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Clement Part 3 - Sola Fide VINDICATED · The Reformed Corner

• Quentin James: This episode of the Reformed Corner Podcast is brought to you by Squirrely Joe's Coffee. Stop funding anti Christian agendas with your coffee habit. Every dollar you spend on coffee is a vote for what you value. Instead, choose coffee roasted by believers who share your convictions. Hello and welcome back to the Reformed Corner Podcast. My name is Quentin James, and I am joined by Not LeBron James. Not LeBron James. Yes. That would be cool. But I am Quentin James joined by Elijah King. Elijah King. He got his cue right this time. I did get my cue right. You did it. I and again I know your name. I'm glad you did it. You remembered yours as well. We're off to a great start here. so we are walking through first Clement on the Reformed Corner Podcast. Our goal here is to just showcase that Protestantism is not out of stream with historic Christianity. in fact, we would argue that Protestantism is the continuation of the true Catholic Church. Yeah. in its most clearest, most pure, and most visible sense. visible in the say in the sense that we can see that it is in agreement with the doctrines of the early church. Yeah. what we're not trying to do is we're not trying to say that all of the early church definitely agrees with us, 'cause that would be anachronistic. Yep. We're not Eastern Orthodox. We're not going to say that they all agree with us. Right. but what we do say is that there are a lot of things that the early church disagrees with itself on. And the fathers are constantly disagreeing with themselves. The ecumenical councils disagree with themselves. And so as Protestants, we are open and honest in admitting that sometimes the church makes mistakes, disagrees with itself, but we have the one infallible standard of scripture by which we measure all these other things against. and when we do that we see that we are actually in line with the majority agreement, I think, in the early church. Yeah, and like you said, you know, the early church does disagree with itself because they're people. You know, when you read like we're going through Clement. Clement is a wonderful, wonderful letter. Every Christian should read it. But because it's a letter, you can just see the personality there. You know, you see Clement. He has great love for his own people. Yep. for his own congregation because he is a pr an elder of that congregation. You see that he has great love for the other churches around him. That's why he's writing the letter. Right. so they're just people. Yeah. We should understand that we should be grateful for the early church. That's right. But our theology should not solely rest on them. No, it should solely rest on the writings of the scripture. The prophets, the apostles, the law. That is what our faith is based on where we get our doctrine this the the things that we are required to believe. and so if we're adding first Clement to the canon, we're doing something wrong. But we're not doing that. We are simply showing that first Clement is in accord with the canon. It follows Paul's line of thinking and argumentation. He he comes off as incredibly Pauline because I mean we know from Paul's own writing, Clement is actually one of his friends. Yep. Clement of Rome is mentioned in Philippians? Yeah, Philippians. I think it's Philippians four. Something along those lines, that sounds right. Yeah. and yeah, he was he was friends with Paul and he sounds a lot like him in a lot of the ways that he quotes scripture, a lot of the ways that he argues for justification by faith alone, which we're going to get to talk about that today. And last week we talked about penal substitutionary atonement. And we're gonna do another video on that just as a standalone subject because it's a something really important and we need to do a deep dive on. and I know for you in particular that's something you want to focus on. Yes. I l I want to focus on it because I think it's something that is historic. I think it is in the fathers. Eric Abarra, like we pointed out last time, he went through his deep dive with the fathers. And that's right. He has half of his book, which is literally just quotes. It says from Basil of Caesarea on this day from this work, this is about the time period, and here's the quote. Right. and so he does that. He also goes through and details like the early church and how it developed and things like that. So it's a great book. It's called He Bore Our Punishment. It does have a second commandment violation on the front, which Yeah. He's a Catholic, so I mean what are you gonna do? Right. but still appreciate his work. Yeah. I haven't started it yet, but I'm planning on getting that started here in a few weeks, months, who knows? Who knows? Who knows when I ever have time to read the books that I try to read? Well, it's it's kind of fun. You know, our reading list keeps getting bigger and bigger. Yeah. I can never finish a book before I've added three more in its place. yeah. But or more. but anyway, so we're gonna jump into f first Clement. you brought your pipe with you? I did bring my pipe. You had some three nuns available. Three nuns. it is the favorite blend of Tolkien and Lewis. It's a really delicious tobacco that a friend of mine, your brother in law actually, gave me a bag of it from his collection and I had some the other night and it was probably the best I've ever had. Yeah. I understand why it's their favorite. It is a very easy smoke. It it it doesn't burn too hot. it has a very pleasant smell for a non aromatic tobacco. and it's got a really nice noticeable flavor. You know, sometimes with tobacco you don't really notice how it tastes Three nuns little bit easier for me to taste. and speaking of Tolkien, I said last time I ordered the four box set of Tolkien's histories. They showed up, they're right behind your head. nice. framing you quite nicely. Even better. Yeah, so that whole shelf is Tolkien's Histories and then a few other things in front of it. and l last year or this year it was all Lewis. Trying to be all Lewis. Next year, my intention is to read through everything that Tolkien wrote and has readily available. Not gonna go spend a ton of money trying to get old Tolk Tolkien books that are not in print. Well I mean since you're doing C.S. Lewis you might try and find all of his letters, all what is it, like thousands of letters that he's wrote. Yeah, won't be doing that. That's a little much. I got the screw tape letters. that's okay. And I'm listening to that right now on audiobook. I don't know who the narrator is, but he does a fantastic job. sounding like a demon. He d he does great. and it's a that's a really good good book as well. Lewis Very talented writer. Very. Very pastoral in the same way that Clement. yes. He's very nice segue there. I see what you did there. Been working on him, man. I gotta gotta keep it gotta keep things straight here. Gotta run a tight ship. Yeah. Well we're on chapter