Reformed Theology

 

 

Reformed Theology

What is it?

Let me state up front

I have my limit.

 

I am not too sure

How salvation works

Since I am neither a Calvinist

Nor Arminian expert.

 

What I do know

Is that salvation works,

I have the witness of the Spirit

Thus, I need no expert.

 

This is not a boast;

Certainly not in myself,

I am totally dependent on Christ

For my spiritual health.

 

It is he that assures

Through the Holy Ghost

That one is saved by grace

With no grounds to boast.

 

If any is in doubt

About God’s saving grace

Just remember troubled one,

Christ took our place.

 

If you have the witness

Of the faithful Holy Spirit

Then the saved life will show

As a daily habit.

 

 

A transformed life

Not of reformed theology

And not of Calvin or Arminius-

Sorry, no apology.

 

It may be healthy

To debate between the two

But both had to be born again

Like me and you.

 

The Nicodemus-lesson

Is relevant to all,

It is a God-given privilege

To receive God’s call.

 

You must be born again

Is the command given,

By faith one accepts Jesus Christ

And that one is forgiven.

 

One is not reformed

Rather, one is transformed

And to the image of the Christ

That one is conformed.

 

Romans 8:29

 

For whom he did foreknow,

He also did predestinate

To be conformed to the image of his Son,

That he might be the firstborn

Among many brethren.

 

“Among many brethren”

Here the elect is the focus;

The first born among the many

Being the resurrected Jesus.

 

The model, if you please,

Not that he was born again

But that we should be like him

And function in his name.

 

If this is reformed theology

I don’t even know,

These days it’s not to theologians

But to the Word I go.

 

Jesus is the Living Word

And the focus of the written,

God’s elect comprises all them

Whose sins are forgiven.

 

 

Neither Calvin nor Aminius

Matters much to me,

My desire is to be like Jesus

Whose face I shall see.

 

And when that time come

I shall see him just as he is,

Now, I see through a glass darkly

But in him I move and live.

 

Stewart Russell © May 16, 2024

 

 

Apologetics

 

 

An apologist should know Hebrew

An apologist should know Greek,

If you know neither of the two

Then, on what basis can you speak?

 

But what is apologetics?

How is it defined?

It is a defense of Christian doctrines

But then there are different kinds.

 

They are all based on the Bible

So, which one is really right?

This is where apologetics come in:

To decide who has the light?

I guess the one who knows Hebrew

Or, the one who knows Greek,

And if perchance that one knows both,

Then that one has the right to speak.

 

We follow a particular denomination

And for years they are right

But one day along comes another

And we suddenly see the Light.

 

Both were based on the Bible

But one interpreted it more accurately,

That of course was the second one

And that’s what attracted me.

 

But how do I know which is right?

That is based on Hebrew or Greek

And the one who knows either or both,

You must listen when he speaks.

 

The problem with that reasoning

Is that you know neither of the two

So how can you tell for sure

That what you now believe is true?

 

There are theologians a plenty

And many commentators too

That hold different biblical positions

And know both Greek and Hebrew.

 

If they that know are floundering,

What can be said for you and me?

There must be more to apologetics

Than multilingual eyes can see.

 

I am reminded of 1^st Peter 3:15:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:

And be ready always to give an answer

To every man that asketh you a reason

Of the hope that is in you

With meekness and fear.

 

And be ready always to give an answer

For the hope that is in you,

How does one adequately do this

If he knows neither Greek nor Hebrew?

 

Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts;

This is the believer’s remit,

Nothing to do with Greek or Hebrew

But through the Holy Spirit.

I am not knocking Hebrew

And I am not putting down Greek

But I just want to proclaim to all and sundry

That the Holy Spirit still speaks.

 

He speaks through our experiences

But more importantly through the Word

As scripture corroborates scripture

And together they concur.

 

And so, one is thus enlightened

Though this takes effort and time,

The Holy Spirit is the one that enlightens

And he is the only one of his kind.

 

Stewart Russell © June 2020

 

Bible News and Biblical Views

 

 

The problem with the Bible

That we daily hear,

Are the very many contradictions

We often find in there.

 

Throughout the Old Testament

And into the New,

There are contradictions galore

That is a popular view.

 

Look at the many denominations

Which are all around,

The primary reason for this

Are these contradictions that abound.

 

These accusations and more

You will regularly hear

Day in and day out

Each and every year.

 

In this poem

I want to suggest to you

That it is about high time

That we change this view.

 

I wrote a poem

Entitled “News or Views”

In which I attempted to show

That the views often eclipse the news.

 

For having heard the news

We turned to the views

And thereupon, we adopt the views

And lose sight of the news.

 

That’s exactly what

Has happened to God’s Holy Word,

What it says it does not mean,

Isn’t that absurd?

 

 

Another term for the Gospel

Is the Good News

But the Good News has been distorted

By a myriad of views.

  

Each view, a denomination

With an adherent following,

With its Bible based views

From its pulpit loudly bellowing.

 

And since all cannot be right

The Bible is blamed

For the very many contradictions

That are preached in Jesus’ name.

 

Theologians and apologists

Argue to and fro,

Each advancing the Spirit’s conviction

That theirs is the way to go.

 

And the gullible adherents

Often blindly follow,

Convinced that their leaders

Are the only ones that know.

 

 

Therefore, I hereby announced

That the winner is the views,

The news become secondary

To the views that we choose.

 

“I believe” and “it is my opinion”

Are two of the terms we use

To relegate the Good News

And promote somebody’s views.

 

I have observed over time

With programmes on the air,

Preachers are preaching

What they want the people to hear.

 

Their views are the focus,

There is little of the Word

And the way believers drink it in

Makes one feel disturbed.

 

On the radio and television

On the Internet and from their pulpits

It’s the views about the news,

Which are given the credit.

 

 

We read Bible commentaries

And then go to the Bible

And what the commentary says

Becomes the chief principle.

 

Salvation adherents are divided

By two predominant views,

These are the views of two dead men  

Which are still making the news.

 

Each one of them wrote it

The way he saw it

And hundreds of years after

It is still the edict.

 

“In my studied opinion”,

Or “via research diligently pursued”

Has become the fulcrum

For many a denomination’s view.

 

The Catholic or Protestant

The Evangelical and Jew

These are all built up, quite evidently,

On somebody’s view.

 

The Church’s one foundation

Is Jesus Christ the Lord,

This is not the view of a songwriter

But it is God’s Holy Word.

 

That Jesus is the only Saviour

Must not be one among many views

But must be the headline and the body

Of the ever-breaking Good News.

 

 

Jesus is come to save sinners

Of which I am chief,

The Good News for me today is,

That is my belief.

 

May the radio and television broadcasts

Reach out to sinners with the Good News

As opposed to preaching to believers

To convince them of their views.

 

May the year 2021 be a watershed

For the preaching of the Good News

Across Barbados and the World

And not for the advancing of our Views.

 

Stewart Russell © January 2020