Cited in sermons
Aristotle
8 sermons · All people cited
The Qualifications for Elders, Part 2
Paul's qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3:2–3 are not suggestions but binding divine requirements: a bishop 'must be' these things. This exposition works through eleven marks of personal holiness demanded of elder candidates, treating sexual fidelity, temperance, sober-mindedness, good behavior, hospitality, moderation in alcohol, avoidance of violence, financial contentment, gentleness, freedom from quarrelsomeness, and freedom from covetousness. The unifying thread running beneath every qualification is self-control — the disciplined governance of appetite, temper, and desire — which Solomon illustrates across Proverbs and which Paul sets before the whole congregation, not elders alone, as the mark of a genuine Christian.
The Believer's Joy and Moderation
Philippians 4:4–5 contains two imperatives that together define the outward shape of the Christian life: a command to rejoice in the Lord always, and a command to let moderation — or equity — be known to all men. The sermon argues that joy is not a feeling to be waited upon but a non-negotiable duty grounded in the objective realities of justification, sanctification, and glorification. The Greek word rendered 'gentleness' (epieikēs) is examined through Aristotle, Zanchi, and Gill to establish that it denotes reasonableness in judging and willingness to forgo one's rights in interpersonal matters — not a blanket disposition of quietness that would contradict the examples of Joshua, Elijah, Christ driving out the money-changers, and Paul's anathema on false gospels. Both commands are made possible only through the imputed righteousness of Christ received by faith and the indwelling Spirit.
CTF 2025 - Session 8 – Q&A Panel
A Q&A panel from a theology conference on the doctrine of God addresses questions arising from the preceding lectures on classical theism. Three theologians field questions on divine impassibility (including whether God can be grieved), the eternal decree and the covenant of redemption, divine aseity and the Son's relationship to the Father, the nature of time in the eternal state, the role of philosophy and natural theology in arriving at the classical doctrine of God, and whether genuine evil exists within God's sovereign economy. The discussion throughout presses for formulations of doctrine that protect divine simplicity, immutability, and impassibility while preserving the integrity of biblical language and confessional categories.
The Servant and Master Relationship
Ephesians 6:5–9 concludes Paul's household code by addressing the obligations of both bondservants and masters in first-century Greco-Roman society. The passage insists that redemption in Christ does not dissolve temporal social obligations: the slave must obey with a heartfelt, Christ-centered, and eschatologically grounded sincerity, while the master must forsake threatening and govern with the knowledge that he too stands under an impartial heavenly Master. The sermon applies this to the modern employer-employee relationship through four principles drawn from Proverbs and the parallel passage in Colossians 3: the condemnation of laziness, the commendation of diligence, the consideration of Christ in all things, and the cultivation of self-control as the Spirit-wrought fruit that undergirds every godly social relation.
The Instruction of the Church, Part 2
Titus 2:6–10 addresses young men, Titus himself as minister, and bondservants, calling each group to a specific pattern of conduct grounded in the gospel. Young men are summoned to comprehensive self-control, while Titus is charged to exemplify good works and to teach with integrity, gravity, and incorruptible soundness — precisely so that opponents are silenced and put to shame. Bondservants are exhorted to willing obedience, pleasing service, honest fidelity, and freedom from back-talk or pilfering. The overarching motive uniting every group is that their conduct may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior — not earn salvation, which rests solely on the redemptive work of Christ received through faith alone.
The Son's Accomplishment of Redemption
Ephesians 1:7–12 sets forth the Son's accomplishment of redemption within the eternal Covenant of Redemption, in which the Father plans, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies salvation. Working through four movements in the text — redemption by the Son's blood, the revelation of the mystery of God's will, the cosmic reconciliation of all things in Christ, and the reward of an eternal inheritance — the sermon shows that sinners enslaved to sin have been purchased at a cosmic price paid only by the eternal God-Man. The sermon closes by calling believers to meditate on and proclaim this redemption, and by urging unbelievers to believe on Christ before they die in their bondage.
The Duties of Slaves
What does God require of those under the authority of others, and what is ultimately at stake in how they fulfill that duty? Expounding 1 Timothy 6:1–2, this sermon examines the apostle Paul's instructions to Christian slaves — both those under unbelieving masters and those under believing masters — showing that faithful, diligent service is grounded not in pragmatics but in theology proper: the name and doctrine of God must not be blasphemed. The sermon draws out implications for the Decalogue, for the employer-employee relationship, and closes with the warning that all who are outside of Christ, whatever their outward condition, remain slaves to sin — and that only Christ can make a person truly free.
Slaves and Masters
Colossians 3:22–4:1 addresses the final relationship in the household code — slaves and masters — and Paul's instructions cut against both first-century Aristotelian contempt for slaves and twenty-first-century assumptions about social action. The passage unfolds in three movements: the duty of slaves (obedience in action and sincerity of heart, not eye-service), the incentives for slaves (the promise of an eternal inheritance from the Lord Christ), and the duty of masters (to give what is just and fair, governed by the knowledge that they too answer to a Master in heaven). The governing theological claim is that heavenly-mindedness produces, rather than withdraws from, faithful earthly labor — so every Christian employee and employer is called to work as unto the Lord, fearing God rather than men, whether recognized by their master or not.