Calvin's Institutes, Battles edition: pages 93-95

As he defends the absolute necessity and sufficiency of Scripture, Calvin offers some critiques of anabaptist excesses in his own day (Book 1, chapter 9) which apply equally well to the current Pentecostal and charismatic obsession with receiving a direct revelation from God. "Furthermore, those who, having forsaken Scripture, imagine some way or other of reaching God, ought to be thought of as not so much gripped by error as carried away with frenzy." In my experience, it can be very difficult to talk reasonably about the sufficiency of Scripture with someone who believes he has received a direct revelation from God. The supposed reception of such has long seemed to me more a function of one's psychology than one's theology.

Calvin closes the question in this way: "[The Holy Spirit] is the Author of the Scriptures: he cannot vary and differ from himself. Hence he must ever remain just as he once revealed himself there. This is no affront to him, unless perchance we consider it honorable for him to decline or degenerate from himself."

Not emergent, but emerging adults

byFaith, the web magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America, has an insightful article on working with "emerging adults" which draws heavily on the work of sociologist Christian Smith. One revealing quote:

Ruling Elder Bob Baldwin at GraceDC commented that when it comes to biblical sexuality, “If the rules don’t fit their cultural expectations, they mentally find a way around them, ignoring what they know to be true scripturally. What surprises me most is how carefully they have thought through their work-arounds.”

Less less, still a word

Turns out "ruth" can be used by itself, in the sense of the opposite of "ruthless." Who knew?

Thanks, Dictionary.com's word of the day!

Grace & mercy

In Proverbs 11:16, we encounter the gracious woman, and in its thematic partner, 11:17, the man of lovingkindness. By pointing to both a man and a woman, the Proverbs indicate that the fruit of the Spirit are accessible to all people, and implicitly point to the whole of the new humanity renewed in Christ.