Evangelical Review of Theology 46, 3 (August 2022)

The latest Evangelical Review of Theology, published by The World Evangelical Alliance, is now online and available in its entirety as a pdf here.

Editor’s Introduction

Rupen Das

What the Majority World Is Saying about Mission Today

With the centre of global Christianity shifting to the Majority World, what do church and mission leaders in the Global South think mission should be about today? This article describes the situation through the eyes of some prominent mission leaders from across the globe.

Emmanuel Oumarou

A Strategy for Christian Missions in Primary Oral Cultures

Nearly one-quarter of all people on earth today are illiterate or rely primarily on oral communication. Standard, text-dependent outreach and discipling methods do not work with these communities. This article, based on considerable first-hand experience as well as academic study, describes the distinctive thinking modes of oral cultures and how to reach them effectively.

Daniel Wiley

Moving Beyond the Bounds: A Response to the Segregationist Interpretation of Acts 17:26

Conflicts over Bible interpretation frequently threaten to undermine the evangelical worldview, as sceptics claim, ‘You can make the Bible say anything you want.’ This article resolves a classic conflict that arose when people holding opposite views on racial segregation used the same Bible verse to defend their positions. It provides an excellent illustration of what can happen when we let cultural convictions guide our biblical studies rather than the reverse.

Ron Lindo, Jr.

From Blackpain to Much Gain: A Biblical Reflection on Dealing with Racial Injustice

We are all called to oppose racism, but reconciliation requires both change by the oppressors and victims’ ability to move beyond bitter focus on their victimization. This article finds, in the exodus story and in Deuteronomy, a pattern by which God uses remembrances of past injustices to spur us towards providing justice for all.

Anna Droll

Toward Healing the Cataract of Racial Segregation: Spaces and Places for Spiritual Formation

Notions of race which promote segregation constitute a present-day cataract that distorts the vision for true spiritual formation in the church. The remedy, as presented in this article, is a theology of belonging which contradicts racial segregation by promoting spaces and places where biblical intimacy can be enacted.

Dennis P. Petri

Political Advice from Three Great Christian Political Philosophers

In this essay, one of the world’s leading advocates for religious freedom shares what he has learned from three of modern history’s greatest Christian political philosophers: 17th-century French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal, Dutch lawyer and statesman Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, and British apologist C.S. Lewis. The article offers practical principles with plenty of application.

Leah Farish

By the Same Token: How Communion Can Heal Communities

Every Christian practice, even those that have been long forgotten, had a purpose. This article looks at the historical practice of requiring tokens for admission to communion, encouraging us to recapture the individual and communal benefits of taking communion seriously.

Geoffrey Butler

Building Bridges: Luther, the Lord’s Supper and the Ethiopian Church

Luther and other Reformers, especially Zwingli, had passionate disagreements over the theology of the Lord’s Supper. Surprisingly, Luther seemed to have more in common on this topic with an Ethiopian Christian who visited him in 1534. This article places that interaction in its historical context, suggesting that Ethiopian Christianity in that time period had significant theological similarities with and may even have influenced the European Reformation.

Bruce Barron

Itching Ears and Willing Learners: Balancing the Clarity and Complexity of Scripture

The popularity of the ‘prosperity gospel’, despite its tendencies toward simplistic and unbalanced theology, epitomizes one of the biggest problems in contemporary Christianity: how to provide adequately trained leaders for the global Christian movement, especially in the Majority World. This essay explores reasons why the problem exists, summarizes the contours of what all Christian leaders need to know, and identifies the Re-Forma organization cofounded by Manfred Kohl as a strategic solution.

High-Level Religion Forum Planned Alongside G20’s 2022 Meeting

Book Reviews

All praise to Thee, Eternal Lord

I have fond memories of singing this in a makeshift choir which got together annually to sing some of the lesser-known carols, of which this was one my favourites.

All praise to Thee, Eternal Lord,

Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;

Choosing a manger for Thy throne,

While worlds on worlds are Thine alone.

Once did the skies before Thee bow;

A virgin’s arms contain Thee now,

While angels, who in Thee rejoice,

Now listen for Thine infant voice.

