The Beza Briefing: Final Section on Jesus Christ

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, ìBut we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour ,î so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isnít for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as weíre called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Hereís our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Introducing Beza’s The Christian Faith

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, Michael Lee Abendroth here at the helm. Pastor Steve was in earlier today, and I thought Iíd do a couple more shows. We did the one with Steve on, youíve probably already listened to it, some talk about justification, then I did a show on top 20 books that I have not written, but read, and today is Beza Briefing.

Back to Beza Briefing. I was encouraged the other day, my friend R. Scott Clark wrote a little Heidel blog article on Theodore Beza, and I think the title was something like ìNo Co-Reads Beza ,î and I said to Scott, ìIf I would have known you were going to post that with links to all the shows so far, I would have studied more .î But Iím simply reading the book and then making comments that I think are biblical, pertinent, and maybe interesting.

The book that Iím reading is a short book translated by James Clark, The Christian Faith by Theodore Beza. My particular copy is printed in Crawford, Edinburgh, and it is 112 pages long. Letís see, Translatorís Preface, I have that, ìThis best-seller, first published in Geneva, 1558, excels as a concise declaration of the Christian faith.

Think of it as Birkhoffís Systematic Theology ,î obviously itís pre-Birkhoff, ìbut Birkhoffís Systematic Theology, except much shorter, longer than Birkhoffís Summary of the Christian Faith, which is included in the new Banner of Truth Systematic Theology, kind of white and red and black edition .î Thatís excellent as well.

But here we have The Christian Faith. I originally found out, to get back to Clark, I found out about this book because Scott has a rscottclark .org or Heidel blog paper about books that every Christian needs to read.

And, you know, maybe it was for one of his classes or something, this was on there. I just went down the list of the books that I didnít have, I just tried to order it unless they were hundreds of dollars, then I didnít order them.

You mean, in aggregate they were hundreds, but if a particular book was a hundred dollars, I didnít order. But I just thought I might as well just go down the list. I want to keep learning about the Lord and who He is and what He does, and I got the Theodor Beza book.

Christ’s Ascension and His Presence With His People

So, so far, we have talked about the Trinity, God the Father, and now weíre in Section 3, and Section 3 is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Every section, for instance, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has subsections, so 3 is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then 3 .1, the Divinity of the Son, 3 .2, the Son Eternally Established.

And if youíve been listening to Elko, youíll have already understood some of that. Today weíre up to 325 in the section about Jesus, Theodor Beza, how Jesus Christ, having been withdrawn into heaven, is nevertheless here below with His own.

And if I stop there for a second, remember I regularly say, ìOkay, if somebody asked a question on a Bible show in the old days when I listened to Walter Martin, Bible Answer Man, okay, Iíd maybe turn off the radio or stop the cassette and then think if I could and give my answer, would my answer match up ?î Now these days, my answer would be more Reformed than what they would say, especially Walter Martin in his Pentecostal days and Hank Hanegraaff in his pre-Orthodox days.

What would, I mean, what does this even make us think of? Okay, Jesus did go to heaven, remember, Acts chapter 1, literally, bodily, and Heís going to descend, you know, come back, literally, bodily. How can He be with us now?

Now, excuse me, answer, ìWe understand that glorification brought immortality to the body of Jesus Christ besides sovereign glory, but this did by no means change the nature of His true body, a body confined to one certain space and having bounds .î Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1.

ÌFor this reason, He took away into heaven from our midst His human nature, His true body ,î Acts 1, Acts 3, ìthere He shall remain until He comes to judge the living and the dead, the quick and the dead.

But with regard to the efficacy of His Holy Spirit, as to His divinity by which we are made partakers not only of half of Christ, but all of Him and all His goods as will be said soon ,î in the next chapter of the Holy Spirit, ìwe acknowledge that He is and shall be with His own until the end of the world .î Matthew 28, 20, John 16, Ephesians 4.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 28, ìAnd lo, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age .î So how can that be if Heís in heaven? And Beza is talking about how we have all of Christ and all of His goods, and He is with us, and weíre going to see how the Holy Spirit relates to that very issue.

This is what Jesus Christ said regarding Himself, ìThe poor you will always have with you, but me you will not always have .î Matthew 26. Again, after His ascension, the angels say to the apostles, ìJesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you saw Him go away into heaven .î Acts 1.

And St. Peter says to the Jews that heaven must hold Him until the time of the restoration of all things, Acts 3. For the same reason, St. Augustine, following Scripture, has well said that it is necessary to guard oneself from stressing the divinity to the point of coming to deny the truth of the body.

