Christ died for sinners; not only such as were useless, but such as were guilty and hateful; such that their everlasting destruction would be to the glory of God's justice.  Christ died to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins; and we were yet sinners when he died for us.  Nay, the carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity itself, Rom 8:7; Col 1:21.  But God designed to deliver from sin, and to work a great change.  While the sinful state continues, God loathes the sinner, and the sinner loathes God, Zec 11:8.  And that for such as these Christ should die, is a mystery; no other such an instance of love is known, so that it may well be the employment of eternity to adore and wonder at it. (Matthew Henry)

The foundation of hope is an assured testimony of the conscience, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, that we are loved by God, and this is nothing else but that which we call faith, from which it follows that through faith our consciences are quieted. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)

And patience experience,.... As tribulations tend to exercise and increase patience, so patience being exercised and increased, enlarges the saints' stock and fund of experience; of the love and grace of God communicated to them at such seasons; of his faithfulness in fulfilling his promises; of his power in supporting them; and of their own frailty and weakness; and so are taught humility, thankfulness, and resignation to the will of God:

 

and experience, hope; hope is a gift of God's grace, and is implanted in regeneration, but abounds, increases, and becomes more strong and lively by experience of the love, grace, mercy, power, and faithfulness of God. (Dr. John Gill)
 

Tribulation itself gives us different and various occasions to rejoice, and more than this it does not make us miserable.  Afflictions make us use to being patient, and patience assures us of the goodness of God, and this experience confirms and fosters our hope, which never deceives us. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)

Remark here also the difference of Abraham's faith and ours.  He believed God could perform what He promised.  We are called to believe He has performed. (Dr. John Darby)

THROUGH false emphasis by many religious leaders, Christianity has become in the estimation of a large part of the public no more than an ethical system.  The revealed fact, however, is that the supreme feature of the Christian faith is that supernatural, saving, transforming work of God, which is made possible through the infinite sacrifice of Christ and which, in sovereign grace, is freely bestowed on all who believe.  Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Grace

Who was delivered up to death as a sacrifice for our sins; for in what other way, or for what other purpose could He, who is innocence itself, be delivered for our offenses? (Dr. Adam Clarke)

...that we might have an example of the way in which people may be accepted of God.  It is recorded for our encouragement and imitation, to show that we may in a similar manner be accepted and saved. (Dr. Albert Barnes)

The record of this extraordinary faith was not made on his account only; but it was made to show the way in which men may be regarded and treated as righteous by God. If Abraham was so regarded and treated, then, on the same principle, all others may be. God has but one mode of justifying people. (Dr. Albert Barnes)

His faith was so implicit, and so unwavering, that it was a demonstration that he was the firm friend of God. He was tried, and he had such confidence in God that he showed that he was supremely attached to him, and would obey and serve him. This was reckoned as a full proof of friendship; and he was recognized and treated as righteous; that is, as the friend of God. (Dr. Albert Barnes)

And being fully persuaded - πληροφορηθεις, his measure: his soul was full of confidence, that the truth of God bound him to fulfill his promise and his power enabled him to do it. (Dr. Adam Clarke)

Giving honor to God by the firmness with which he believed his promises.  His conduct was Such as to honor God; that is, to show Abraham’s conviction that he was worthy of implicit confidence and trust. In this way all who believe in the promises of God do honor to him.  They bear testimony to him that he is worthy of confidence. They become so many witnesses in his favor; and furnish to their fellow-men evidence that God has a claim on the credence and trust of mankind. (Dr. Albert Barnes)

Many excuse themselves from the work of religion, though they may make a show, and profess it.  They may impose upon others, yet they deceive themselves if they think to impose upon God, who knows their hearts as well as actions; and as he cannot be deceived, so he will not be mocked.  Our present time is seed time; in the other world we shall reap as we sow now.  As there are two sorts of sowing, one to the flesh, and the other to the Spirit, so will the reckoning be hereafter.  Those who live a carnal, sensual life, must expect no other fruit from such a course than misery and ruin.  But those who, under the guidance and influences of the Holy Spirit, live a life of faith in Christ, and abound in Christian graces, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  We are all very apt to tire in duty, particularly in doing good.  This we should carefully watch and guard against.  Only to perseverance i

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A description of true faith wholly resting in the power of God, and his good will, set forth in the example of Abraham. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)

We oftentimes believe but are we convinced?

