Thanks to Chris Gordon for posting a brief bit from Perkins where he ties the efficacy of the sacraments, not to any power inherent in the sacraments, but to the will and good pleasure of God. He has a nice follow-up post on the nature of faith. Not everyone who says “faith, faith” means the same thing as we do when we confess “a certain knowledge and hearty trust.” There is, as Chris shows, an attempt (in the FV movement) to redefine faith, in the act of justification, to include sanctification. This, of course, is exactly what the Roman communion confesses. In that case, as our churches confess, then we’ve made Christ but half a Savior.

Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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