but I don’t seek them, and I don’t work them up, in myself or in others. There’s no real embarrassment in expressing a heart-reaction to the Saviour’s love. We might, one day, realise that we’ve expressed our love to Him so little. Now that would be more than an embarrassment.

Two Years on…..

Two years ago this week I notified out Elders at Gunnersbury that we felt called by God to leave the church in London and to go and serve in Huddersfield through church planting.

So have begun two exciting and exhausting years. We’ve known huge strain as a family, the pain of upheaval, the exhaustion and stress of relocation and entry into a different place and culture, and the slow progress of building up new friendships, whilst trying to maintain old ones.

Are you feeling sorry for us, yet?! I wouldn’t wish our own trials on anyone, yet I wish that many, many more were burdened to plant Gospel churches. These have been two years full of the Lord’s purposes, we believe. We moved North as one family, and found that the Lord had most definitely gone before us, in preparing hearts and Gospel opportunities. The church which has now been born is living proof that you can believe in and proclaim solid, Reformed doctrine, and yet see the Lord move quickly! We certainly don’t think that we’ve ‘arrived’. We’ve not even scratched the surface of our town’s needs, and in the church we still just getting to know one another. But the joy, the sharing of lives, the manifest presence of God, the sense of purpose, the willingness to dig in, for now and for the long term, cheers our hearts.

A few highlights would be:-

· We managed to sell our flat and buy a house, moving on the 10^th September, 2010.

· We straightaway made contact with people interested in working to bring a Gospel church to life. Meetings through September to November brought worship services in November.

· Work with the core attenders to clarify our convictions, including doctrines, priorities, and ways of working.

· A Membership formed, and Pastor and two other Elders confirmed.

· Two Apprentices on board.

· Two preaching-focused services on a Sunday, the evening one involving food together and study groups.

· Opportunities to serve and work with students.

· A Church Away Weekend last May, followed by what will be an annual Vision Day in November.

· Two professions of faith and three baptisms in July; membership now in the 30s.

· Attenders of different backgrounds, ages and stages, all local, worshipping and sharing life together.

· A Youth Group of our teens, all of whom are getting seriously into the Word.

· Outreach opportunities in the Town Centre.

· Work to relaunch a Christian bookshop as a centre for quality Gospel resources as well as evangelism and teaching/training.

Is God Really in Control? Firm Foundations - Learning with the 1689 Confession (7)

Here are the particular Confession extracts we're looking at this Sunday evening, along with the study group questions:

Scripture: Job 26

Confession: Chapter 5: Providence

1. ¹God who in infinite power and wisdom, has created all things, upholds, directs, controls and governs them, both animate and in animate, great and small, by a providence supremely wise and holy, and in accordance with His infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable decisions of His will. ²He fulfils the purposes for which He created them, so that His wisdom, power and justice, together with His infinite goodness and mercy, might be praised and glorified.

Job 38.11; Ps. 135.6; Isa. 46.10-11; Matt. 10.29-31; Eph. 1.11; Heb. 1.3

2. ¹Nothing happens by chance or outside of the sphere of God’s providence. ²As God is the First Cause of all events, they happen immutably and infallibly according to His foreknowledge and decree, to which they stand related. ³Yet by His providence God so controls them, that second causes, operating either as fixed laws, or freely, or in dependence upon other causes, play their part in bringing them about.

Gen. 8.22; Prov. 16.33; Acts 2.23

4. ¹God’s almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness are so far-reaching and all-pervading, that both the fall of the first man into sin, and all other sinful actions of angels and men, proceed according to His sovereign purposes. ²It is not that He gives His bare permission, for in a variety of ways He wisely and powerfully limits, orders and governs sinful actions, so that they effect His holy designs. ³Yet the sinfulness involved in the actions proceeds only from angels and men and not from God who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.

Gen 1.20; 2 Sam. 24.1; 2 Kings 19.28; 1Chron 21.1; Ps.50.21; 75.10; Isa. 10. 6,7,12; Rom. 11.32-34; 1 John 2.16

7. ¹God’s general providence reaches out to all creatures, but in a very special way it is directed to the care of His church. ² All things are controlled providentially for the good of the church.

Isa. 43.3-5; Amos 9.8-9; 1 Tim. 4.10

1. According to paragraph 1 of the Confession, in what ways does God control the world, and us?

2. Why does the Confession 1 suggest this is a good thing? (look at the first and last sentences)

3. Confession 2² tells us that ‘God is the First Cause of all events’. What does this mean and how does it relate to the ‘second causes’ of the next sentence? Use Acts 2.23 to help you.

4. If all sin ‘proceed[s] according to [God’s] sovereign purposes’ (Confession 4¹) why is the Confession, and the Bible, justified in saying that God is not responsible for our sin, and that we are? Use the references to find the Biblical evidence.

