Ryle’s “A Call to Prayer” Study Guide

You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting the M’Cheyne readings over the past few months.  The original purpose in posting these was to encourage conversation among the members of the church who are also using M’Cheyne as their Bible reading schedule.  Since I’ve received very little feedback and it takes time for me to transfer my written notes to the blog, I’ve decided to hold off on posting the daily reflections.  If anyone is particularly interested in the summaries, you can contact me and I’d be happy to send them to you personally.

I wanted to post this past week’s Sunday school study guide as well so that you might be thinking through our recent lesson on J.C. Ryle’s “A Call to Prayer.”  We will be working through Ryle’s book throughout the next few weeks, using the Chapel Library study guide to help spur questions and get to the major points Ryle is making.  Here is the study guide for lessons 1 and 2.  We’ll be reading the text together during the class but it might be helpful to read the second chapter.  Since our edition of the book does not include the chapter headings, chapter 2 begins with:  “I ask again whether you pray, because a habit of prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian,” and ends with “Do you wish to find out whether you are a true Christian? Then rest assured that my question is of the very first importance—Do you pray?”  The link provided gives you the study guide for lessons 1 and 2.  Try to work on the study guide for lesson 2 since we’ll be going over it in class! Here it is: Ryle Study Guide

 

Sunday School- Introducing Covenantal Apologetics

Throughout the next few weeks during our Sunday school hour, we’ll be working through Dr. Scott Oliphint’s “Ten Theological Tenets for a Covenantal Apologetic,” taken from his book Covenantal Apologetics.  We’ll cover five tomorrow and five the next week.  I’ve included them here but will also bring hard copies for those who want them.

“Ten Crucial Theological Tenets for a Covenantal Apologetic” from Covenantal Apologetics by K. Scott Oliphint

1. The faith that we are defending must begin with, and necessarily include, the triune God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- who, as God, condescends to create and redeem.

2. God’s covenantal revelation is authoritative by virtue of what it is, and any covenantal, Christian apologetic will necessarily stand on and utilize that authority in order to defend Christianity.

3. It is the truth of God’s revelation, together with the work of the holy Spirit, that brings about a covenantal change from one who is in Adam to one who is in Christ.

4. Man (male and female) as image of God is in covenant with the triune God for eternity.

5. All people know the true God, and that knowledge entails covenantal obligations.

6. Those who are and remain in Adam suppress the truth that they know. Those who are in Christ see that truth for what it is.

7. There is an absolute covenantal antithesis between Christian theism and any other, opposing position. Thus, Christianity is true and anything opposing it is false.

8. Suppression of the truth, like the depravity of sin, is total but not absolute. Thus, every unbelieving position will necessarily have within it ideas, concepts, notions, and the like that it has taken and wrenched from their true Christian context.

9. The true, covenantal knowledge of God in man, together with God’s universal mercy, allows for persuasion in apologetics.

10. Every fact and experience is what it is by virtue of the covenantal, all-controlling plan and purpose of God.