According to many, Richard Baxter (1615–91) was a model Reformed pastor, a tireless advocate for Christian piety, and evangelist but a deeper look at Baxter’s theology should give us pause in proposing him as a model for 21st-century Reformed theology, piety, and practice. Most who identify with the Reformed theology, piety, and practice do not realize that Baxter effectively scuttled the Reformation doctrine of justification by God’s unconditional favor alone (sola gratia), through faith resting, receiving, and trusting alone (sola fide). To put this error in context, J. H. Alsted (1618) said: “the article of justification is said to be the article of the standing or falling of the church.” Baxter sponsored a great crisis in the doctrine of justification in the Reformed churches. His 1649 Aphorisms on justification taught quite clearly that faith justifies because it obeys. Where the orthodox (e.g., Westminster Larger Catechism, 70–73) had been explicit that only Christ’s obedience is the ground and that, in the act of justification, faith’s only virtue is Christ’s finished work. Baxter’s revision of the doctrine of justification prompted sharp responses from John Owen, whose 1677 treatise On the Doctrine of Justification By Faith (volume 5 of his Works) was an extended repudiation of Baxter.

1. Allison, C. FitzSimons. The Rise of Moralism: The Proclamation of the Gospel from Hooker to Baxter. S.P.C.K., 1966.
2. Bavinck, Herman. The English Delegates To Dort Agreed In Substance With Amyraut And So Did Baxter
3. Beeke, Joel and Randall Pederson. Beeke And Pederson: Baxter’s Doctrines Of The Decrees, Atonement, And Justification Were Not Reformed
4. Boston, Thomas. Boston: Baxter Turned The Gospel Into Law
5. Boston And Rutherford: Baxter Turned The Covenant Of Grace Into A Covenant Of Works
6. Clark, R. Scott Clark, “How We Got Here: The Roots of the Current Controversy,” in R. Scott Clark, ed. Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry: Essays by the Faculty of Westminster Seminary California (P&R Publishing, 2007), 3–24.
7. Clark. R. Scott. Burying The Lead On Baxter
8. Clark, R. Scott. Richard Baxter On Initial And Final Justification Through Faith And Works
9. Clark, R. Scott. “‘Do This And Live:’ Christ’s Active Obedience As the Ground Of Justification”
10. Clark, R. Scott.  Q&A: Is Richard Baxter “OK”?
11. Cooper, Tim. How Baxter Came To Reject The Reformation Doctrine Of Salvation
12. Corcea, Mihai. Puritans Opposed Richard Baxter
13. Crandon, John. Baxter’s “Hot Peppercorn” Of Justification And Salvation Through Good Works
14. Erskine, Ralph. Erskine: Were Paul Alive He Would Excommunicate Richard Baxter
15. Helm, Paul. “Baxter Soup and Wright’s Soap“
16. Horton, Michael S. Which Covenant Theology? in R. Scott Clark, ed. Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry: Essays by the Faculty of Westminster Seminary California. P&R Publishing, 2007, 197-227.
17. Kevan, Ernest. On Baxter On The Marrow Of Modern Divinity
18. Orme, William. Baxter Adhered To His Errors On Justification To The End
19. Owen, John. The Doctrine of Justification by Faith Through The Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ; Explained, Confirmed, and Vindicated in The Works of John Owen, vol. 5. repr. The Banner of Truth Trust, 2020.
20. Packer, J. I., Baxter Sowed The Seeds Of Moralism, Arianism, and Liberalism.
21. Packer, J. I. Packer: Shepherd Reinvented The Neonomianism Of Richard Baxter
22. Packer, J. I. The Redemption & Restoration of Man in the Thought of Richard Baxter: A Study in Puritan Theology. Regent College Pub., 2003.
23. Trueman, Carl R. “A Small Step Toward Rationalism: The Impact of the Metaphysics of Tommaso Campanella on the Theology of Richard Baxter,” in Carl R. Trueman and R. Scott Clark, ed. Protestant Scholasticism: Essays in Reassessment. Paternoster Press, 1999, 181–95.
24. Wallace, Dewey D. “Socinianism, Justification by Faith, and The Sources of John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity.” Journal of the History of Ideas 45, no. 1 (1984): 49–66.
25. Resources On The Doctrine Of Justification
26. Resources On Keeping Justification And Sanctification Together Without Confusing Them

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