twenty seven. So That's right. Last time we finished up talking about the Phoenix. Absolutely true. Absolutely true. One hundred percent real. Yes. We believe. And the Phoenix stands as a a symbol of the resurrection. Pointing us to the dying and rising of not just Christ, but of creation of ourselves and how one day Christ will return and r resurrect everyone with his people joining him in the new heavens and new earth. Yeah. Super based. I'm still waiting for the dragons to show up in here. So we'll we'll see when we get there. Clement doesn't actually have dragons in here, unfortunately. That's all right. I forgot to mention, I'm smoking the Nutty Irishman. you've got three nuns. I've got nutty Irishmen. I have it in my Peterson three fourteen, but I just recently decided I'm going to actually give this a name because I'm sick and tired of the industrialization of our society and the mechanical numbering that these pipes have just are just too reminiscent of like an inhuman, anti-human world. So I'm naming it and I'm naming it Malcolm after Malcolm Geit, who is a huge fan of the Peterson pipe. recently wrote Galahad in the Grail, which is an outstanding work. On Arthurian Legend done in ballad form. fantastic audiobook. He's got such a delightful voice. I don't I don't know if you've listened to my book. I have. I actually finished it last week. So yes, you everyone should go listen to Malcolm Gay. It's he reads it himself on his audiobook, so you get to hear the author speak it. And it is it is intoxicating. It really is. You understand why. Why poetry was such a big thing. Mm-hmm. I think it would be good if we got back there. It'd be pretty cool. So yeah, everyone should go read and listen to some Malcolm guy. He was actually on Matt Frad's podcast, you know, Pints Aquinas. Yeah. Pints with Aquinas, yeah. I can say those words. You even ha you haven't even had any research. I know. I know. Sorry, I'm slurring too. My mouth is so dry right now. Yeah. Well, it is what, a hundred and two outside and we have to turn the air conditioning off so that we can record this podcast. So it we're gonna be dripping by the time we're done. Yes. what is it that Calvin said? every well, he was talking about sermons, but every sermon should be invigorating not just for the audio and not just for the laity, but for the clergy as well. Right. So yeah, the pastor actually has to mean what he's saying. Yes, yes. Don't be performative, but you know Be genuine. Be genuine. Yeah. All right. Now we've waffled around for enough time. Yeah. Probably too much. but let's jump into Clement. if you'll you'll read their tw chapter twenty seven. Chapter twenty seven. Okay, this is on the hope of the resurrection. So therefore, with this hope, let our souls be bound to the faithful to the one faithful in his promises and righteous in his judgments. The one who commanded us not to lie. How much more will he himself not lie? For nothing is impossible with God except to lie. Therefore let faith in him be rekindled in us, and let us consider that all things are near him. By the word of his majesty he established all things, and by a word he is able to destroy them. Who will say to him, What have you done? Or who will resist the power of his strength? When he wishes and as he wishes, he will do all things, and nothing decreed by him will ever pass away. All things are before him, and nothing escapes the notice of his will. Since the heavens declares the glory of God, and the firmament announces the work of his hand, day utters a word to day, and night announces knowledge to night. And there are no words or speeches whose voice are whose voices are not heard. Yeah, I love that. He's just again so much scripture. Yes. He's completely filled with the Old Testament, and I love where he says there. In verse two, the one who commanded us not to lie. How much more will he himself not lie? Just demonstrating the trustworthiness of God, that we can actually trust him because he is incapable of deceiving us. He's incapable of lying to us. And he's citing there Hebrews six, eighteen, perhaps, Titus one two as well. have you read the Odyssey or the Iliad? Yeah. a couple of years ago now, but Yeah, I read it I think for the first time Sometime last year. And something that really struck me is so if you know anything about Zeus, in Greek, he is often called Theos, which is God. Yeah. and I remember talking with a fri I'm this is a tangent, but I remember talking with a coworker several years ago who was learned in Greek as a philosophy teacher in his free time. Because that's what you do in your free time, I guess. You teach philosophy at the community college. But he understood Greek, was able to read it, and I was talking to him about, you know, how I want to learn Greek and he actually bought me the basics of biblical Greek grammar by Bill Mounts. Yeah. that's a really helpful book, if you want to learn the language. little sidebar. So biblicaltraining dot com, he teaches his course. So if anyone wants to go there, it's a free side. You can go learn Greek, you can go learn Latin. it's a bunch of teachers from like RTS and stuff. So yeah, super thankful for for guys like that. Mm-hmm. and resources like that that are made readily available to all of us. but this coworker of mine, I was talking to him about the Greek and asking him questions. at the time I was in my cage stage of Calvinism and so I was trying to go to the Greek to prove the Armenians wrong and everything. of course. And so I would come to him sometimes to ask like, hey what does the Greek actually mean here? And Another example of that was with the Jehovah's Witnesses in their interpretation of John one, right? yes. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. And they would say the word was a God. Mm-hmm. And so I asked him on that. And he talked about Theos and how it means God. but it's also and he pointed this out funny enough, used enough used frequently in reference to Zeus without name, without the definite article, or sometimes with the definite article. Zeus is referred to often as the God, the Thaos. and so when I read from Clement, nothing is impossible with God, and I'm presuming they're not looking at the Greek manuscript myself, but that is Thaos is is the word he's using. It is impossible with God nothing is impossible with God except to lie. And then I read about Zeus and his abhorrent behavior in the Iliad. And He expressly lies and deceives the people involved in the Trojan War in order to achieve his ends. Yeah. And it's like, what a different god we have. What a different God we serve. He is nothing at all like those Greek gods. th the the moral virtue of the true god far surpasses the degeneracy of the Greek gods that he would have been dealing with in Corinth, right? I the Corinthians were struggling with their idolatry. Only a little bit. Only a little bit. And so when he's saying this nothing is impossible with God except to lie, he's I think making a a marked distinction between the true God and the false God Zeus and any who would call themselves God. Yeah. maybe this would be something to talk to Mason, you know, biblical understanding about, but what parallels he sees between Clement's writing and then like Athenagoras of Athens. Mm-hmm. 