5. What do these paragraphs, especially Confession 7, teach us about the extent of God’s providence?

6. According to Confession 7 and Romans 8.28-30, what purpose does the providence of God have in the lives of His people?

7. As Christians, what comfort can we take from knowing that God is in control? How should this truth impact upon our lives?

Church Planting for Dummies

I’m a church planting dummy. I’ve never read a book on the subject. I don’t think that this is a great boast. Church planting, if you enjoy people, understand something of the dynamics of church leadership, and love the Lord and His Word, isn’t the darkest art which needs endless learning and training.

I’ve certainly made mistakes, and would do some things differently if we were starting over again. But here are ten thoughts, in no particular order, which have come to me as I’ve been thinking over the last two years.

1. Never apologise for your plant, but never antagonise as you plant. We know who we are, and why we’re here. That doesn’t mean that we have to be exclusive and reclusive. We want humility and openness to mark our endeavours.

2. Keep it local. The Allens are the only incomers in our situation. Other than us, the church has ‘made in Huddersfield’ running through it. We love it being that way.

3. Don’t fudge doctrine. Noone is served if you’re not clear from the outset the sort of truths you’re building on. Evangelicalish ‘mush’ which steers clear of reformed and evangelical distinctive beliefs won’t make a strong foundation for a real work of God.

4. Establish the shape of your core activities as soon as possible. We prioritised mid-week prayer and two Sunday worship services pretty much from the outset.

5. Refuse to be trendy. Be innovative, and have no sacred cows; but trendy? Never! The only people who can’t see your attempts at grooviness is you.

6. Identify co-workers as soon as it’s feasible. We are so blessed in being able to have two Apprentices, and two Elders alongside me. God raised them up – we simply said ‘yes please!’

7. Establish who you are, why you’re here, and the difference you wish to make. Our Vision document, with our distinctives, priorities, and the shape of the next three years, has been a great help to the life and work we’ve begun.

8. Aim to plant. We’ve got different local places and their needs in our prayers, and plan to make moves to plant in the next two to three years.

9. Refuse to spend endless time raising funds before you get started. What is enough money to start a church plant? That depends on how urgent you think the work is. Anyway, people will always give to where they see the Lord at work. It’s very hard to encourage giving to a vision for what the Lord ‘might’ do. Get started, then get asking.

10. Think strategically about your own ministry context. We’ve put huge amounts of time lately into plans for revamping a town-central retail space to serve the Gospel. That’s one of our strategic investments which makes perfect sense in our situation, and it serves our vision perfectly.

Is this good enough for dummies? Maybe you could be one!

Did God Create the World? Firm Foundations – Learning with the 1689 Confession (6)

Confession excerpts and study questions from last Sunday night:

Scripture: Genesis 1

Confession Chapter 4: Creation

1 ¹In the beginning it pleased the Triune God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-to create the world and all things in it in six days. ²All was very good. ³In this way God glorified His eternal power, wisdom and goodness.

Gen. 1:31; Job 26:13; John 1:2,3; Rom. 1:20; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2

2 ¹All creatures were made by God, the last to be fashioned being man and woman who received dominion over all other creatures on the earth. ²God gave man and woman rational and immortal souls, and in all respects fitted them for a life in harmony with Himself. ³They were created in His image, possessing knowledge, righteousness and true holiness. ⁴The divine law was written in their hearts and they had power to obey it fully. ⁵Yet, being left to the liberty of their own mutable wills, transgression of the law was a possibility.

Gen. 1:26,27; 2:7; 3:6; Eccles. 7:29; Rom. 2:14,15

3 ¹The law of God in general was written in the hearts of the first human pair, but at the same time they were placed under a special prohibition not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ²Their happiness and fellowship with God depended upon their yielding obedience to His will, as also did the continuance of their dominion over the creatures.

Gen. 1:26,28; Gen. 2:17

1. In 1² the Confession declares that “All was very good.” Using the Scripture references tray to come to a group view of what it meant for creation to be very good. Reading Genesis 1:31 and Hebrews 1: 1 – 3 together may be helpful.

2. How do Colossians 1: 15 and 16 help us to understand Confession 1³?

3. Confession 2² says that Adam and Eve were “in all respects fitted for a life in harmony with God.” What light does Ecclesiastes 7:29 shed on how this was damaged?
4. How has the Lord Jesus Christ fitted us for a life in harmony with God and what does this mean to you?

5. Making use of the Scripture texts as well as Jeremiah 31: 31 -34, discuss what it might mean to have “the divine law written in our hearts” (Confession 2⁴).

6. Confession 3² says that “their happiness and fellowship with God depended on their yielding obedience to His will.” Follow through the consequences of their not doing so using Genesis 3:14 – 19 both for Adam and Eve and for us, their descendants.

7. In light of your discussions and thoughts, go back to Hebrews 1: 1 -3 and use this to praise God for His salvation and to reflect upon His glory, grace and mercy.