A little Child, Thou art our Guest,

That weary ones in Thee may rest;

Forlorn and lowly is Thy birth;

That we may rise to Heaven from earth.

Thou comest in the darksome night

To make us children of the light;

To make us, in the realms divine,

Like Thine own angels round Thee shine.

All this for us Thy love hath done;

By this to Thee our love is won;

For this we tune our cheerful lays,

And sing our thanks in ceaseless praise.

Words are ascribed to Martin Luther, translated into English by an unknown author.

Themelios 44, 1 (April 2019)

The latest Themelios is online here (and available here as a single pdf), containing the below articles. This issue contains the irenic exchange of views on spiritual gifts between Andrew Wilson and Thomas R. Schreiner (both of whom have recently published books on the topic) at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in the Perspectives on the Spiritual Gifts session.

Editorial

Brian J. Tabb

Themelios Then and Now: The Journal’s Name, History, and Contribution

Strange Times

Daniel Strange

Sad Solo

Andrew Wilson

The Continuation of the Charismata

This article first defines the scope of the debate over whether or not Christians today should earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy. The author then offers three key arguments for the charismatic position and concludes by raising and responding to the strongest argument for cessationism.

Thomas R. Schreiner

A Response to Andrew Wilson

Thomas R. Schreiner

It All Depends Upon Prophecy: A Brief Case for Nuanced Cessationism

Nuanced cessationism can be defended from a number of angles, but one of the most significant is from the nature of prophecy. The argument defended here is that NT prophecy is infallible and inerrant just like OT prophecy. Various arguments are given by some continuationists to establish the fallibility of NT prophecy, but it is argued here that they are unconvincing. Since NT prophecy is infallible and inerrant like OT prophecy and since the church is established upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets (Eph. 2:20), we have significant evidence that NT prophets no longer exist today inasmuch as the doctrinal foundation of the church has been laid once for all. First Corinthians 13:8–13 is a good argument for all the gifts lasting until the second coming, but this text does not demand that all the gifts continue until the second coming.

Andrew Wilson

A Response to Tom Schreiner

Richard M. Blaylock

Towards a Definition of New Testament Prophecy

Despite a number of recent proposals, scholars have yet to reach a consensus regarding what the New Testament prophets were actually doing when they prophesied. In this essay, I attempt to make a contribution to New Testament studies by working towards a definition of New Testament prophecy. I proceed in three steps. First, I survey five different views on the nature of New Testament prophecy. Second, I analyze relevant texts from the New Testament to answer the question: what kind of an activity was New Testament prophecy? Third, I evaluate the arguments made for both limited prophetic authority and full prophetic authority. On the basis of the study, I conclude that prophetic activity in the New testament (1) is a human act of intelligible communication that (2) is rooted in spontaneous, divine revelation and (3) is empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that prophecy (4) consists in human speech or writing that can be attributed to the members of the Godhead and (5) that always carries complete divine authority.

Vern S. Poythress

The Boundaries of the Gift of Tongues: With Implications for Cessationism and Continuationism

Speaking in tongues potentially includes three subcategories: (1) known language; (2) unknown language; and (3) language-like utterance – an utterance consists of language-like sounds but does not belong to any actual human language. Category (3) occurs today in charismatic circles. Given that the church in Corinth was permissive, it can be inferred that category (3) may have occurred at Corinth. Moreover, each of the three categories can occur either in inspired, infallible form or noninspired, fallible form. Thus, it is possible to hold a cessationist view of inspiration (no more infallible utterances) and a continuationist view with respect to noninspired forms.

Ben C. Dunson

Biblical Words and Theological Meanings: Sanctification as Consecration for Transformation

Protestants have traditionally understood sanctification as God’s work of gradual spiritual transformation over the entire life of every believer. Recent biblical scholarship has argued that such a definition does not actually correspond with the meaning of biblical terminology for sanctification, which refers to a single and definitive setting apart of believers at conversion. Some have also insisted that this calls into question the wisdom of using the word “sanctification” to describe how God transforms Christians throughout their lives. This article examines these competing perspectives, concluding that biblical terminology for sanctification, while indeed definitive in nature (indicating a once-for-all action occurring at conversion), is also integrally connected in the Bible with the process of spiritual transformation begun at conversion. The article then provides some reflections on how definitive and progressive dimensions of sanctification can (and should) be held together in a doctrine of sanctification.

