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IBW Chapter 1 - God's Powerful Word

In the Beginning was the Word Chapter 1 - God’s Powerful Word Genesis 1:3, “And God said…” Most often we don’t quote that short little phrase of Genesis, or, perhaps, we skim over it without thinking too much about it. However, it is a very important phrase in Genesis 1. In fact, it is so important that it is used nine times… verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, and 29. That’s not even counting the times the Bible refers to God talking but just doesn’t use the words “God said.” In verse 5, we read, “And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night.” We can see similar “callings” throughout the Creation week as the Lord named the things which He created. All-in-all, God speaking during Creation is a pivotal part of the work. It doesn’t say, “God thought” or “God crafted with His hands” or even “and God created.” Very importantly, “God said.” Why is it so important that God spoke during the creation of the universe? This may seem trivial. The truth, however, is much more wond...
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Catholicity of the Church & Farewell (5th Hour)

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It is important that we end our year on a proper note, with a right perspective, so to speak. As we have read and discussed, our study of Spanish goes far beyond the desire to learn new grammar features, be able to communicate with people on vacation in another language, or, even, simply to sharpen our God-given minds. We have looked at how the study of language helps to understand God and the Word, Jesus Christ. We have looked at how language itself, is a beautiful gift given for communication and fellowship with God and with each other. We have looked at how language barriers are gifts from God for the carrying out of His providential plan. Most significantly, we have looked at how learning another language is important in carrying out the spread of the Gospel in a formalized sense (mission-work) but also through the mandate given to each of us to "love our neighbor". This extends to those who are different from us, whether that be physically, culturally, linguistically, et...
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Catholicity of the Church & Farewell (1st Hour)

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It is important that we end our year on a proper note, with a right perspective, so to speak. As we have read and discussed, our study of Spanish goes far beyond the desire to learn new grammar features, be able to communicate with people on vacation in another language, or, even, simply to sharpen our God-given minds. We have looked at how the study of language helps to understand God and the Word, Jesus Christ. We have looked at how language itself, is a beautiful gift given for communication and fellowship with God and with each other. We have looked at how language barriers are gifts from God for the carrying out of His providential plan. Most significantly, we have looked at how learning another language is important in carrying out the spread of the Gospel in a formalized sense (mission-work) but also through the mandate given to each of us to "love our neighbor". This extends to those who are different from us, whether that be physically, culturally, linguistically, et...
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IBW: Chapter 6 - Loving our Neighbor

It’s easy to say these things about “needing to know a second language” when it comes to mission work yet it is still hard to make that real and tangible. For one, most of you won’t be missionaries actively spreading the gospel in other countries, or even translators for that work. Maybe some of you reading this will follow that path. That would be fantastic. However, that isn’t the route most of you will take. Therefore, it can be difficult to see the practical application if the basis for it were merely for the cause of the mission field.  There is, however, a much closer-to-home reason for studying a second language, and it applies to every single one of us. When Jesus summarized the commandments of God in Matthew 22, He said: " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (vs. 37-39)."   We will return ...
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IBW: Chapter 5 - Pentecost and the Great Commission

Another of the landmark events in the Bible where language is clearly discussed and mentioned is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In Acts 2:4, we read, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” One of the signs on Pentecost was the speaking in tongues. This had a dramatic effect on those gathered at Pentecost for we read, “Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.” This was a miracle indeed! The people even acknowledged this when they said in vs. 7 and 8, “Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” They realized that there was something remarkable going on, and that something powerful had happened through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible then goes on to list a sample of all the different people present at Pe...
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IBW: Chapter 4 - Order, Structure, and Providence

     When God created the world within those six days of Creation Week, He created a world that worked. It was a working world. This world wasn’t some dysfunctional, balky prototype. The relationships between all the different components in His Creation worked flawlessly. God even says so during the Creation Week. Repeatedly, after each of the Creation Days, God looked over what He had made and pronounced that it was good (Genesis 1). When God says something is good, it’s not like when we say something is good. Too often, we say things are “good” when we really mean “good enough” or sometimes “not really good at all, but I really don’t feel like talking about all the things not going well, so I will just say good.” This is not like how God treats the word “good”. For Him, when He pronounces that something is good, He means it. Like when He says that He is good. That doesn’t mean that He is good enough to pass, mostly good, or even the best-at-it-but-no-one’s-perfect. God...
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IBW: Chapter 3 - Fellowship

     God has given us the power of language in order that we may fellowship. We know this through several means. First off, we know this through God’s own Trinitarian nature. God has shown us that He values communion within Himself. The Bible on several occasions references God speaking within Himself. Genesis 1:26 shows this, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” Again, in Genesis 3:22, after Adam and Eve have fallen into sin, “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil…” As well as in Genesis 11:7 as God watched the men constructing the Tower of Babel, we read, “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” God is communing and talking within His Trinitarian self. This idea is very deep and complicated, especially difficult for our mortal minds to wrap around. The Belgic Confession even acknowledges this to be true: “And although this do...
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