On Mary

The angel’s greeting has often been misunderstood.  Gabriel was not worshiping Mary, nor did he say that she was “full of grace.”  These ideas come from a prayer commonly used by Roman Catholics: “Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our deaths.”  This is not a biblical prayer, although it has some biblical language in it.  The problem is that it treats Mary as the source of grace rather than as an object of grace.  People pray to Mary because they think she has grace to give.  But the phrase “full of grace” is based on a Latin translation (the Vulgate) that is really a mistranslation.  Even Roman Catholic Bible scholars admit this, although most still think that Christians should pray to Mary.  What the Bible actually says is that Mary was the recipient of God’s grace, not a repository of grace.  The word that the English Standard Version rightly translates as “favored one” is a passive participle.  In other words, it refers to the grace that Mary was given by God and not to any grace that she can give to others.

It is important to know what to believe about Mary because so many people go wrong at this point.  The Bible never says that Mary was without sin, that she remained a virgin, or that she is able to give grace to sinners.  We can only imagine how much it would grieve her to know that some people worship her!  What the Bible does say – beyond the fact that she was the mother of Jesus – is that she was saved by grace.  The way Mary helps us is not by giving us grace but by showing that God can give us the same kind of grace that He gave to her.  Mary is the blessed virgin, who alone was called to give birth to the Son of God.  Her experience is not our experience.  Nevertheless, her example is for us.  Since she received grace from God, her example proves that God shows unmerited favor to lowly sinners.  Even when we feel small and insignificant, overlooked by the world, we can know that God is for us.  Gabriel’s greeting shows God’s grace for the lowly.

From: “The Annunciation” (Luke 1.26-38) in Luke by Philip Graham Ryken; Reformed Expository Commentary series; 2 volumes (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 1:30-31.

Philip Graham Ryken (born in 1966) was, at the time this volume was published, Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He is now President of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

 

What Sin Does

This is what sin does to us all, even if our own situation seems less extreme.  The Bible tells us that the sinful mind is “hostile to God” (Romans 8.7).  It describes us as “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2.1).  It says that, apart from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, we are “alienated and hostile in mind” (Colossians 1.21).  Worst of all, we cannot save ourselves.  On the contrary, we are “utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all that is spiritually good” (Westminster Larger Catechism 25).  This is all because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4.4).

From: “What Has He Done for You?” (Luke 8.26-39) in Luke by Philip Graham Ryken; Reformed Expository Commentary series; 2 volumes (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), 1:398.

Philip Graham Ryken (born in 1966) was, at the time these sermons were published, Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He is now President of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

 

The End Times

Everyone needs to get ready for that awesome eventuality.  However, people have so many crazy ideas about the end times that it is easy to go astray, which is why we need to know what Jesus said about the end of the world.  He said the time would come when we would start to wonder when His kingdom would ever come.  He said that people claiming to have inside information would tell us that the Messiah were here or there, tempting us to believe that we have it all wrong or that we are missing out on a secret we need to know for salvation.  But, Jesus knew that all the rumors and speculation would only lead us away from the truth.  To protect us from getting taken in, He said, very firmly, “Do not go out or follow them” (Luke 17:23).

When the Son of Man does return, it will be so totally and universally obvious that we will not need anyone to tell us where He is.  Any sign would be superfluous.  Jesus said the second coming will strike like a bolt of lightning that flashes across the sky: sudden in its appearance, obvious in its shining brightness, and powerful in its mighty display of the glory of God.

From: “Kingdom Come,” a sermon on Luke 17:20-37, in Luke: Volume 2: Luke 13-24 by Philip Graham Ryken; Reformed Expository Commentary series (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), p. 235.

Philip Graham Ryken (born in 1966) was senior pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 2001 to 2010.  As of the Fall, 2010 semester, he will be president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois.

 

The True Calvinist

A penitent spirit is one of the hallmarks of Calvinism.  The true Calvinist is the man or woman who wakes up in the morning saying, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).  This daily confession brings with it a healthy mistrust of one’s own capacity for godliness and a corresponding dependence on God for His grace.  It also enables a Christian to promote God’s holiness with all humility and gentleness.

From: The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel by James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2002), p. 186.

 

Luke the Historian

Luke defined a gospel as “a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us” (Luke 1:1).  A narrative is, simply, a story, so Luke wanted to tell a story.  But, this particular narrative was historical.  It was about things that had been accomplished, things that had really happened, things that had been done in time and space.  Therefore, Luke is careful to place the story of Jesus in its historical context.  For example, when he tells the story of the Savior’s birth, he says that it coincided with “the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke 2:2).  Luke was writing fact, not fiction, and he knew the difference, as did his original readers.  Like Polybius, the Greek historian of Rome, he wanted to “simply record what really happened and what really was said.”  In addition, as we shall see, he wanted to give a divinely inspired interpretation of the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.

From: “Knowing for Sure,” a sermon on Luke 1:1-4, in Luke: Volume 1: Luke 1-12 by Philip Graham Ryken; Reformed Expository Commentary series (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2009), p. 6.

This quotation is from volume 1 of Ryken’s 2-volume commentary on the Gospel of Luke, just published.

Philip Graham Ryken (born in 1966) has been Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 2001.