Lydia McGrew

Finessing Independent Attestation: A Study in Interdisciplinary Biblical Criticism

The claim that some incident or saying in the Gospels is multiply and independently attested is sometimes made in the wrong way by biblical scholars. Insights from formal epistemology can help to sharpen the requirements for alleging independent attestation to avoid such problems. In the course of this analysis it becomes clear that independent attestation is entangled with the connection between the documents and the facts, so that it is not possible simultaneously to theorize that the differences between accounts are due to the authors’ embellishment while also arguing persuasively that the accounts have the relevant kind of independence for multiple attestation. I discuss three cases where independence has either been claimed inaccurately or has been claimed in such a way that the scholar’s own theory blocks the route to arguing independence. This study illustrates the need for cross-disciplinary interaction in biblical criticism.

Michael Allen

Disputation for Scholastic Theology:Engaging Luther’s 97 Theses

The essay first seeks to unpack the anthropological and soteriology teaching of Martin Luther’s diatribe “against scholastic theology,” that is, against Semi-Pelagian or Pelagian moral anthropology in his 97 Theses of September 1517. Second, the essay turns to ways in which the theological task is located by Luther in the history of sin and grace, thus connecting his teaching against the anthropology of the scholastics with his methodology for studying theology academically, further clarifying the precise nature of the objections to scholasticism raised by Luther and other reformers (such as Calvin). Third, the essay concludes by charting a set of four protocols for systematic or scholastic theology today, so as to reconfigure the intellectual practice as an exercise in intellectual asceticism or discipleship that is part of the broader process of the sanctification of human reason.

Book Reviews

Foundations 73 (Autumn 2017)

Issue 73 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available (here in its entirety as a pdf), with the following contributions, the bulk of the essays focusing on mission.

Ralph Cunnington

Editorial

Keith Walker

Exploring the Unfinished Task: Priorities for Mission Locally and Globally

With their masterful musical and lyrical skill, Keith and Kristyn Getty have revitalised Frank Houghton’s missionary classic, making it once again a popularly sung missionary song. The hymn reminds us that the task is immense, it matters because people live and die without hearing of Christ, and it remains unfinished. The concepts expressed in the hymn have had an impact on global missionary priorities for many decades. Their application to local mission has often been less evident. This article aims to explore a framework for considering priorities in both global and local mission, which takes us beyond the concept of “unreached people groups” (UPGs) which for some decades became the standard driver for missionary strategies.

Thorsten Prill

Martin Luther and Evangelical Mission: Father or Failure?

This article discusses the mission theology and practice of Martin Luther. The author demonstrates that the popular view which claims that the German Reformer was neither interested in the mission of the church, nor made any noteworthy contribution to mission theology, lacks substance. Luther’s critics seem to overlook the fact that Wittenberg, in which the Reformer lived, studied and taught, served as a hub of a huge missionary enterprise. Hundreds of preachers went out from this centre of the Reformation to spread the gospel all over Europe. Leading Scandinavian theologians, such as Olaus Petri and Hans Tausen, had all studied under Luther in Wittenberg and had been deeply influenced by him before they began reform work in their home countries. Furthermore, with his rediscovery of the gospel of justification by faith alone, his emphasis on the personal character of faith in Christ, his radical reinterpretation of the priesthood, his recognition of God’s authorship of mission, his reminder that the witness to the gospel takes place in the midst of a spiritual battle, and his insistence that the Bible has to be available in common languages, Martin Luther laid down important principles for the mission work of the church which are still valid today.

Thomas Brand

Nature, Person, and Will: An Argument from the Church Fathers and the Ecumenical Councils Against the Eternal Subordination of the Son

In this paper I offer an argument against the eternal subordination of the Son to the Father. The argument is based on Scripture and is understood in the light of the historic, orthodox teaching of the church, as seen in a number of the Church Fathers and Ecumenical Councils. Specifically, I argue, from Maximus the Confessor’s interpretation of Scripture, that the volitional faculty is a function of nature rather than person. This entails that just as in Christ there are two wills, because there are two natures, so in the Triune Godhead there is but one will, because there is but one divine nature. I argue that this renders the notion of eternal subordination meaningless.

