Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry

The Covenant of Works in Moses and Paul

by on November 18, 2024 | 1 Comment

In the controversy between Protestants and Roman Catholics there has been no question whether Jesus obeyed God’s law, but only to what effect. Did Jesus obey the law so as to make it possible for us to cooperate with grace toward future justification, or did he obey God’s law for us (pro nobis) to accomplish our justification once for all? The Protestants affirmed the latter and denied the former. Nevertheless, despite the unity among confessional Protestants on justification, questions have persistently arisen among them concerning the nature, intent, and effect of Jesus’s law keeping and its relation to the justification of sinners. Continue reading →

The Moralist’s Catechism

by on October 4, 2024 | 53 Comments

Moralism is the teaching (doctrine) that God approves (accepts or justifies) of us either because we have cooperated with his grace (semi-Pelagianism) or because we have kept the law without his help (Pelagianism). According to moralism, God approves of us because of . . . Continue reading →

The Covenant Before The Covenants

by on September 24, 2024 | Comment

Those not well read in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Reformed theology might be forgiven their ignorance of the covenant of redemption or for concluding that it is an arcane doctrine long abandoned. Continue reading →

Covenant Nomism And The Exile

by on August 28, 2024 | 1 Comment

At first sight, covenantal nomism may seem to be strongly supported by the analogy of a marriage relationship that the Old Testament uses to describe the relationship between the Lord and Israel. Continue reading →

Do This and Live: Christ’s Active Obedience as the Ground of Justification

by on July 8, 2024 | 11 Comments

In the controversy between Protestants and Roman Catholics there has been no question whether Jesus obeyed God’s law, but only to what effect. Did Jesus obey the law so as to make it possible for us to cooperate with grace toward future justification, or did he obey God’s law for us (pro nobis) to accomplish our justification once for all? The Protestants affirmed the latter and denied the former. Nevertheless, despite the unity among confessional Protestants on justification, questions have persistently arisen among them concerning the nature, intent, and effect of Jesus’s law keeping and its relation to the justification of sinners. Continue reading →

Where We Are: Justification Under Fire In The Contemporary Scene

by on July 1, 2024 | 1 Comment

Editor’s Note: The following is the complete chapter as it appeared in R. Scott Clark, ed., Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry: Essays by the Faculty of Westminster Seminary California (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2007), 25–57. In 2021, the publisher returned the publication rights . . . Continue reading →

How We Got Here: The Roots Of The Current Controversy Over Justification

by on May 6, 2024 | 3 Comments

Presently there is open disagreement within Reformed and Presbyterian churches over the most basic elements of the doctrine of justification. Some are arguing (implicitly and explicitly) that the doctrine of justification contained in the Reformed confessions and catechisms (i.e., symbols) is either inadequate or incorrect. Continue reading →

Letter and Spirit: Law and Gospel in Reformed Preaching

by on March 4, 2024

Preaching begins with Bible reading and interpretation. Before a minister can preach a given text, he must decide what it says. To interpret a passage, the preacher necessarily brings to bear his broader reading of Scripture, a system of doctrine, and the history of interpretation. Continue reading →

Re-Publication of the Covenant of Works (1)

by on June 16, 2023 | 9 Comments

As Michael Horton acknowledges in his work on covenant theology, one of the more difficult issues in covenant theology is how to relate the Mosaic Covenant to the earlier Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant. Complicating matters is the old Dispensational doctrine . . . Continue reading →

Faith Formed By Love Or Faith Alone? The Instrument Of Justification

by on May 6, 2022 | 3 Comments
Covenant, Justification, and Pastoral Ministry

In his discussion of works, Calvin anticipates the great error of many contemporary critics of the Reformation doctrine. They think that as long as they say that salvation is by grace alone they have said all they need to say theologically, but many medieval theologians said exactly that. They taught that grace alone worked to transform and sanctify the life and that all the works of the Christian are the fruit of grace. Such an improved life, however, is still an imperfect life and cannot stand in the judgment. Calvin summarizes the situation succinctly: “If righteousness is revealed in the gospel, surely no mutilated or half righteousness but a full and perfect righteousness is contained there. The law therefore has no place in it” (Institutes 3.11.19). What one needs to stand in the judgment, Calvin declares over and over again, is a perfect righteousness. No matter how much progress one makes in grace during this life, so that one’s life becomes holier, holier, and holier, it will never get to the point where it will be able to stand in the judgment. Continue reading →

Does Covenant Theology Change Our Doctrine Of Predestination?

by on August 4, 2017 | 2 Comments
Baptism, Election & the Covenant of Grace

HB reader Keith asks, Succinctly, what is covenant theology on the following: Predestination Security of the believer? Hi Keith, The short answer is that the covenant theology that we confess does not fundamentally change our doctrine of predestination, which says that all . . . Continue reading →

Theological Error Seeps In

by on November 25, 2015 | 24 Comments

Years ago, in the second house in which Mrs Heidelblog and I lived, water seeped into the basement every time it rained and it rained frequently. As the ground became soaked water would push in and up through the basement. We had . . . Continue reading →

Does Baptism Save?

by on June 25, 2014 | 24 Comments

Merrit asks this question. “Two friends and I have been talking about this verse (1 Peter 3:21) and passage for quite some time today. The more we seem to talk about it the more confused I seem to get about it.” Merritt, . . . Continue reading →

Faith Alone Is The Instrument Of Justification AND Salvation

by on May 24, 2014 | 52 Comments

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 →

ReformedCast: On The Distinction Between The Law And The Gospel

by on February 25, 2014 | 7 Comments

Thanks to Scott Oakland for inviting me to do episode 145 of the ReformedCast. We talked about the distinction between law and gospel. Scott asked good questions and we were able to cover a lot of what is currently being discussed now: . . . Continue reading →

"Sola Fides" is not Sola Fide

by on November 21, 2013 | 11 Comments

I’m reading Rowan Williams on Arius. Early in the book he uses the expression “sola fides.” In context, he seems to be making an indirect reference to the Protestant doctrine of sola fide. I’ve seen this in other writers. When I first noticed . . . Continue reading →