'Cause that's Athenagoras he's I'm not too familiar with him. He's early second century, if I remember correctly. and he's very he's an apologist, he's one of the first apologists. So he has one an apology on the resurrection of Christ and then he has an appeal to Caesar for hey, we're great citizens, I know we're not like the other religions out there. Mm-hmm. But Don't kill us. Yeah. Yeah. Don't kill us. We're law abiding. We do our jobs. Yep. a really fun side note again. we're not gonna get far in this conversation. No, we were talking earlier, just like how how far do do we think we're gonna get maybe to the end of thirty two? Yeah. At this rate, I don't even know if we're gonna get there. We'll see. but have you read Athanasius on the Incarnation? I have listened to it. I have not read it. So You've consumed some of it. Yes. Absorbed possibly some of it. One of my favorite lines he has in there is when he's talking about why we should believe in the resurrection, why we should believe in Christ. And one of his his points is that basically Christ was resurrected and the false gods were executed. Christ killed the false gods. He's like why d why are the false gods no longer worshipped? If Christ isn't resurrected, why are the why are the Greek gods not being praised in their temples anymore? Because Christ was resurrected and he destroyed them. He defeated them. Yeah. I love I love that imagery of, you know, Christ going throughout the world and wherever Christianity goes, he, you know, slays the demons. He slays the demons, he slays the false gods. And Athanasius was like in the three or f three hundreds, right? Late three hundreds. Yeah. And Clement, we had said, was first century. Yeah, like ninety five AD is kind of where everyone sits. So I mean it takes some time for the false worship to die out. but by the time of Athanasius' day it had died out pretty significantly. Yeah. Well it's it's interesting, 'cause it's you know, that point about Christ going out and slaying the other gods. It is interesting that as missionaries are sent out, you know, Saint Patrick he gets to the Isles and they are full of paganism. And then as Christianity spreads, those demons literally die. I mean their power stop being effective. so Yeah, I we so I was just at That used bookstore that we like, right? Half price books. with a friend of mine. And we were just looking around at s at some of the books that they have there. We were in their mythology section and we found a book of symbols. And we're just flipping through it to see what they have in there. And we see one called Sheila Na Gig. Mm-hmm. And it immediately shocked us because of what the image was. it was a bald figure, it's hard to tell whether it's male or female, until you look down and you can see legs are spread, hands are down there, spreading other parts. okay. And I'm like, what in the world is this? And is it was a pre Christian Celtic false god, that was allegedly to be promoting fertility. And yeah. And so it was used for their cultural Practices, we can say pagan. Pagan practices, to try to make more babies. Yeah. probably to sacrifice. So thank God Christianity has spread and put an end to Sheila Nagig and her degenerate gross behavior. Yes. so Christ conquers all 100%. 100%. So getting back to this, stop giving your hard earned money to pagans. Look. We are Christians, we are reformed Christians, and all of us love coffee. But every dollar you spend on coffee is a vote for what you value. Instead, choose coffee roasted by believers who share your convictions. Why fund the enemy's kingdom when you can keep the money in-house? But not only that, Squirrely Joes makes fantastic coffee. So far I've tried three of their blends. This here is peace, but my personal favorite is the Covenant Dark Roast. You've reformed your theology, now it's time to reform your coffee. Head over to squirrelyjoes.com and use code corner at checkout for 15% off your first order. That's squirrelyjoes.com and code corner C-O-R-N-E-R at checkout for 15% off your first order. It supports the show, it supports a great Christian family, and it tastes amazing. Now, back to the show. But something I love in chapter 27 is Clement's affirmation of God's absolute sovereignty over his creation. that By the word of his majesty he establishes all things, and by a word he is able to destroy them. And then he it seems like to me, like he's quoting Job, maybe you know, he says, Who is who will say to him, What have you done? Or who will resist the power of his strength? And I think the whole point in this chapter, right, he says, Therefore with this hope, let our souls be bound to the one faithful in his promises and righteous in his judgments. So are you struggling to trust God? Are you struggling to trust for his care for you and your life and your your people. Does God not uphold the world by the word of his power? Does he not did the heavens not declare his glory, the firmament announce the work of his hands? all of creation is speaking with one voice that we can trust the Lord. Yes. And that is such a pastoral loving way to communicate this truth to us. Yeah. And the last line really really speaks to it. It says, and there are no words or speeches whose voices are not heard. Yeah. it is a delight to have a God who listens. Mm-hmm. Absolute delight. Yeah. And not only does God hear everything, but also given the context of what he's saying here about day utters a word to day and night announces knowledge to night. All of creation is heard. Yes. The words and speeches of creation, those voices are heard by us. And so we have no excuse to not believe. We have no excuse to not repent. and that's the the the main thrust of this chapter is we have no excuse not to trust. Yes. And so we should be trusting the Lord. Yeah. So repent and be baptized. That's right. And then baptize your kids. Yes. And then baptize your kids. Yes. household baptisms, you know, everyone gets a little bit of water. That's right, 'cause we want everybody saved, right? Yeah, of course, of course, 'cause baptism does save. I'm looking at you, Baptists. All right, therefore, having seen and heard all things, let us fear him, and let us leave behind abominable lusts of evil deeds, that we may be protected by his mercy from the covenant judgments. For where are any of us able to flee from his powerful hand? And what world will receive any of those who desert from him? For somewhere the writing says, Where shall I go, and where shall I be hidden from your face? If I go up to heaven, you are there. If I go away away to the ends of the earth, your right hand is there. If I make my bed in the abyss, your spirit is there. Therefore, where can a person go, or where can one run away from the one who embraces all things? Yeah. Solid smoke rings. You