Archives for June 2016

Nothing is more important than the fear of the Lord. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

However, few things are as little esteemed and sadly misunderstood as the fear of God. In some respects, this arises from a cultural contempt for all authority in our nation, and a widespread failure of authority figures to live with integrity. In other respects, it arises from the fallen condition of all mankind: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18).

Yet “the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life” (Prov. 14:27). A true fear of God does not cripple us psychologically, but nourishes our soul in gospel freedom and joy. We neglect it to our own detriment.

This fall, I will be joining several other speakers at the NCFIC annual conference to talk about this precious subject, and by God’s grace, to grow together in our reverence for God. Please consider joining us in Asheville, North Carolina, on October 27-29.

To help us to prepare for this event, NCFIC is posting a series of short, daily devotional videos with various preachers, including myself. You may watch the first one by Paul Washer here. Or you may view the whole list of them here.

Today we received Reformation Heritage Book’s newest publication: Johannes Cocceius’s The Doctrine of the Covenant and Testament of God. Oddly, this major 17^th century work on covenant theology has never been translated from Latin into English until now. I am so grateful to have had the privilege of giving this historic work a final edit.

Johannes Cocceius (1603-1669) was a prominent Bible scholar who taught at the universities of Bremen, Franeker, and Leiden. As a gifted linguist, he produced a Hebrew lexicon, commentary related to every book of the Bible, and several theological treatises.

Cocceius’s contributions to covenant theology simultaneously sparked theological controversies and further fruitful dialogue for understanding the progressive nature of salvation history. The Doctrine of the Covenant and Testament of God describes the entire biblical history as a series of events by which an original covenant of works is gradually annulled, bringing new phases in the history of the covenant of grace. He shows that God’s standard way of relating to mankind is through covenant, which, at its heart, is friendship with God.

Casey Carmichael’s translation of Cocceius’s book is monumental, providing the first English edition of a work that helped shape Reformed theology for centuries. Historical theologians have long noted Cocceius’s work as a crucial text in the development of federal theology, and now this translation will open access to a wider range of readers and is sure to spur further interest and research in Reformed expositions of covenantal thought. The twenty-four-page introduction by Willem J. van Asselt, the world’s leading scholar on Coccieus’s life and theology, provides the historical context for understanding the importance of the book and a summary of the significant contributions it made to Reformed theology.

Philip Benedict, professor emeritus of the University of Geneva’s Institute for Reformation History, writes, “Johannes Cocceius was one of the seventeenth century’s most influential and controversial Reformed theologians, yet today he is little known and less well understood. Casey Carmichael has done all interested in the thought of that era an enormous service by making Cocceius’s Summa Doctrinae de Foedere et Testamento Dei available in English for the first time.”

Those who love covenant theology will delight in this book. Students of historical Reformed theology and exegesis will find it an indispensable resource. You can order it here.