The conclusion of this argument: the salvation and justification of the posterity of Abraham (that is, of the Church which is composed of all believers) proceeds from faith which lays hold on the promise made to Abraham, and which promise Abraham himself first of all laid hold on. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)

"A reason of the first confirmation, why the promise cannot be apprehended by the law: because the law does not reconcile God and us, but rather proclaims his anger against us, because no man can fully keep it."  (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)

For if they which are of the law - Who seek for justification and acceptance by the Law.  Faith is made void - Faith would have no place in the scheme; and consequently the strong commendations bestowed on the faith of Abraham, would be bestowed without any just cause.  If people are justified by the Law, they cannot be by faith, and faith would be useless in this work.  (Dr. Albert Barnes)

The promise, that he should be the heir of the world - Is the same as that he should be "the father of all nations," namely, of those in all nations who receive the blessing.  The whole world was promised to him and them conjointly.  Christ is the heir of the world, and of all things; and so are all Abraham's seed, all that believe in him with the faith of Abraham (John Wesley)

The nature of sacraments in general: they are signs and seals - signs to represent and instruct, seals to ratify and confirm.  Matthew Henry

I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something very different.  (C. S. Lewis, Virtue and Vice)

 

We often needlessly wander through the darkened fortress of discouragement and despair.  The high hardened ramparts of our own building.  Brick by brick did they rise from the hardness of our own heart.  Cemented indestructible by the piteous mortar of our ever bleeding heart.  We are powerless to extricate ourselves from this fallen estate because of our self-deception.

Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin, the sin that is left over without any excuse, after all allowances have been made, and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness, and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.... (C. S. Lewis, Virtue and Vice)

Faith was reckoned to Abraham for justification, as we read Genesis 15:6, (see the note on Genesis 15:6); but circumcision was not instituted till about fourteen or fifteen years after, Genesis 17:1, etc.; for faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness or justification at least one year before Ishmael was born; compare Genesis 15, and 16. At Ishmael’s birth he was eighty-six years of age, Genesis 16:16; and, at the institution of circumcision, Ishmael was thirteen, and Abraham ninety-nine years old. Dr. Adam Clark

This blessedness - This happy state or condition. This state of being justified by God, and of being regarded as his friends. This is the sum of all blessedness; the only state that can be truly pronounced happy.  Dr. Albert Barnes

Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind.  It must be fed.  And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument?  Do not most people drift away? (C. S. Lewis, Virtue and Vice)

To be makários, blessed, is equivalent to having God's kingdom within one's heart...Makários is the one who is in the world yet independent of the world. His satisfaction comes from God and not from favorable circumstances. (The Complete Word Study Dictionary, General Editor: Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D.)

The Demon Screwtape: "Whatever men expect they soon come to think they have a right to: the sense of disappointment can, with very little skill on our part, be turned into a sense of injury." C. S. Lewis

"Salvation as an accomplished fact, as a present process, and as a future prospect." Arthur W. Pink, A Fourfold Salvation

The new diet plan, More of Jesus and Less of Me!

Sola Fide - Salvation comes only through faith in Jesus and not good works (in particular the belief in atonement for sins at the cross and the resurrection of Christ)

“’Twas for my sins my dearest Lord.
Hung on the cursed tree.
And groan’d away his dying life,
For thee, my soul, for thee.
“O how I hate those lusts of mine.
That crucified my Lord;
Those sins that pierc’d and nail’d his flesh.
Fast to the fatal wood.
“Yes, my Redeemer, they shall die,
My heart hath so decreed;
Nor will I spare the guilty things.
That made my Saviour bleed.”

So we see then that our faith is unfurled and waves brightly in the wind of Christ's good pleasure.  It is Him alone who gives us strength.  It is Him alone who is worthy of our praise.  It is Him alone who is the author and finisher of this faith unfurled.  Sola de Christos!

Paul again anticipates and refutes the absurd argument.  If justification depended upon the Law of Moses, then God could be the savior of the Jews only.

Nothing is more maligned today than the meaning of these few words!  All manner of confusion, deception, error and even heresy have been born from wrongly dividing these words of truth….The idea that salvation is a wonderful gift and yet cost us everything that we are remains a paradox but like God and country are not mutually exclusive concepts.

The law of faith is that divine constitution which makes faith, not works, the condition of acceptance.  John Wesley

Must guilty man remain under wrath?  Is the wound for ever incurable?  Matthew Henry

"And are justified — Pardoned and accepted.  Freely — Without any merit of their own.  By his grace — Not their own righteousness or works.  Through the redemption — The price Christ has paid.  Freely by his grace — One of these expressions might have served to convey the apostle's meaning; but he doubles his assertion, in order to give us the fullest conviction of the truth, and to impress us with a sense of its peculiar importance.  It is not possible to find words that should more absolutely exclude all consideration of our own works and obedience, or more emphatically ascribe the whole of our justification to free, unmerited goodness."  John Wesley

"It is not possible to find words that should more absolutely exclude all consideration of our own works and obedience, or more emphatically ascribe the whole of our justification to free, unmerited goodness." (John Wesley)

"Vice and Virtue to the modern ear convey meanings twisted by our own culture and behavior. The word vice sounds benign, describing fundamentally harmless habits and attitudes, the kinds of things normal people do and feel."  C. S. Lewis, Virtue and Vice

"For all have sinned: - And consequently are equally helpless and guilty; and, as God is no respecter of persons, all human creatures being equally his offspring, and there being no reason why one should be preferred before another, therefore his endless mercy has embraced All."  (Dr. Adam Cla