The most valuable object which the student of historical and polemic theology can aim at is to endeavor to trace, by a survey of controversial discussions, how far God’s completed revelation of His will was rightly used by the church for guiding to a correct knowledge and application of divine truths, and how far it was misapplied and perverted (William Cunningham, Historical Theology, Vol. 1, 7).

. . . the Word of God is relevant to every situation in which we are placed, and in one way or another bears upon every detail and circumstance of life. This is just saying, in different words, that we are never in a situation in which we are non-moral or which is for us non-moral. The demands of God’s law are all-pervasive, and the revelation that God has given to us of his will in the Scriptures applies to us in every situation (John Murray, Collected Writings, Vol. 1, 188-189).

“Connivance in a magistrate supports vice, and by not punishing offenders he adopts other men’s faults and makes them his own” (Thomas Watson, The Christian Solider, Or Heaven Taken By Storm, 13).

“That preaching is to be preferred, which makes the truest discovery of men’s sins, and shews them their hearts” (Thomas Watson, The Christian Soldier, Or Heaven Taken By Storm, 11).

The doctrine of the providence of God is practical, and reflecting on God’s providence, as Francis Turretin noted, is a ready means of consolation for believers.

[F]rom belief in providence arises the greatest consolation and incredible tranquility of mind for the pious. It causes them, resting peacefully in the bosom of God and commending themselves entirely to his paternal care, always to hope well from him in the future, not doubting but that he will ever perform the office of a Father towards them in conferring good and turning away evils: examples of which are given in David (1 S. 17:37; Ps. 13:1, 4, 6) and in Paul (2 Tim. 4:17, 18). They feel that under his protection (who has all creatures in his power) nothing is to be feared by them, while walking in their proper calling. Hence, neither supinely neglecting means, nor carefully trusting to them, but prudently using them according to his command, they cast all their care upon the Lord (1 Pet. 5:7), and in all their perplexities always exclaim with the father of the faithful, “The Lord will provide” (Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 1, 538).

“In the 1980s, my doctoral dissertation adviser, D. Clair Davis, often said that Calvinism is so comprehensive that it is hard to get one’s mind and arms around it. He would then say, a bit tongue-in-cheek, that this comprehensiveness is one major difference between Lutheranism and Calvinism. Lutheranism could neatly bring all of its confessional statements under one cover in 1580 and call it The Book of Concord. But the Calvinistic faith is so rich that at least three families of confessional statements developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: the English-Scottish family, the Dutch-German family, and the Swiss family–none of which contradicted the others but built on and complemented them” (“Preface” by Joel R. Beeke, Living For God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism, xi-xii).

“Thus, he defines the oneness of God not in terms of the Father, but in terms of the whole Godhead. . . . While the eventual settlements would be due more precisely to the work of the three great Cappadocians, Athanasius’s contribution to the theology of the Trinity can scarcely be overestimated. His elaborations of the full deity of the Son and the Spirit in the one being of God, and of the revelations of the three in their mutual coinherence, were quantum advances in understanding and huge milestones on the path to a more accurate view of the Trinity. In addition, he rooted his Trinitarianism in his doctrines of creation and salvation, and turned discussion away from philosophical speculation and back to biblical and theological basis. These were no mean achievements” (Robert Letham, The Holy Trinity, 145).

“In love, the triune God chose the elect in Christ (Eph. 1:4). The Father so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16). Christ demonstrated His love for His Father by obeying His commands (John 14:31). In love, Christ offered His obedience and laid down His life for His bride (John 15:9; Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:14). All of these expressions of love occurs within the context of a covenant, whether in the pactum salutis or in its historical execution in the covenant of grace. Just as a watch does not function apart from its gears, union with Christ does not function apart from the gears of imputation. And just as the housing of the timepiece holds the watch face and gears together, imputation and union with Christ cannot function apart from the context of covenant, that which binds the one and the many” (J.V. Fesko, The Trinity and the Covenant of Redemption, 302).

“You should attend the morning worship service expecting to meet with the risen Christ and to experience the power of His Spirit in your hearts through the ministry of the Word, by the means of all the elements of the worship service, and in the context of Christian fellowship” (Ryan McGraw, “What Should a Typical Sabbath Look Like and Why?” in The Confessional Presbyterian, Vol. 12, 140).

Some of this is complex stuff [regarding discourse on justification by faith]. Tweeting about these issues is really dumb. Questioning someone’s orthodoxy in 140 characters should generally be avoided, I would think. Hinting that someone is unorthodox or subtweeting really has to be on one of the lowest bars of theological discourse. (Mark Jones @ CI)