The body is in God, but it is not necessary to draw the conclusion that it is everywhere as God is everywhere. And Iím going to refrain myself from some Lutheran discussion, and how we work through this, whatís going on with the natures, what about communion, consubstantiation, omnipresence of Christ, body, weíll have to be very, very careful with that.

Justification, Mercy, and Substitutionary Atonement

326. ÌThere can be no other true religion. In this mystery of our redemption, incomprehensible to human reason, God has revealed Himself as true God, that is to say, perfectly just and perfectly merciful.

Perfectly just, firstly, for He has punished all our sins with full severity, Romans 3, 2 Corinthians 5. In the person of Him who made Himself surety and security in our place, that is to say, in Jesus, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Peter 2.

In the next place, He receives us and acknowledges us as if we were covered and clothed with innocence, sanctification, and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5, Romans 5, Colossians 2 .î Now, while I was trying to avoid the trap there with natures and Jesus, and is His body omnipresent, etc., or do we have to regard to the efficacy of His Holy Spirit as to His divinity by which weíre made partakers not only half of Christ, but as I said, here, this oneís a little bit easier and maybe, if you think, more devotional.

How God sees us and acknowledges us. Of course, we realize that we, because of original sin, then our own sin nature, enemies of God, John 8, our father is Satan, as unbelievers. How does God receive us?

How would a king receive such a rebel? How would a king acknowledge a rebel? But everything is different now because of the Lord Jesus, and we have redemption. God has revealed Himself as true God, perfectly just and perfectly merciful, Bezos said.

And therefore, when I read this, it does really warm my heart. He receives us and acknowledges us as if, as His, as if we were covered and clothed with innocence, sanctification, and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Now, I said as if, but it doesnít really say that. Bezos says, in the next place, He receives us and acknowledges us as His if we are covered and clothed with innocence, sanctification, and perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus.

Itís not as if we were. We are. Thatís an important distinguishing difference there. We are. We are innocent in Godís eyes, we are sanctified in Godís eyes, we are perfectly righteous in Godís eyes because we are credited with Christís perfect innocence, sanctification, and righteousness.

Bezos said on the other side, He has revealed Himself as perfectly merciful for finding in us only ground for damnation. He will that His Son take our nature in order to find in Him the remedy which would appease His justice.

That is so good, short, pungent, not run-on sentences, freely communicating Him to us with all the treasures which He possesses, Romans 8. He makes us partakers of eternal life solely by His goodness and mercy on condition that we take hold of Jesus Christ by faith, which we will develop a little later.

See, this is why this is such a highly recommended book by Theodore Bezos. Itís all God-centered. Do you notice even in that paragraph, He has revealed Himself. He willed His Son to take our nature, freely communicating Him to us.

He makes us partakers of eternal life. Our response is simply to believe, to trust, and to take God at His word. Knowledge, assent, and trust, thatís what faith is. Now the final concluding paragraph of chapter 3 on the Son reads thusly, ìBut on the contrary, any religion which opposes to the wrath of God anything other than the sole innocence, righteousness, and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, received by faith, strips God of His perfect justice and His mercy.

For this reason, such a religion, e .g., Romanism, must be regarded as false and deceptive .î And there we have the end of chapter 3 on the Lord Jesus Christ. And what Heís trying to say in 326 there, thereís no other religion.

You can have other religions, but theyíre going to lead you nowhere except to wrath. Excuse me, I regularly say every religion leads to God, to His justice, to His wrath, to His holy displeasure. Every religion ultimately leads there.

But thereís only one religion that leads to God as Father, and thatís based on the work of the Son that was sent by the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. There can be no other religion because how can we have redemption in another God, right?

Youíre going to have to have a representative and substitute, truly man, truly God, perfectly God, perfectly man. Youíre going to have to have, as Beza would use the language, a God who with full justice punish all of our sins.

And those sins will either be punished on us by God in hell for eternity, or the substitute is punished on our behalf, in our stead, in our place. Thatís called substitutionary atonement. What other religion would give you a surety and a security to say, ìDo you know what?

I think Iím going to actually make it .î I think the promises of God are true, and yes, in Christ Jesus, yes and amen. And I think since Iím justified, the flip side of that is condemnation. But Romans 8 says thereís no condemnation for those who are in Christ, and Iím in Christ.

And I already know what Judgment Day is going to say. Judgment Day is going to sayóJudgment Day doesnít say anything, but personifiedóGod on Judgment Day is going to say, ìNot guilty. Paid in full. No condemnation.

