Day 9
AP: There are no "brute facts" because there is no one who is truly neutral and everything is interpreted. We all have preconditions or presuppositions that give thought and life meaning. In our natural state, every one of us has a sense of God, but we suppress it. Yet, it is like holding a beach ball underwater - it will continue to exert pressure on us and pop up. Issues of conscience... point to an ultimate reality of right and wrong, but we suppress this evidence because we desire to be autonomous. Our presuppositions point to what we think is ultimate in life, and they are points of contact with God's self-revelation in the Bible.
DM: Martin Luther's theology was "reformed" as he thought through the implications of the doctrines he rediscovered in the Word by examining the writings themselves. He came to see that man was given all that was necessary for him to obey in the garden, which is why the fall was such a tragic decision. The righteousness of Christ is imputed (not infused) to those of faith, which replaces what was lost in the fall. Calvin said that the Imago Dei (Image of God) are "those marks of excellence which God had distinguished Adam over all other living creatures." In the fall, we became a frightful deformity, however mankind both loses and retains the image of God after the fall. In Genesis 9:6, the argument is made that if anyone sheds man's blood (murders), man shall shed his blood - for God made man in his image. If man has completely lost the image in the fall, then this argument loses its force. Yet it is also clear from Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 that there is a difference between the "old man" and the "new man." This is a renewing into God's image by the power of the gospel.
CH: Martin Luther at the end of his life only considers two of his works worthy of reprinting: his catechisms and The Bondage of the Will. Luther focuses on the perspicuity (clarity) of scripture and the nature of the will. For Luther, much of this discussion revolves around the issue of certainty. He was haunted for years to know how a sinner stands before a Holy God, and for him that certainty is peace and stability. Erasmus has doubts about the assertion of anything - he holds a view of Scripture that it is fundamentally obscure and therefore you need the magisterium of the church to help you.
AP: There are no "brute facts" because there is no one who is truly neutral and everything is interpreted. We all have preconditions or presuppositions that give thought and life meaning. In our natural state, every one of us has a sense of God, but we suppress it. Yet, it is like holding a beach ball underwater - it will continue to exert pressure on us and pop up. Issues of conscience... point to an ultimate reality of right and wrong, but we suppress this evidence because we desire to be autonomous. Our presuppositions point to what we think is ultimate in life, and they are points of contact with God's self-revelation in the Bible.
DM: Martin Luther's theology was "reformed" as he thought through the implications of the doctrines he rediscovered in the Word by examining the writings themselves. He came to see that man was given all that was necessary for him to obey in the garden, which is why the fall was such a tragic decision. The righteousness of Christ is imputed (not infused) to those of faith, which replaces what was lost in the fall. Calvin said that the Imago Dei (Image of God) are "those marks of excellence which God had distinguished Adam over all other living creatures." In the fall, we became a frightful deformity, however mankind both loses and retains the image of God after the fall. In Genesis 9:6, the argument is made that if anyone sheds man's blood (murders), man shall shed his blood - for God made man in his image. If man has completely lost the image in the fall, then this argument loses its force. Yet it is also clear from Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 that there is a difference between the "old man" and the "new man." This is a renewing into God's image by the power of the gospel.
CH: Martin Luther at the end of his life only considers two of his works worthy of reprinting: his catechisms and The Bondage of the Will. Luther focuses on the perspicuity (clarity) of scripture and the nature of the will. For Luther, much of this discussion revolves around the issue of certainty. He was haunted for years to know how a sinner stands before a Holy God, and for him that certainty is peace and stability. Erasmus has doubts about the assertion of anything - he holds a view of Scripture that it is fundamentally obscure and therefore you need the magisterium of the church to help you.
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