Mark Pickett

Review Article: Cross-Currents in Muslim Ministry

Book Reviews

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

The below is the English translation of a hymn attributed to Martin Luther. Apparently, Luther wrote the words and composed the music for it between 1527 and 1529, some ten years or more after the event which is being remembered today – the 500th anniversary of Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, kickstarting the Reformation.

I have fond memories of bashing out this tune on a piano and singing the hymn at full pelt in the front room of a man – himself akin to Luther in so many ways – who graciously nurtured me in my years as a young Christian. Though you’ll never read the blog, this is for you, Jack!

A mighty Fortress is our God,

A Bulwark never failing;

Our Helper He amid the flood

Of mortal ills prevailing:

For still our ancient foe

Doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great,

And, armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,

Our striving would be losing;

Were not the right Man on our side,

The Man of God’s own choosing:

Dost ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabaoth His Name,

From age to age the same,

And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed

His truth to triumph through us:

The Prince of Darkness grim,

We tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure,

For lo! his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,

No thanks to them, abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours

Through Him who with us sideth:

Let goods and kindred go,

This mortal life also;

The body they may kill:

God’s truth abideth still,

His Kingdom is forever.

Rediscovering the Gospel

I contributed this week’s ‘Word for the Week’, a weekly email service provided by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God – the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son… Jesus Christ our Lord… God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness… I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes… for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed…

Romans 1:1-4, 9, 14-17

This week sees the 500th anniversary of an event which arguably set in motion what has come to be known as the Reformation. Martin Luther’s 95 theses, nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg – serving as a public noticeboard – were an invitation to debate. They were triggered by the sale of indulgences (pardons for certain types of sins), but quickly led to other questions about how we know God and how we can be right with God. For Luther and others, at their heart was the nature of the gospel itself.

Whatever we make of Luther, the Reformation, and its aftermath, it’s vital for us constantly to return to what really matters. It’s all too easy for our faith to become about who we are and what we do when it’s first and foremost what God himself has done – for us and for the world – in Christ. The gospel is not some abstract teaching about the nature of salvation, but the announcement of the good news that God saves.

In these opening verses of his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul makes it clear that the gospel is focused on ‘Jesus Christ our Lord’ and rooted in Scripture, the fruition of promises made long ago through the prophets. Nor is it merely a private claim, but one of public truth – it’s good news for the whole world.

Small wonder, then, that the gospel defines Paul and his ministry, that he is set aside for it, that he is so eager to preach it. Recall what he says of the gospel: the declaration of God’s saving power through the work of his Son, not least by bringing men and women into relationship with himself, which comes about as it always has done – through faith, from first to last – and which is available equally to all who believe, breaking down barriers between ethnic groups in the process. How could he be ashamed of that?

And, since belief in the gospel comes bound up with a particular view of reality – of God, creation, humanity, sin, redemption – we discover that it provides the perspective from which to view the whole of life. Whole-life discipleship begins with the gospel.

Wherever we find ourselves today, and whatever we have to turn our hand to, may the God of the gospel of Jesus Christ be our strength, our joy, and our hope.

9Marks Journal (Fall 2017) on The Reformation and Your Church

The latest issue of the 9Marks Journal, available from here in various formats and here as a pdf, is devoted to the topic of ‘The Reformation and Your Church’.

In the Editor’s Note, Jonathan Leeman writes:

‘We asked our contributors to consider the Reformation’s relevance specifically to the local church and the pastor. Why should pastors care? Take a look at D.A. Carson’s piece. What does it have to do with expositional preaching, evangelism, church discipline, church authority more broadly, the ordinances, even pastoral counseling? There are articles on each of these topics, too.

‘There is, of course, a danger in idealizing the past. Brad Littlejohn’s piece offers a crucial warning. But there might be a greater danger in forgetting it altogether...

‘Start, therefore, with Stephen Nichols’ piece. It takes you back in time, and lets you imagine what you might have heard in church the Sunday before Luther nailed his 95 theses on the Wittenberg Door...

