The Marrow of Modern Divinity was regarded by the orthodox Reformed, in the 17th century, as a good summary of the orthodox view of law and gospel, justification, sanctification, and the third (normative) use of the law in the life of the Christian. It should have been accepted as orthodox since Edward Fisher was summarizing and quoting  orthodox Reformed writers such Beza, Ursinus, et al. As Donald John Maclean explains in this lecture, the Marrow was not well received, however, by the General Assembly of the Scottish Church in the 18th century. When Thomas Boston recovered it and started promoting it, controversy ensued. Today, most orthodox Reformed folk receive the Marrow and the Marrow Men as representing the standard, mainstream Protestant, evangelical, Reformed view but there remain those who either say outright or imply either that the Marrow was received as antinomian or ought to be regarded as such. I have already addressed this at length in the Heidelcast series linked below. Dr Donald John Maclean is a long-time student of the Marrow Controversy and the free offer of the gospel.

Dr Maclean is a ruling elder in Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge UK. He has just published All Things Are Ready: Understanding the Gospel In Its Fullness and Freeness (Ross-Shire, UK, 2021). More about this book forthcoming on the Heidelblog.

Resources

• How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia
• How to support Heidelmedia: use the donate button below
• The HB Resource Page
• The HB Media Archive
• Heidelcast Series: Nomism And Antinomianism
• Resources On The Marrow Controversy
• A Listener Explains The Benefit Of The Heidelcast Series On Nomism And Antinomianism
• Walter Marshall’s Antidote To Nomism
• How Not To Respond To Antinomianism Or Nomism
• Marrowmen: Our Good Works Are Not Instrumental Or Causal In Our Justification Or Salvation
• Heidelcast 76: Was The Marrow Antinomian?
• Antinomianism Is A Serious Error And So Is Nomism
• What Happens When We Turn The Good News Into Bad News?
• Boston: Sanctification Through Faith Alone Is A Gospel Mystery
• The Law Of Christ Is The Moral Law
• The Marrow On Antinomians
• The Marrow Surveys 17th-Century Opinion On Republication
• The Marrow On The Distinction Between Law and Gospel
• 1906 PTR Article on the Marrow Controversy
• Boston: Christ Fulfilled The Condition

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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