When, in 1994, Carl Trueman kindly invited me to co-edit Protestant Scholasticism: Essays in Reassessment there was no such modern introduction to what had long been a forgotten or misrepresented period of Protestant theology. Since the publication of PSER (1998), there have . . . Continue reading →
We may conclude, apparently, that Merritt favors cosmopolitanism to sectarianism. But what sense does this make of biblical calls for God’s people to isolate themselves. The Israelites weren’t exactly interested — or weren’t supposed to be — in a Jerusalem that featured . . . Continue reading →
Reporting from URCNA Synod in Visalia, California. In Reformed church government there are four deliberative bodies that make decisions, a consistory (ruling elders and ministers of a local congregation), a council (ruling elders, ministers, and deacons of a local congregation), classis (a . . . Continue reading →
In part 3 we began looking at a document, from 1978, which proposed a two-stage doctrine of justification. It recognized that there is some risk, some difficulty, in speaking of a present justification and a future justification. Nevertheless, the document contends that . . . Continue reading →
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…they gloried in the mere knowledge of it: to obviate this mistake, he declares that the hearing of the law or any knowledge of it is of no such consequence, that any one should on that account lay claim to righteousness, but . . . Continue reading →
13. But the doers of the Law will be justified. This passage is interpreted in a twofold way by blessed Augustine in chapter 26 of On the Spirit and the Letter. First in this way:The doers of the Law will be justified means that through . . . Continue reading →
In part 2 we considered Romans 2:13 in its own context (Romans 1:18–3:20) and the impulse to distinguish between an initial stage of justification sola gratia, sola fide, on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed, and a final stage of justification in . . . Continue reading →
In part 1 we began looking at a neglected aspect of the current controversy over justification and sanctification. What has been neglected is a 1978 proposal that, at the judgment, “faithful disciples” will be justified before God through their faithfulness. The current controversy . . . Continue reading →
As I mentioned in an earlier post in Romans 2:13 Paul writes, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (ESV).1 The chapter begins with matter of . . . Continue reading →
How then can his repentance atone for his iniquities, or entitle him to the favour of God and to the happiness of heaven? How can that evangelical repentance, which he is incapable of exercising till after his sins be all forgiven on . . . Continue reading →
In 1529, one of Luther’s principal opponents, Johannes Eck (1486–1541) published the first edition his Enchiridion Against Luther and Other Enemies of the Church a refutation of the Protestant errors. Under the heading, “De fide et operibus” he proposed the thesis that . . . Continue reading →
The standard by which saints and sinners are judged will evidently be the revealed will of God. This is not the same for all. Some have been privileged above others, and this naturally adds to their responsibility, Matt 11:21–24; Rom. 2:12–16. This . . . Continue reading →
The most ominous development in the IRS scandal is the confederation of executive and congressional authority in opposition to our fundamental rights. The accumulation of all government powers in the same hands, Madison warned, “may justly be pronounced the very definition of . . . Continue reading →
XVII. Further, if it is asked here whether the sins of the pious equally as well as of the wicked will be revealed, we answer that the negative seems more probable to us. (1) On account of the judge, who since he . . . Continue reading →
Controversy can be ugly and painful and the recent controversy over sanctification has been both at times. It can also be helpful by bringing greater clarity and this controversy has been useful in that respect. Some orthodox Reformed pastors are being charged . . . Continue reading →
In light of the current discussion it seems appropriate to re-post these brief points with some explanatory resources below. We are re-hashing some of the same issues, particularly points 7–9. These points were adopted as “pastoral advice” to the churches by the . . . Continue reading →
…Just as Adam was obliged to meet the conditions of the covenant that God graciously established with him, so believers are obliged to meet the conditions of the covenant of grace in order to inherit eternal life. Just as Christ was obliged . . . Continue reading →
3. THE NECESSITY OF GOOD WORKS. There can be no doubt about the necessity of good works properly understood. They cannot be regarded as necessary to merit salvation, nor as a means to retain a hold on salvation, nor even as the . . . Continue reading →