The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into Hades.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven,
And sits on the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy catholic church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life everlasting. Amen.

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed 381AD

We believe in one God,
The Father almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
Of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
The only-begotten Son of God,
Begotten from the Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made;
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven,
And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,
And was made man,
And was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
He suffered and was buried.
On the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures;
And ascended into heaven
And sits at the right hand of the Father,
and shall come again with glory
To judge the living and the dead,
Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
The Lord and Giver of life,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son;
Who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
Who spoke through the Prophets.

And we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church;
We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
And the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Chalcedonian Creed

Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the properties of each nature being preserved and both concurring into one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us.

Since God has prescribed to us how He would be worshipped by us, whenever we turn away in the very smallest degree from this rule, we make to ourselves other gods, and degrade Him from His right place.

-- John Calvin, Commentary on Exodus [20:3]

Can we throw in California, too? How much cash do we need to make this deal happen?

Decalogue from the Geneva Psalter:

As a part of Calvin's liturgy, the church would sing the Ten Commandments, notably following confession and absolution. This ordering plus the pleasant tone of the music conveys the third use of the law, that it is indeed a joy to obey our Father.

Happy Sabbath, brothers. Psalm 46, from the Scottish Psalter.

https://youtu.be/GGzuUfQD-G4

One of the best pastor's conferences ever, the Federal Vision Conference held in 2002 at Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church, is available in full audio here. I would highly recommend it to your listening, especially the Q&A panels.

https://archive.org/details/2002TheFederalVision

There are two parts in the [Second] Commandment -- the first forbids the erection of a graven image, or any likeness; the second prohibits the transferring of the worship which God claims for Himself alone, to any of these phantoms or delusive shows. Therefore, to devise any image of God, is in itself impious; because by this corruption His Majesty is adulterated, and He is figured to be other than He is.

-- John Calvin, Commentary on Exodus [20:4]

P1: The church is commanded to baptize the nations (Matt. 28:20)
P2: Nations include infants.
C: Therefore, the church is commanded to baptize infants.

P1: If God has previously prescribed a standard, we are to assume it remains in force unless explicitly or logically deducibly told otherwise.
P2: In the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, and Davidic administrations all explicitly included children in the covenant and when God attached signs, the children also received them.
P3: There is no explicit or logically deducible command contrary.
C: Therefore, children remain in the covenant and recieve its signs.

If God had wanted to give us the Bible in film or movie format, he would have done so.

The Chosen and similar idolatries are just images and icons that move on a screen.

A covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly administered.

With the phrase "bond in blood," we may infer both that this is a life and death bond, and that it follows one's bloodline.

With the phrase "sovereignly administered," we may infer both that one's inclusion is not voluntary, nor are the terms of the administration.

The Book of Acts Is Not Normative:

It was written, along with Luke's gospel, to chronicle the extraordinary events of Jesus' coming and the ramifications thereof. Numerous errors arise from attempting to make it normative.

1) Charismaticism and continuationism, which ignore the later portions of the New Testament and attempt to make the sign gifts normative.

2) Credobaptists, who assume no children were present at Pentecost or in the households, and make adult confession the prerequisite for all.

3) Pacifists and anabaptists, who blot out the entire Old Testament in their pseudo-masochistic desire to make the church once again a persecuted minority with no power.

On reflection, it was unfair to compare journalists to prostitutes.
Prostitutes actually provide a service.

Only a Living Faith Justifies: WCF 11.2:

II. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by love.


Bare assent is no better than the papists' "implicit faith." Cf. WCF 14.2.

Isaiah 1:11-17, BRP

“What to me is the multitude of your Bible studies?" says the Lord; "I have had enough of Bible studies and of prayers and small groups; I do not delight in evening services, or prayer meetings, or Wednesday services.

When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my chuches?

Bring no more long sermons; the liturgy is an abomination to me. Hymns and catechism and the call to worship— I cannot endure iniquity and prayer meetings.

Your monthly communion and your fellowship meals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,

learn to do good; seek my law, correct your anarchotyranny; defend the unborn, plead for those your laws oppress."

Presumptive Salvation of Covenant Children:

Since we are to judge of the will of God from His Word which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature, but in virtue of the covenant of grace, in which they, together with the parents, are comprehended, godly parents have no reason to doubt of the election and salvation of their children whom it pleaseth God to call out of this life in their infancy.

-- Canons of Dort, Article 17

God's name is profaned whenever any detraction is made from His supreme wisdom, infinite power, justice, truth, clemency, and rectitude. If a shorter definition be preferred, let us say that His name is what Paul calls to gnoston, "that which may be known" of Him.

-- John Calvin, Commentary on Exodus [20:7]