While he speaks in a number of places of faith alone (unhyphenated) as the instrument by which we appropriate justification, he also insists that works must go with it, so closely related that justifying faith and works are almost identical…. This apparently . . . Continue reading →
Author Archives: R. Scott Clark
Next Stop: Osiander
it would be in my opinion and feeling that Norman Shepard, if he should logically continue to expand the position as set forth in all of his documents, would ultimately come to a position like that of Osiander and perhaps even close . . . Continue reading →
Heidelberg 62: Works No Part Of Our Justification
Because the popular rhetoric in evangelical and even in confessional Protestant circles has frequently been that the medieval (or the Roman communion) taught justification by works and the Reformers taught justification by grace well-meaning but misguided Christians sometimes conclude that so long . . . Continue reading →
Iain Murray: Shepherd Has Reconstructed The Protestant Doctrine Of Justification
1. Regretfully I share the view that matters of substance, not merely of terminology are involved…. 2. I am unhappy with the way in which Mr Shepherd represents the historical theology behind the reformed doctrine of justification as stated in the Westminster . . . Continue reading →
Morton Smith: Shepherd Teaches Justification Through Faith And Works
As one who has been trained in, and has taught the classic systematic theology with the biblical theological basis of Professor John Murray’s approach, I find Mr. Shepherd’s original paper, and also his later statements, quite confusing and disturbing. For example, he . . . Continue reading →
R. C. Sproul: Why Can’t We Say That Good Works are Necessary As Evidence?
Thesis #23 illustrates the problem: “…good works…though not the ground of his justification, are nevertheless necessary for salvation from eternal condemnation and therefore for justification.” This thesis is replete with the confusion of formulation that I’ve already mentioned. The good works are . . . Continue reading →
Roger Nicole On A Distinguishing Mark Of Shepherdite Theology
In attempting to claim a fundamental cleavage between Reformed thought and Lutheranism, evangelicalism and other movements on the point of justification, Shepherd appears to abandon the traditional view that there is substantive agreement among all evangelical Protestants concerning this topic. The fact . . . Continue reading →
Ursinus On Christ’s Merits And Sola Fide
1. Because we are justified by the object of faith alone, that is by the merits of Christ only, without which we can have no righteousness whatever: for we are justified for Christ’s sake. Nothing but the merit of Christ can be . . . Continue reading →
William Hendricksen’s Judgment Regarding Shepherd
Shepherd, as I see it, is going into an extreme…when I started to read what he said about j(ustification) by faith, I was hoping that he mean that this faith must be more than a merely abstract acceptance of a proposition; in other . . . Continue reading →
The Distinction Must Be Maintained
The two covenant scheme of the Westminster Standards has been absolutely essential in combatting the Neonomianism of both Norman Shepherd and the Federal Vision, not to mention Roman Catholicism. There are, of course, matters in which the two covenants are similar (they . . . Continue reading →
Sproul: Man’s Relationship To God Based On Works
Man’s relationship to God in creation was based on works. What Adam failed to achieve, Christ, the second Adam, succeeded in achieving. Ultimately the only way one can be justified is by works. —R. C. Sproul, Getting the Gospel Right (Grand Rapids: . . . Continue reading →
Packer: Shepherd Reinvented The Neonomianism Of Richard Baxter
Shepherd in effect reinvented the neonomianism of Richard Baxter in the 17th century—and from the same motive—recoil from the practical antinomianism that surrounded him, and a desire to state the gospel as to make perfectly obvious that persevering holiness is enjoined on . . . Continue reading →
Stifling Dissent On Campus: Reaction To Christina Hoff Sommers At Oberlin
See more about the event @CHSommers
A Uniform Concept Of Covenant Faithfulness For Adam, Israel, & The New Covenant People
Mr. Shepherd rejects not only the term ‘covenant of works’ but the possibility of any merit or reward attaching to the obedience of Adam in the creation covenant. He holds that faithful obedience is the condition of all covenants in contrast to . . . Continue reading →
Williamson: A Free society In Peril
When a governor can be indicted for vetoing a bill, when a university regent can be threatened with criminal prosecution for exposing corruption, and when you have armed men kicking down your door because you signed the wrong petition, you don’t live . . . Continue reading →
Cruisin Grand April 2015
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The Myth Of Secularism
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We’re awash in ersatz, ad hoc, consumerist, Narcissistic spirituality Continue reading →
Office Hours: Wisdom In Pastoral Ministry
Consider the several public, ugly scandals in which televangelists have made evangelical Christianity notorious to the public. Chances are that you’ve been through a church split or some other major issue in a congregation or you know someone who has and that the pastor played a role in it. Continue reading →
Christ Is Both The Foundation And Fulfillment
As far as I can tell, this perspective has been all but lost in modern biblical studies. But a text like Gal 3:16 was fertile ground for the development in classical Reformed theology for the belief that the covenant of grace was . . . Continue reading →
Whitaker On Sola Scriptura
If he feign another rule of faith besides the written word of God, we reject, repudiate, and refuse to acknowledge any such, and reduce the whole rule of the catholic faith to the scripture alone. …Faith, therefore, is not the gift of . . . Continue reading →