Welcome .î Right? The welcome mat will be out. And of course, nothing that weíve doneóI mean, what have we contributed to our salvation besides sin, right, as some people say? Itís 100 percent of Godís work, right?

This is not self-salvation, autosotirism. This is all of Godís work. What other religion can treat us, although even we still struggle with sin, what religion can treat us as justified, as declared righteous, as legally righteous, not based on a crazy type of alien fiction, but no alien righteousness?

Alien meaning a different, another, something else. Godís perfect justice, Godís perfect mercy, we receive salvation by faith alone. Justice is poured out on Jesus in our place, we receive mercy, and therefore, he says, ìEvery other religion, and in particular, Romanism, is regarded as false and deceptive .î Thatís a lot.

And itís a short book, but you just dwell a little bit, and youíre trying to learn, and you think, ìOh, okay. Iíd like to figure these things out, but I also want to stop and think about them, I donít mean in a pietistic way, but in a devotional way, where you think, you know, why is that important for me to understand?

How can that spur on gratitude in my life and in my heart, right? Guilt, grace, gratitude. So, just to take a breath, my name is Mike Cabendroth, this is No Compromise Radio, and we are in Bezaís book, Theodore Beza, The Christian Faith, thatís a little systematic theology, and we just do a show called The Beza Briefing.

And I basically read it, and then I say things that I think are pertinent, apropos, and not too unbiblical. Iím going to be careful about the nature issue with Lutherans. Segment, section, chapter four.

The Holy Spirit’s Personhood and Work in Salvation

So, we had the Trinity, we had the God the Father, God the Son, any guesses now? Section four, the Holy Spirit. Thatís exactly right. This is going to be important for us, because we need to understand the deity of the Holy Spirit, who He is.

We donít want to say things like ìitî when we talk about the Holy Spirit. Itís kind of easy to say the word ìitî, especially for new people to Christian faith, because ìspiritî would be an ìitî, right, with ìspiritî as a hymn.

But then you look a little bit closer, and you see the scriptures, and you talk about the will of the Holy Spirit, seeming motions of the Holy Spirit, volition, intellect, will, all these different things.

I already said that. I know, I just caught myself. But I donít get to edit much on the show. We have a high-quality production, except our editing staff. I just donít like telling Spencer to edit. He does a great job.

I just donít like to do it. We just talk like we would normally talk. If we make a mistake, we make a mistake. But I understand when some people say ìit ,î and itís just, I donít call them heretics right away, and theyíll probably correct themselves, and theyíll say ìhe .î But anyway, ìhe ,î the Holy Spirit.

4 -1, the person of the Holy Spirit. Thatís another reason why we donít say ìit .î 4 -1, Beza. We believe in the Holy Spirit. I was just reading some of the Athanasian Creed this morning about this very issue.

ÌHe is the essential power of the Father and Son ,î Genesis 1. ÌHe dwells in them and is co-eternal and consubstantial with them. Now, when he says ìessential power ,î he doesnít mean influence, force, anything like that where some false teachers would talk about the Holy Spirit as a power.

He has a capital P, and now he goes on to explain himself. ÌHe dwells in them and is co-eternal and consubstantial with them. He proceeds from them. So you see Beza, that the Spirit of God, spiration, discussion here, proceeds from the Father and the Son, right?

Some people, you know, youíve got the East-West debate, proceeding from the Father and the Son, or proceeding from just the Son. Here we have ìHe proceeds from them, rightly so .î I think the Nicene Creed also says the very same thing.

John 14, John 16, ìHe, the Holy Spirit, is one God with them .î So weíre talking about his personhood here. Heís not saying heís just an influence or power, so donít let that fool you. ÌHe is always a distinct person from the one and the other .î Matthew 28, 19, right?

When you think about the Trinity, youíre thinking one God, Deuteronomy 6, the deity of the Father, the deity of the Son, the deity of the Holy Spirit. The Fatherís not the Son, the Sonís not the Spirit, the Spiritís not the Father.

We have ìHow are they related ?î in the sense, whatís the relationship? Father, Son, Holy Spirit, eternal begottenness, the Father sending the Son, eternally begotten, and the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son.

These are all ways that weíre trying to talk about the Trinity. You say, ìWell, the word ìTrinityî is not in the Bible .î I know. The word ìBibleî is not in the Bible either. No English word is in the Bible.

But we say these things as we try to wrap our minds around the corpus of Scripture and what does Scripture teach us. Basic goes on to say, ìThis is what the Church has well settled by the Word of God against the Macedonius and other similar heretics.