know, when you got scripture reading in the background, right? Not not just Clement, Clement's quoting scripture. Yeah. blowing smoke rings, really peaceful. Really peaceful. It's a good it's a good way to spend the evening. Yeah. I the one that really caught me was verse one let us fear him and let us b sorry, looking at the wrong verse. No, that's that's the one. Yeah. Let us fear him and let us leave behind abominable lusts of evil deeds, that we may be protected by his mercy from the coming judgments. God's mercy is available to all. God's mercy is available to everyone. It is a universal offer of mercy. but the only ones who will receive his mercy are those who flee to Christ, those who are actually going to leave behind the abominable lusts of evil deeds and flee into the the loving and protecting arms of God in his mercy. And so again, yeah. Clement is saying repent and trust in the Lord, receive mercy. It's there for you, it's ready for you. You know, it's like what Toby Sumter says, it's fresh baked bread, it's in the oven. You just need to come and receive it. It's ready right now. Come and get it. And that's Clement's heart is receive mercy. Mm-hmm. That leads right into twenty-nine. Therefore let us approach him in holiness of soul, raising pure and undefiled hands to him, loving our gentle and compassionate Father, who has made us his own chosen portion. For thus it is written When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, when he established the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. His people, Jacob, became the portion of the Lord, Israel his allot the allotment of his inheritance. And in another place it says, Behold, the Lord takes for himself a nation among the nations, just as a person takes the first fruits from his threshing floor, and the holy of holies will come forth from that nation. Quoting Deuteronomy. four and Deuteronomy thirty two. Like we said in the f in the first episode, Clement is just full of scripture. Yeah, this guy has seemingly almost the whole Bible memorized. Yeah. That's crazy. Good for him. Yeah. And good for us that he has it. I know. I know. Maybe we all be blessed like this, you know. so one of the things I love in here is that it is the Father who has made us his chosen. Portion. he seems to be quoting a little bit of John 6 there, you know, where the father gives the son a people, the son redeems that people, and the spirit effectuates that into our hearts. That's right. so yes, we are Presbyterians, we are reformed, so we are gonna point that out. We believe in God's divine unconditional election. Absolutely. Now Verse one, therefore let us approach him in holiness of soul, raising pure and undefiled hands to him. Yes. Loving our gentle and compassionate Father who has made us his chosen portion. So we come into the presence of God as children, as his children, as his sons. We as sons are heirs. The kingdom it belongs to us, and he will welcome us in to the joy of the Master, right? It is his pleasure to give us the kingdom. But We must approach him in holiness of s of s soul, raising pure and undefiled hands. We do not just get to waltz into church, waltz into the presence of the Lord, while harboring secret sin, while being in like caught and enslaved to habitual sin. We actually have to live holy lives. We have to actually be godly. people. Now of course, we all sin, we all stumble, we all mess up, but we repent. We have our our filthiness washed away. And that's that's what I think he's pointing to in these in these chapters is because the only way you're raising pure and undefiled hands is through the blood of Christ. That's right. You cannot make your hands clean of your own accord. No, no. you cannot wash your own sins away. so When we read this, we should have confidence in God. Because as said before, He is the one who speaks creation into existence. If you do not trust God, you have no reason to trust your own eyes. Right. So when He says in His Word, Repent, belie believe, repent, be baptized, you can have full assurance that God, because He does not lie, is going to effectuate that change in your heart. That's right. And also communion. yes. When we receive the Lord's Supper, we are we are receiving the assurance of our forgiveness of sins. God has said, Christ has said, take, eat all of this, take, drink all of this, or all of you, take and drink all of this. Man, I'm butchering it again. We'll get there. We'll get there. But the point is, Christ is telling us to take and eat, take and drink, because this is his body given for us. This is the blood. Of the new covenant shed for the remission of our sins. Yes. here it is. You want to see if you're forgiven, here it is. Partake. Partake in faith, and you know that you're forgiven. and again, as as you were saying from what Clement says, look around. Know God is trustworthy. look at your baptism. Know that you have been brought in, that you have been washed and sanctified. And so we w we should live as people who have been washed and sanctified. Yeah. It is It is an oxymoron to claim to be washed and sanctified and lived an unwashed life. Right. Yeah, we need to be becoming what we are in Christ. Yeah, yeah. maybe the better way to say it is it is hypocritical. Hypocritical to claim to be washed. Yeah, you said oxymoron, you meant hypocritical. Hypocritical, yeah. To claim to be washed and then present dirty hands. Right. So And everyone will see it. Everyone will see it. And if they don't, as we just just read and two chapters ago, there are no words or speeches whose voices are not heard. Yes. If people don't see it, the Lord does. Yes. And so you repentance is not just for other people to see. It's between you and the Lord. He needs to see you repenting because he sees your sin. Yes. And that repentance is the justification of your faith. Mm-hmm. Not justification in that it proves your faith, if that makes sense. Which He's just gonna get us over to chapter thirty, but there's a few more things I want to touch on. Okay. On chapter twenty nine. He says, when th the most high divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he established the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. His people, Jacob, became the portion of the Lord Israel, the allotment of his inheritance. And as you had just commented on, this is the Father who has made us his chosen portion in verse one. But he says that God has divided the nations and scattered them, the sons of Adam Establishing boundaries of the nations according to the angels of God. What is that? What in the world does that mean? So I love this 'cause this you get into you know, biblical typology and like the history of the angels and there's so much cool stuff out there. but what he's talking about is he's talking about the division at Babel. Yeah. So you have the nations it's divided into seventy or seventy two, depending on your you know, which if you're going like Septuagint or Masoretic, I tend to think seventy because later that breaking apart is fulfilled and it's