‘Then ask yourself how you might teach your congregation about the Reformation... How are you equipping your church with knowledge of the wisdom and folly of the past? If you haven’t been doing this, I’m excited about the wonderful stories and truths your church still gets to learn from those who came before us – like hearing a great symphony for the first time!’

The (Playmobil) Story of Martin Luther

In anticipation of the 500th anniversary of the birth of the Reformation, Go Chatter, an  arm of 10ofthose.com, has made a stop motion video (here) that uses Playmobil to tell the story of Martin Luther.

Credo Magazine on Luther at 500

The current issue of Credo is available, this one devoted to the topic of ‘Luther at 500’.

According to the blurb:

‘The year 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The reformer who ignited this Reformation was none other than Martin Luther. But who was Luther, why was his understanding of God’s grace so radically different than Rome’s, and what was his contribution to the Reformation as a whole? These are the type of questions this new issue of Credo Magazine, “Luther at 500,” aims to answer as we turn our attention not only to Luther’s life but to Luther’s doctrine.

Normally a pdf of the entire issue is available to download, though this facility does not appear to be available in this case. However, individual articles in the magazine are available to read from here.

Christian History Magazine on Martin Luther

The latest issue of Christian History Magazine is the first of a promised four issues on the Reformation, this one looking at Martin Luther.

The whole magazine is available as a 9.2 MB pdf here.

Jordan Ballor on the Vocational Theology of Luther

Jordan Ballor, ‘Get Your Hands Dirty: The Vocational Theology of Luther’, Cardus (8 June 2012).

Not, in the first place, the 16th-century Reformer, but the TV police detective character, John Luther, from the gritty BBC series Luther.

I know the two series that have run so far have been largely panned. Indeed, some of the characters are a bit ‘out there’ and many of the plot lines strain credibility. But I have been a fan of Luther – the character of John Luther, in particular. In particular, although he is deeply flawed and damaged, I’ve been struck by his determination to do ‘right’ for people even at personal risk to himself.

So, I was very interested to read this short article by Jordan Ballor which explores what he calls ‘the Lutheran theology of Luther’. In summary:

‘There is little overt religiosity in Luther, but in the vicarious representative action of John Luther on behalf of others, we see a broken and fragmentary expression of common grace, God’s preserving work in the world.’

James K.A. Smith on Two Kingdoms Theology

James Smith and Calvin Theological Journal kindly make available his recent essay engaging with ‘Two Kingdoms’ theology:

James K.A. Smith, ‘Reforming Public Theology: Two Kingdoms, or Two Cities?’, Calvin Theological Journal 47 (2012), 122-137.

On his blog, Smith writes:

‘In my little corner of Reformed Christianity, there has been a notable uptick in folks who are sympathetic to “two kingdoms” (2K) theologies of culture – a model more traditionally associated with the Lutheran tradition. There are aspects of 2K thought I appreciate, notably its robust emphasis on the church as a sacramental community as well, its critique of the idolatry of nationalism, and its goal to resist Christian accommodation to partisan politics. There are other aspects, however, that I’m less enthused about.’

He also notes that he hopes to contribute more fully to this conversation over the next few years, especially in the third volume of his ‘Cultural Liturgies’ trilogy.

Martin Luther on Changing Nappies

I’ve been reading a fair bit on the theme of vocation/calling in recent months. From a historical perspective, Martin Luther rightly gets drawn into the discussion, and one thing that comes up quite a bit are some his comments about changing nappies. I thought I’d track down the full discussion – in his The Estate of Marriage (1522) – for my own edification, and here is the pertinent part, which (I think) makes for wonderful reading:

‘Now observe that when that clever harlot, our natural reason (which the pagans followed in trying to be most clever), takes a look at married life, she turns up her nose and says, “Alas, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, make its bed, smell its stench, stay up nights with it, take care of it when it cries, heal its rashes and sores, and on top of that care for my wife, provide for her, labour at my trade, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that, endure this and endure that, and whatever else of bitterness and drudgery married life involves? What, should I make such a prisoner of myself? O you poor, wretched fellow, have you taken a wife? Fie, fie upon such wretchedness and bitterness! It is better to remain free and lead a peaceful, carefree life; I will become a priest or a nun and compel my children to do likewise.