Macedonius, footnote, denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit fourth century. His heresy was condemned at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A .D .î And like the errors when it comes to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, right, Eutychian error, Arminian error, Iím sorry, Arius error, Sibelian error, right, Apollinarian error.

Thereís all kinds of errors, right? Heís not really God. He just seems like God. Heís not really man. He just seems like man. Heís lesser God than man. Thereís all these different things. There are errors too when it comes to the Holy Spirit, and one of the errors is what Macedonius said, that the Holy Spirit, He is not God.

You can read Acts chapter 5, and if you believe in Scripture, you have to say Heís God. Heís called God. For two, the personal works of the Holy Spirit. And again, notice what Baez is doing. Heís a person.

Heís not a force. Heís a person. ÌHis infinite might and power are demonstrated in the creation and preservation of all creatures since the beginning of the world .î Genesis 1, Psalm 104. ÌBut in this treatise we shall especially consider the effects which He produces in the children of God, how along with faith He brings to them the graces of God to make them sensible of the efficacy and power of them .î Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 2, 1 John 4.

ÌIn brief, how He brings them more and more to the end and goal to which they have been predestined before the foundation of the world .î Ephesians 1. Thatís the end of the section there, 4. Two, the personal works of the Holy Spirit.

But itís so good. Do you notice what he said there? Isnít this encouraging? He produces. Again, back to the God-centered nature of all this. He produces in the child of God how along with faith He brings to them the graces of God to make them sensible.

I mean, without the Holy Spirit, we would beÖ you would be non-sensible. It would be nonsense. We would have no sense, right? My dad would say, ìWhat do you mean you donít have any sense ?î To do something like that.

To think something like that. To make them sensible of the efficacy and power of them. And He is bringing us. He is sanctifying us. He is conforming us. He is the one, we could say, applying the work of the Son who was sent by the Father.

And we, of course, donít want to separate the Holy Trinity in the sense that, well, there are three persons. Thatís true. Co-eternal, consubstantial. But we donít want to say, ìOh, the Father does this only, and the Son does something completely different only, and then the Holy Spirit does something completely different only .î Thereís inseparable operations.

And the best way you can probably think of it, and the easiest way, who created the earth and the worlds and the galaxies and all that? Well, you could see what the Father does, Genesis 1. The Spirit does, Genesis 1.

The Son does, Hebrews 1. Because thereís one God, right? There might be more scriptural data for the Fatherís creative work or something like that, but we have one God. We donít want to forget that. I mean, who raised Jesus from the dead?

The Father did. The Son did. The Spirit did. That makes sense because thereís one God, and Scripture teaches all three very blatantly. ÌFor three, the Holy Spirit makes us partakers of Jesus Christ by faith alone .î Again, very God-centered by Beza.

ÌThe Holy Spirit is therefore the one through whom the Father places and maintains His elect in possession of Jesus Christ, and consequently of all the graces which are necessary to their salvation .î We have Christ Jesus because of the Holy Spirit, because thatís what has pleased the Father.

But it is necessary in the first place that the Holy Spirit makes us suitable and ready to receive Jesus Christ. That is what He does in creating us by His pure goodness and divine mercy, that which we call faith, Ephesians 1, Philippians 1, 2 Thessalonians 3.

The sole instrument, not the cause, not the ground, but the sole instrument by which we take hold of Jesus Christ when He is offered to us, the sole vessel to receive Him. And thatís important, and Beza understands certainly that weíre not saved because of faith, weíre saved by the mercies of God and the love of God in Christ Jesus.

We are saved through faith, this instrument, sole instrument, and might I say, even though Beza didnít say it, he would believe it, non-meritorious. Right? Our faith isnít meritorious, and our faith didnít live a perfect life, our faith didnít die on the cross, our faith wasnít buried, our faith wasnít raised from the dead, our faithís not ascended in heaven, our faith is not interceding it for us, our faith isnít going to come back.

But we take hold, Beza said, of Christ when Heís offered to us, the sole vessel to receive Him. Not the vessel of baptism, not the vessel of circumcision, not the vessel of anything else, mass, not the vessel of good works, our civil responsibility and duties.

No, no. Sole vessel to receive Him is faith, faith alone. You say, well, I donít see a verse that says faith alone. Well, just read Galatians 2, verse 16, and you will say to yourself, for certain fact, Paul wants us to know itís by faith alone.

Itís through faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law, what? No one shall be justified.

My name is Mike Abendroth. This has been the Beza briefing on No Compromise Radio Ministry.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of Godís Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. Weíre right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.