restored when Christ sends out the seventy. Okay. because that typology is you have the seventy nations and then Christ sends out the seventy to go preach the gospel. because the because the inheritance is not just for Israel. It's for the Gentiles. You know, that's the mystery that Paul talks about. Right. that is revealed in Christ. Yeah. The mystery of the gospel, which is Christ in you. Yeah. Speaking to the Gentiles, that the Gentiles are brought in, right? Made one with the Jews in Christ. In Christ. Not to people anymore. No. Which is where I think dispensationalists have a fundamental misunderstanding, perhaps even of the gospel itself, but I'm not going to go so far as to say dispensationalists are heretics. I think they do love Christ. But well her heresy can just be a false belief. Not damnable heretics. There you go. I'll say. I would still affirm the brotherhood of the dispensationalists while saying, guys, this is this is real bad. Yeah. This is dangerously bad on the gospel. Mm-hmm. but I would not deny their Yeah. Christ has one bride. Mm-hmm. That is the church. so And again, as you were talking about, he sends out the seventy to bring them in, mm hmm At one point they were scattered according to the number of the angels of God. Yep. Now, my theory, and I've this is not my original theory, but it is that the Lord has set up vice regents in the earth. Yeah. and the angels are the vice regents, right? He's I mean most clearly man is the vice regent for creation. But in a in another way I think here is is the proof of that, that he has established the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God means that he has essentially given not authority, what's the word I'm looking for? he's delegated. He's given jurisdiction. Yeah, he's delegated jurisdiction to the angels for these other nations. And this is why when we see the Egyptians enslaving the Israelites and God executes judgments on the Israelites and their gods. So he's executed judgment on the angels who have rebelled against him. And so the Lord has a special ownership of the Israelites, but he has a delegated ownership of the rest of the world to everybody else. And then in the gospel he comes and takes it back. speaking of killing the gods, you know that's something I love about the Exodus as it is God proving himself greater than all of the others by literally slaying them. Yeah. So you think you think this is your domain? Watch this. Watch this, yeah. You absolute you're you're powerless. Yes. Alright, verse or chapter thirty, he says Therefore, being a holy portion, let us do everything that pertains to holiness, fleeing from evil speech, both abominable and impure embraces, both drunkenness and rebellions and detestable lusts. Loathsome adulteries, detestable haughtiness. For God it says, oppose opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, let us join with those to whom is given the grace from God. Let us put on harmony, being humble minded, exercising self control, keeping ourselves far away from all gossip and evil speech, being justified by works, not by words. for it says the one who says much will hear in turn. Or does the talkative one suppose that he is righteous? Blessed is one born of a woman and who is short lived. Do not be profuse with words, let our praise be in God and not of ourselves, for God hates those who praise themselves. Let the testimony of our God, of our good deeds, rather, be given by others, just as it was given to our fathers, the righteous ones. Arrogance and stubbornness and audacity to those who are cursed by God, gentleness and humility and meekness are With those who are blessed by God. Yeah. Right off the bat, full frontal assault on dispensationalism. Because he had just said the Israelites were the chosen portion. And then he says to the Corinthians, therefore, being a holy portion. Yes. He applies what is said of the old Testament Israelites to the church and the church in Corinth no less. Which is quite a Stubborn church. Yeah. And so the entire point here is that the church, according to this first century author, the church is Israel. Yes. Israel and the church are not two separate entities. The church is Israel. It's clear from Clement, it's clear from much of the early church, like Justin Martyr talks about how the Christians are the true Israelitic race. and it is also thoroughly clear in Scripture, right? Ephesians two talks about the breaking down the dividing wall of hostility that the two would become one. and first Peter basically does the exact same thing that Clement is doing here, First Peter one fifteen, where he applies the language of of God in Exodus thirty two, I believe it's thirty two, where he says, You are a chosen people, a holy nation, people for his own possession. Yes. That's Israel, and Peter says this to the church. Well, and that's k that's kind of the whole point of like Matthew. Mm-hmm. Matthew is a recapitulation of Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy, with Christ being Israel. And then because we're grafted into Christ, we now fulfill that. Yeah. There's a really excellent work in covenant theology put up by Crossway. It's Waters, Reed, and Mueller are some of the contributors. Kevin DeYoung has a really great afterword in that was probably very probably the most convincing article I've read on Pedal Baptism for me as a Baptist when I read it. but it talks about that, that Matthew is given in the same the same format as like a covenantal document in the ancient Near East would have been, which is what we see in Genesis. And so it is a retelling of Genesis through I think you said Deuteronomy. Yeah. so it is. It is so cool. You know, it's almost like it's it's almost like God is in control. And he inspires men to write the things that he desires. Yeah, and I mean given everything Clement just talked about with all of creation telling us to trust the Lord, we should also be trusting the Lord in and his care for our reading life, our our general day to day, right? It's not just the creation that God is concerned with, it's it's us as his people. Well that's why he's given us special revelation, you know. We are the image of God. We have a rational mind. Yeah. So we can apprehend God. Right. And then we can come to know Him through Christ. Exactly. It is Yeah, it's great. Hundred percent. It's great. something I will mention about chapter thirty, because we are getting hopefully we get to thirty two. I think we got this. I think I think we're doing all right on time. Okay. Yeah, hopefully we get there. but chapter thirty, verse five, talks about being justified by works. Not by words. Yeah. Uh-oh. my goodness. Well, there goes our there goes the whole podcast. There goes the Protestant tradition. We're gone. All right. Pack it up. Packing my bags. Yeah. but being justified to what? Yeah, what is what does this even what does justification mean here? Yeah, so justification to what? He says, let us be a holy portion, let us do everything that pertains to holiness. That is what we're