And that saving faith is a firm assent — based on the certain knowledge of divine revelation — ingenerated in our minds by the Holy Spirit through the word of the Gospel, an assent to everything that God has revealed to us in his Word, and especially the promises of life that were made in Christ; hereby each and every believer, relying with constant confidence in God, steadfastly determines that forgiveness of sins was promised not only to believers generally but also granted to him in particular, and that he himself has received eternal righteousness and from it, life, out of God’s mercy because of the merit of Jesus Christ alone.

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 353.

Along with Scripture itself we willingly grant that when one hears the Word of God it is “the power of God for those who are being saved” (1 Cor 1:18), that it “is the seed that has been sown in our hearts” (Luke 8:11), and that it “is a two-edged sword piercing the soul” (Heb 4:12). Nevertheless, we disagree with those who ascribe a power of the following sort to the outward preaching of the Gospel as it strikes the ears: that ingenerating faith is a property inherent in the preaching, as though the very performance of that action achieves it, and as though the operation of the Holy Spirit is bound up in it. Even though by God’s command the outward preaching is a necessary prerequisite of faith for adults, nevertheless the outward act of preaching is not sufficient for faith if it is not accompanied by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit as he reveals the meaning of the Gospel inwardly and as he presents and seals it upon the ‘ears’ of the heart. For “neither he who plants is anything, nor is he who waters, but he who grants the increase — God” (1 Cor 3:7). We must therefore see to it here that we not go head over heels to the extremes and pull apart what belongs together, or mix up what should be kept apart, but attributing to the instrument what belongs properly to the primary cause, and with the same sense. Nor should we do so by looking for the Spirit apart from the Word, or by looking for an understanding of the Word apart from the internal revelation of the Spirit; or, once the Word is understood, by looking for the assent and true confidence form the Word itself (or from the one who administers it) apart from the internal revelation by the Spirit, and to do so by the light of our understanding.

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 355-356.

Because of the variety in the concurrence of the internal call with the outward one, hypocrites mingle among the true people of Israel within the visible Church (which is the gathering of those who have been called). It is with regard to this mixture that both the good and the evil are said to be invited to the wedding banquet of the Son, the Lamb of God (Matt 22:4), and that many are called, but few are chosen (Matt 20:16).

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 347.

The way of calling, when we examine it from opposing perspectives, is divided into external and internal. The former is achieved outwardly through the administration of the Word and sacraments, the latter inwardly through the working of the Holy Spirit.

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 347.

For the Son, as the Mediator between God and men, and as Head of the Church, calls these people to himself through the Holy Spirit and the Word of truth (Matt 11:28). The Holy Spirit equips the preachers of the Word with gifts that are needed to draw those people — to whom the Father sends them in the name of the Son — into communion with Christ by His summons (1 Cor 12:4; Heb 2:4).

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 343.

Human reason has never been able to answer to its own satisfaction, or to the assurance of others, the vital questions, What is God? What is man? What lies beyond the grave? If there be a future state of being, what is it? and How may future blessedness be secured? Without the Bible, we are, on all these subjects, in utter darkness. How endless and unsatisfying have been the answers to the greatest of all questions, What is God? The whole Eastern world answers by saying, “That He is the unconscious ground of being.” The Greeks gave the same answer for philosophers, and made all nature God for the people. The moderns have reached no higher doctrine. Fichte says the subjective Ego is God. According to Schelling. God is the eternal movement of the universe, subject becoming object, object becoming subject, the infinite becoming finite, and the finite infinite. Hegel says, Thought is God. Cousin combines all the German answers to form his own. Coleridge refers us to Schelling for an answer to the question, What is God? Carlyle makes force God. A Christian child says: “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” Men and angels veil their faces in the presence of that answer.

Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, 172-173.

Every day the Church experiences the fruits and effects of Christ’s sitting down at the Father’s right hand; and the enemies of Christ, including Satan himself, whether they like it or not, marvel at it, and tremble.

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 325.

The covenant first was announced to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15. It was demonstrated with Noah, clarified with Abraham, perpetuated with Moses, refined with David, and most fully disclosed in the new covenant declared by the prophets and realized in Jesus Christ. Through all of these historic covenants, God has been gradually revealing both His redemption and His people’s need of it, even as He has been gathering His covenant people out of every generation until, at the consummation of the age, all of His people will have been gathered to Himself. For that reason, these historic covenants often are called covenantal administrations, because they are the means that God has used in history to administer the redemptive purposes of His covenant of grace. They progressively reveal the presence of God’s redeeming covenantal work in the lives of His people. That is the covenant of grace—the historical accomplishment, through covenantal administrations, of the redemptive glory of the counsel of peace. It is the eternal counsel of peace perforating time and creating the people of God.

STEPHEN G. MYERS, GOD TO US – COVENANT THEOLOGY IN SCRIPTURE, 147.

The covenant of grace is God’s eternal, sovereignly effective plan to create a people for Himself. Beginning in the eternal counsel of peace, the covenant of grace stretches forward to the consummation of the age, all the while accomplishing the redemptive ingathering of the people of God. It is the account of this covenant of grace that constitutes the majority of the task of covenant theology.

STEPHEN G. MYERS, GOD TO US – COVENANT THEOLOGY IN SCRIPTURE, 147.

The language of Scripture is the best language to express God’s mind. But it does not follow from this that it is the best language to express my mind, even although I may mean to express to another man, so that there shall be no misunderstanding between us, the very same truths which God has expressed. With the change in the meaning of language which takes place from age to age,—with the different interpretations actually put upon the terms of Scripture by multitudes,—with the various and even opposite senses which reason, or prejudice, or error has made to be associated with its phraseology; the very words of the Bible may not be the best words to declare my mind and belief to another man, so that betwixt him and me there shall be no equivocation, or reservation, or guile…. The Church may take the Bible into its hand, and hold it up to the view of the world as the one profession of its faith; but in doing so it is merely exhibiting the mind of God, not declaring its own.

James Bannerman, Church of Christ , 1:297–98

You begin at the wrong end if you first dispute about your election. Prove your conversion, and then never doubt your election.

Joseph Alleine, A Sure Guide to Heaven , originally published as An Alarm to the Unconverted, in a Serious Treatise (1671 ; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1989 ), 30.