‘What then does Christian faith say to this? It opens its eyes, looks upon all these insignificant, distasteful, and despised duties in the Spirit, and is aware that they are all adorned with divine approval as with the costliest gold and jewels. It says, “O God, because I am certain that thou hast created me as a man and hast from my body begotten this child, I also know for a certainty that it meets with thy perfect pleasure. I confess to thee that I am not worthy to rock the little babe or wash its diapers, or to be entrusted with the care of the child and its mother. How is it that I, without any merit, have come to this distinction of being certain that I am serving thy creature and thy most precious will? O how gladly will I do so, though the duties should be even more insignificant and despised. Neither frost nor heat, neither drudgery nor labour, will distress or dissuade me, for I am certain that it is thus pleasing in thy sight...

‘Now you tell me, when a father goes ahead and washes diapers or performs some other mean task for his child, and someone ridicules him as an effeminate fool, though that father is acting in the spirit just described and in Christian faith, my dear fellow you tell me, which of the two is most keenly ridiculing the other? God, with all his angels and creatures, is smiling, not because that father is washing diapers, but because he is doing so in Christian faith. Those who sneer at him and see only the task but not the faith are ridiculing God with all his creatures, as the biggest fool on earth. Indeed, they are only ridiculing themselves; with all their cleverness they are nothing but devil’s fools.’

Michael Horton on Christ and Culture Once More

Michael Horton responds here to the recent post by Tim Keller on ‘Coming Together on Culture’. I suspect the ‘Once More’ in the title of his piece is either wishful thinking on his part or a complete misnomer.

He recognises that Keller is ‘encouraging healthier conversation’, yet sees ‘even in his post’ what he ‘would regard as some misunderstandings about the 2K [two kingdoms] position’. He thinks Keller’s description ‘makes it sound as if 2K folks are more neo-Anabaptist’. ‘On one point,’ he says, ‘I think that’s true. Neo-Anabaptists like Stanley Hauerwas and Scot McKnight argue that the church is called to be a new society in this fading evil age, not to create one. Beyond that, though, we are worlds apart.’ He then goes on to point out that Luther and Calvin opposed radical Anabaptists ‘who disparaged God’s common grace in culture’.

My blog entries over the years will testify to the esteem in which I hold Michael Horton and his work, but he has not convinced on this issue – even if I do feel as if I’ve been helpfully warned away by him and other 2K advocates from the worst excesses of a transformationist position.

For my own part, nothing he says here detracts from the essence of what Keller was outlining in the earlier post. Horton says he is ‘often baffled by the gross caricatures of the 2K position’ but, while he declares this isn’t the case with Keller’s interaction, he still looks as if he is trying to fine-tune what really is the 2K position. Fair enough, I think, providing the warning against building caricatures and the generosity to allow fine-tuning is allowed both ways.

He also notes that David VanDrunen, one of the main current proponents of the 2K position, has a new work in the pipeline, ‘defending the position with exegetical and biblical-theological depth’. I’ll look forward to seeing that. I’m very interested in what Luther and Calvin and the Anabaptists thought, and how we place ourselves in relation to them; but I’m so much more interested in Jeremiah and Jesus and Peter and Paul, and how we place ourselves in relation to them...

Meanwhile, we can expect this discussion to run and run...

Martin Luther on Salvation (and the Importance of Good Theology)

I came across the following today (from Martin Luther’s Bondage of the Will), which nicely illustrates the importance of good theology…

I need to know who it is who saves me so I can praise him.

‘For, if I know not how much I can do myself, how far my ability extends, and what I can do God-wards, I shall be equally uncertain and ignorant how much God is to do, how far His ability is to extend, and what He is to do toward me: whereas it is “God that worketh all in all” (1 Cor. 12:6). But if I know not the distinction between our working and the power of God, I know not God Himself. And if I know not God, I cannot worship Him, praise Him, give Him thanks, nor serve Him; for I shall not know how much I ought to ascribe unto myself, and how much unto God. It is necessary, therefore, to hold the most certain distinction, between the power of God and our power, the working of God and our working, if we would live in His fear.’