being justified to, and not by our words. Yeah. It makes no sense to say, yes, look, I am fleeing from my evil speech and then go, curse God, curse your brother. Right. That was like what we were talking about earlier when you would you were saying that you can't be a hypocrite. Saying that you've been washed clean and then coming with dirty hands. Yes, It is it is an absolutely hypocritical statement. And so that's what he's talking about. They're not justified. No. And the proof is in the pudding. Mm-hmm. You know, the proof is in their works. Yeah. because the works don't justify, but they are they justify the faith. Right. They show that faith is actually present and actually being effectuated in the individual. Right. That's exactly what James is talking about in James two. Mm-hmm. It's not a it's not the justification, the initial justification that we're talking about. Yeah, well, 'cause faith, the way the reformers look understood it is that like faith is the lone instrument that connects us to God through Christ. it is God is the justifier. Yes. Yes. He is it is the instrumental cause of uniting us to Christ. Right. So And also again, like what is the context here? What is the context of this justification? What does it say in verse seven? verse seven, you know, he talks about just as it was given to our fathers, the righteous ones. Is that what you were talking about? no, let the testimony of our good deeds be given by others. Wow. If I could read that'd be pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. You never learned. I never learned. No. Homeschooled. It'll get ya. D I'm I am 100% sure that you've read probably you've read probably about three times as many books as I have, so we'll see. We'll see. maybe four. Uh-huh. yeah, so the context is when we're saying be just being justified by works, not by words, and then he says in verse seven, let the testimony of our deeds be given by others. Yes. Our works are justifying our faith. Yes. Our words are justifying in a testimonial sense. Yeah. Not in a forensic declarative reconciliatorial sex. Yeah, they're not meritorious. Mm-hmm. They they do not merit us anything before God. Yeah. It's a proof. Yes. It's a justification as proof, not a justification as cause. Yeah. Is that right? Am I saying that right? pretty close. Pretty close. That'll be fine. Good enough for me. Good enough. Good enough for government work. Everything is good enough for government work. another punchy little line he has in there, it's coming from Job eleven. Do not be profuse with words. yes. this is a much needed reminder for all of us in the modern age, especially me. and and anybody who ever engages in anything on the internet. Do not be profuse with words. just recently there was a a a scandal on Twitter Because some guy some pastor who was defrocked for committing adultery was allegedly going to be speaking at an upcoming conference after he said he was gonna be stepping down and not not coming back because of his sin. well it turns out none of that was true, but the rumors were being spread online because people were being profuse with words. They were not being slow to speak. And it's tragic. And our current culture relishes opening your mouth as quickly as possible. You can't just sit in silence for a minute. You have to run your mouth. Which is amazing. You know, Christ obviously Christ's words are the best words. which is all of scripture. That's why they're right. I know. That's why they're right. but it's let your yeses be yes, let your no's be no. and it's not that nuance is bad. It's that clarity is required of Christians. Yeah. We need to be clear. We need to be precise. But we also need to show grace and be When somebody says something, try to interpret it in the best possible light. Yeah. We should be charitable. don't assume the worst, right? Love believes all things, hopes all things. Or sorry, King James. Charity believes all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things. 'cause obviously the King James is the best. That's right. It's most authorized. It is the only authorized. I don't think there's another English Bible. Sorry. had to please no, my my LSB cries in Greek for you. yeah, so anyway, that that that section there, that chapter thirty, is the rub, I think, from the Protestant position. when he says being justified by works, not by words. And I think we've demonstrated quite clearly, he is not talking about our initial justification before God. He's talking about justifying our faith. Yes. you say you believe without works. I will show you my faith by my works is exactly what James says. And that's what Clement is saying here. Clement, friend of Paul, probably familiar with James. I mean, given that I would hope so. That he's quoted other passages of the New Testament, I think it's likely he read James as well. Yeah, very, very likely. Because I mean, these letters did not stay in one place. Mm-hmm. Christian early Christians loved reading. what the apostles wrote. And so they sent them everywhere. That's why we have papyrus, you know, from one ten in Egypt. I mean Yeah. That's why we have so many manuscripts. So many manuscripts. The New Testament, because it was deeply loved and recognized as something special. Something's different about these writings. Something it's almost like they're written by God. Yeah. I can't quite put my finger on it, but some's different. Something's different. No. so going in actually one last thing. arrogance, stubbornness, audacity to those who are cursed by God. Gentleness, humility, and meekness with those who are blessed with God. Yeah. so embody the last three. Yeah. Do not touch the first three. Now in our last episode, I opened up the show with totally butchering prepositions. Today I actually want to ask about that. He says arrogance and stubbornness on audacity. Why? Why does it say it like that? because God is sovereign over his creation, and so he gives them over to the their own flesh. That's right. you know, we that makes sense. Yeah. Well, we're reformed, you know. We believe in the providence of God. We believe that God is just and right to deal with his creation the way he sees fit. And sometimes that is giving people over to their sin. He will harden whom he will harden. He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. We see with Pharaoh, he clearly gave he says arrogance and stubbornness and audacity. Pharaoh was cursed by God and that was delivered over to him. Arrogance, stubbornness and audacity. Whereas Gentleness and humility and meekness were given to those like Moses, who were blessed by God. As Moses says, Moses was the most humble man on all the earth. Yes. I love that. That's always cracked me up. man. But it's not him speaking alone, it's God speaking through him. Yeah. Or whoever could have written that passage after me, perhaps Joshua. I like the idea that Joshua is the one who Yeah. Puts that in there. Yeah. So it would be weird if Moses said it himself. Yes, Behold, I am the most humble. Right. continuing on to thirty one. therefore let us cling to his blessing and let us consider what are the paths of blessing. Let us untwist in our minds what has happened from the beginning. Why was our father Abraham blessed? Our father. He had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. I'm one of them. So are you. So let's just praise the Lord. Yep. was it not because he brought about righteousness and truth f through faith? Isaac, knowing what was about to happen, with confidence, gladly was brought as a sacrifice. Jacob with humility departed from his country because of his brother and went away to Laban and served him. And the scepter of the twelve tribes of Israel was given to him. I love this little thing because it has this little thing about Isaac. Isaac knew what was going to happen. Yeah. We don't see anything like that r as far as I know anywhere else. Why does Clement say that? Why does Clement say definitively Isaac knew? I to be honest, I don't know. Okay. I don't know. I want Apostolic tradition? Maybe. Hebrew tradition. 'Cause the well It would still be apostolic tradition. You know, the apostles you still got John running around, he's on the island. I do we do we think that the apostles believed what Clement just said? I don't see why not. We don't see any reason to doubt it. Yeah. So makes sense to me. This is the cool thing sola scriptura is that you're allowed to have fun theories about stuff. Yeah. So I still hold that my hope is that Hebrews was written by Clement. Mm-hmm. That's my that's my hope. Yeah, I'll fight you on that because the confessions say it was Paul. I know. I I I agree it would be fun. It would be fun. it's yeah, it was probably Paul and Luke who wrote it down. But I just read this and I'm like, my goodness, I would love it if his words were canonized in scripture. but one day we'll find out. One day we'll find out. And that man will receive the appropriate honors. Yes. Yep. so getting into this, This is kind of the section where we get into the faith alone comments that Clement makes. And so chapter thirty-one, he's asking why was Abraham blessed? How was Isaac confident in what was about to happen? Jacob served g the Lord with humility. And so in chapter thirty two we get the answer to this. Yeah, it's faith, right? It is faith. And well he does answer it in in verse two. Why w why was our father Abraham blessed? Was it not because he brought about righteousness and truth through faith? Yeah. Faith is the fuel for his works. Right. He's blessed for bringing about righteousness and truth. But what brings those about is his faith. Yes. why this one confused me in verse four. Jacob with humility departed from his country because of his brother. Is that a right reading of what happens in Genesis? I mean because Jacob is sent. I mean Isaac does send Jacob to him. So yeah, I would I would say that it's Yeah, Jacob did depart with humility. I mean Isaac I could have sworn he just c kind of fled. Well, you know, Isaac calls Jacob and says, you shall not take a wife from the Canaanite woman, arise and go to really? Yeah, just massive. Dude, you're just better than me. Always have been, Elon. I know, I know. Get good. Get good. Yeah, but he's you know Genesis twenty eight. you know, Isaac sends him you know, that he can't take a you know, he can't take a woman from the Canaanites. yeah, you're right. Yeah, I'm totally mis misremembering what happened there. Okay, that makes sense. It's just he says because of his brother Well, because his brother took a foreign wife and Jacob is not allowed to do that. Isaac wants him to take a wife of his own kindred. Yeah. which we won't touch on in this podcast. No what that means. But we just check out Reform Twitter and you'll get all kinds of opinions on that. Reformed Twitter is a mirror that should be approached with great There is all kinds of filth on Twitter. yeah. And probably one of the most prolific places of where we're gonna find filth is gonna be reformed Twitter. Unfortunately. It's everywhere. And it should not be, especially because as we talked about, how can we who have washed hands claim or how how can we claim we have washed hands if they are so dirty? Yeah. Right. So we need to have more grace with each other, I think. Every I get it, most most reformed guys go through cage stage Calvinism, but it would be a blessing if that were if Twitter was taken away from them during that time. Mm-hmm. But it's cage stage Calvinism. And it's literally any anything will go on a cage stage four, right? Yeah. Right now we've got the cage stage post war consensus stuff. Like people who are either for it or against it. That's all they talk about. race issues, that's all they talk about. There's all these different kinds of subjects that are just festering within reform Twitter and it's becoming the hobby horses of everybody who talks about it. And I think we just need to be kinder and and stop assuming the worst in everybody that we talk with. But that wouldn't make Twitter nearly as fun. Yeah you won't get likes. Unfortunately. No. reasonable thought is not allowed on Twitter. Mm mm. No, it's all reactionary gotchas. That's how you that's how you get views. That's how you get clicks. Yeah. But now Chapter thirty two. Yeah. This is We have made it. We have made it. This is the single, I think, greatest chapter in Clement, because it thoroughly vindicates the Protestant doctrine of Solafide. So he says, if anyone may sincerely consider each of these one by one, talking about the people who we just talked about that acted in faith, right? They were they were glorified through their faith. Consider each of these one by one, he will recognize the greatness of the gifts given by him. For from him come the priests and all the Levites who minister at the altar of God, from him comes the Lord Jesus according to the flesh, the him here is Jacob, and from him comes kings and rulers and governors according to the line of Judah, and his other scepters will be held in no small honor, because God promised that your seed will be as the stars of the heaven. Therefore all of them were glorified and magnified, not through themselves or through their deeds or righteous actions which they have accomplished, but through his will. We are therefore having been or sorry, and we, therefore, having been called through his will in Christ Jesus, we are not justified through ourselves, or through our wisdom or understanding, or piety, or deeds done which we accomplished in holiness of heart. But through the faith by which all those since the beginning the Almighty God has justified. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Amen. If you want Solafida in the Church Fathers, it is right there, Clement chapter thirty-two, verse four. And following, I think. It might just be that's just one big verse. But all my notes and highlights on it kind of muddled it a little bit for me as is to know if that's more than just verse four. But yeah, Clement thirty two four, so clear we are not justified by anything in ourselves, anything we do, and to combat the Catholics on this, we are not justified by anything which we accomplish in holiness of heart. Well, 'cause that's and I'm sure some Catholic is gonna respond in the comments, but the from my understanding the Catholic position is that they have the initial justification and then the then by God's power, they're able to do deeds which are then meritorious. Well, and as you've been talking about a lot with William Perkins in his book Perfect Redeemer, any merit from works is Christ. Christ is doing it. Yeah. Right. But was it he crowns He crowns hi he only crowns his his deeds done within us. Right. But here's the Catechism of the Catholic Church, number two hundred and ten, I I I hope I've pulled up the right one. But he says it says since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions. So like you can earn your salvation. Yeah. The attainment of eternal life is something that we can then merit for ourselves and for others. Yeah. That's wild. And that is completely contrary to what Clement said that our justification is we are justified, Through our s not through ourselves or through wisdom or understanding or piety are deeds which we accomplish in holiness of heart. So even those deeds which the Holy Spirit works in us. Well, you back up even a little bit before that. It says speaking of the fathers, yeah, verse three. He says, Therefore all of them were glorified and magnified, not through themselves or their deeds or righteous actions which they accomplished, but through his will. Whose will is that? God's. That's God's will. God's will. God's grace. They're justified by grace through faith. right, we are not justified by our deeds, but through faith. and and the context here is set in verse three. This is the context of being glorified. Yes. This is the context of eternal life, eternal salvation. Whereas in chapter thirty, the context was our testimony before men. Yes. Right? we are justified by works. Let the testimony, was it let the testimony of our good deeds be given by others. So our good deeds are being are the justification of our testimony or yeah the testimony of our good deeds. So the context of what he's talking about in verse thirty, completely different from what he's talking about verse thirty two or chapter thirty two. Yeah. There, where we are right now, he's talking about glorification and salvation. Yeah, it's us being glorified before God. Us being Yeah. How are we saved? It's by the will of God through faith. Which unites us to Christ because we receive Christ's righteousness. Because he is the just one. He is the holy one, and we are made united with him. Yeah. when we are reconciled to the Father, it is through the Son. Yeah, and it's you know, it's it's in Ezekiel where he says, I will sprinkle you with clean water and I will wash you, and I will make you clean. You know. God is the one who does that, not us. Not us. And that's why you can sprinkle your babies. Mm-hmm. 'Cause you should Baptize your babies. That's right. but again, like the that where it says there in the catechism, no one can merit the initial grace, the initial grace, but we can merit for ourselves eternal life. Make sense of that. Yeah. it's it's why I'm not Catholic. Yeah. Well, you are. You're not Roman Catholic. No, I'm not Roman Catholic. There we go. We've gotta take it back. my goodness. I will get better about saying it. Yeah, no. Ru we are Reformed Catholic. Yes, Reformed Catholic because one holy apostolic reformed faith. Yeah. Because unlike the Roman Catholic Church, we are holding to the patristic doctrine of Solafidae. Yep. the Solophidae is not just a Reformation doctrine. No. And I hope we've shown at least a little bit of that here. I think we've demonstrated it quite clearly, beyond a shadow of a doubt. We are justified Not through our deeds which we accomplish in holiness of heart, but through the faith by which all those since the beginning the Almighty God is justified. Nobody has ever been justified or attained glorification, which is what he says in verse three, by their works. No. They were glorified and magnified, not through themselves or their deeds or righteous actions which they accomplished, but through his will, that is, through grace. Yep. So yep, that's that's it. Okay. Roman Catholicism done. East or North is doctrine. All right. Maybe take over the Vatican, you know. Yeah, yeah. I there's this guy called Martin. I've heard he wanted to nail some ninety five theses to those doors. Yeah. Yeah, I heard he I heard Pope Francis agreed with him. yes. That was actually one of the most interesting things back in the it was like nineteen ninety nine. Someone someone can go look this up. But the the Vatican agree with the Lutherans and said that Martin's Martin Luther's understanding of justification was correct. Right. And Pope Francis specifically said in the doctrine of justification Martin Luther did not err. Yes. So vindication for the Protestants. Mm hmm. Now we just gotta fight the Easterners. The Photians. Did you watch the other Paul's video? I did. It was so good. I'm about halfway through right now. It is fantastic. I love that guy. he is one of my favorite Anglicans right now. so the other one, if you haven't watched it, is his debate with Alex Sorne on icon veneration being an apostolic teaching. Mm-hmm. absolutely phenomenal. Yeah. It's so clearly not. It's so clearly not an apostolic teaching. All of church history bears this out. but the the Photians They they hold to it. They do. but anyway. So that is all we had today. thank you guys for joining us. I've been working on how we're gonna be scheduling this. I'm thinking every two weeks. Probably. Because it's a lot to get these recorded, a lot to get these edited. As you know. you've been waiting on me to get this this last one edited and I just finished it an hour ago. Well really two hours ago because we've been sitting here for an hour. So there we go. We're good to go. Next episode should be uploading soon. this one will come out in a few weeks. and we'll be on a two week cadence, I think, from from now on until something changes and maybe we can start ramping it up. But I think two weeks is a pretty pretty decent it's doable. It's doable. These are gonna be long podcast episodes. And maybe if we do the two weeks we can stretch these out a little bit longer than an hour. we've got about half of Clement left. We were hoping to finish all of Clement in three parts. Yeah, good luck. So maybe what we do is the next two ones will be longer. And we will just finish it in two. So we'll make it a five part series. There we go. And this will only be what five hours, six hours long? Well, if we do two hours for those other episodes. That'll be four. Yeah, it's gonna be three hours. Seven. Quick math. We are brilliant here at the Reform Corner. so anyway, thank you guys for watching. appreciate you stopping by. again, my name is Quentin James. Elijah King. Elijah King, King James only podcast. And stay tuned for for more episodes. Yeah. God bless.